Swap Sarginson and Hampshire around and I agree with the rest.

We'll go with what we've got and all us speccies can ask for is 100% effort and commitment, win or lose.

Hope you give them a good kicking!!

Wigan missing for Thursday at Salford....

Bowen
Charnley
Thornley
Green
Flower
Farrell
O'Loughlin
Pettybourne
Clubb
Bateman

And then... Not injured but Logan Tomkins and James Greenwood would certainly play if they were not tied down to loan deals.

Can't remember it ever being this bad for us 10 players out who are always in the 17 if fit.

I wonder which other clubs could cope with an injury list like that? I'm still confident we can compete. Can't wait, it would be great to go there with a team of youngsters to prove to Koukash you can't buy success.

I worry that soon we will start to struggle, asking so many young guys to perform at such a level as they have in recent weeks is a huge ask. The effort the team put in last week was monumental, I doubt that can be repeated this week and no doubt Salford will be well up for this with Harris, Hock and Hansen. Last week was a siege mentality, to play every week like that is a tough ask.

add Tomkins, Greenwood, Hopkins, Lloyd (out on loan) & Tierney (Dual Reg) to the 10 injured plus 2 of the 19 and we have another matchday team

Not wishing to be too harsh on him but Sarginson's defence isn't currently good enough for full back IMO, in fact I worry about him at centre to be honest, particularly after his five missed tackles in the Leeds away game. I'm sure he'll come good in due course but wouldn't use him as our last line of defence whilst Hampshire is an option. Not forgetting Hampshire is the only likely candidate to take over from Bowen next season or the season after so he could do with the experience given that it can be a very exposed position to play

The experience the young lads will gain is more important than 2 competition points at this stage of the season. Look at the Hull game the week after the CCF last season. We're in a good position to start to consolidate a top 4 finish, there's no point rushing senior players back if they're not 100%, let the young lads have a crack and then hopefully we start to get some bodies back over the next couple of weeks before the QF.

FWIW, and no disrespect intended, I still think there's enough in that squad to beat Salford.

Jeeezz, that's some injury list you have, there's some real quality in there. Having said that I can't see us getting anything on Thursday, we're poor defensively on our fringes and I think: Goulding, Manfredi, Gelling and Burgess will have more than enough to break us down. You'll win by 16-20 points.

I don't see any evidence to suggest that Hampshires defence is any better than Sarginsons.
I thought Sarginson defended very well on Saturday, and better IMO than Hampshire has shown previously. Add that to the fact that I never feel safe with Hampshire attempting to catch a high bomb.

In all honesty, I don't think there would be much difference in swapping the two around, it's just my personal preference.

Guys like Hock, Hansen and Gleeson will be firing for a game against Wigan and I can see Salford pulling out their best performance of the season.

Close game IMO.

there is nothing to say we don't do what we did when Sam was having a crisis at the back......Pat dropped back when they attacked on 4th/5th tackle and helped out.....Manfredi and/or Burgess could do the same and Hampshire comes into his own once we have the ball in attack........ It would confuse the feck out of the kickers in salford attack if they didn't have a clue who was going to defend where..??

Goulding was dropped last week. Couldn't drop Gelling as he'd played well the previous two weeks. I suspect it will be the other way round this week though with Gelling coming off the bench as forward cover.

I would leave it as it was last week with Gelling in the centre, you have to remember that Goulding and Smith (who plays right side) will have to contend with a fired up Hock who will be out to prove something.

Wigan may need a big player like Gelling to try and counter the Hock threat.

Something like that for me too. I cant say I rate Gelling defensively in the centre and thought he was poor at times against Leeds, leading to him being taken off after his bad miss on Moon for the last Leeds try. Still too many brainfarts too such as his stupid offload 2 yards from his own line that was very lucky not to have ended up as a Leeds try.

Noone apart from pettyborne was expected back this week, at least 4 played with injuries at the weekend so im surprised there arnt more out

Hampshire
Manfredi Gelling Sarge Burgess
Powell Smith
Taylor McM Dudson
Hughes Burke
Crosby
----------------------------
Pettybourne (he will be back) Sutton/James Goulding Williams

LSoW may have a good selection there and appears to know something.
Manfredi and Gelling for the right side sounds good to counter the threat from Salford's left side attack which has some big men including Gaz Hock!
Waney selecting five props five props sounds about right too so they won't get dominated again.
That team has pace and lots of it all across the park, something Salford are lacking bar one or two players.
I'd prefer Sargy at FB with Ryan off the bench but that would be provided Gouldinmg was 100% fit and starting. Daz was bench last week and maybe this week too.

Imjust don't see what Goulding can offer us off the bench. If he comes on we would be disrupting our 3/4 line, and he isn't big enough to play in the pack. I'd rather have an extra forward or a pivot on the bench, and start all 3 of Gelling, Goulding and Sarginson.

having the extra forward on the bench works well especially if Bateman, Hughes or even Gelling are already on the field in the 2nd row as any of them can drop into the 3/4's to cover in case of injury........a back on the bench is a luxury we could probably do without

In all honesty for me Daz is there as an experienced body and not much else, I personally feel Sarge and Gelling were both good enough to keep their spots. I think with those two we now have real strike and pace in our backline, all they're lacking is experience, so why not give it to them.

Daz has suffered without Sam making room and breaks for both him and Josh, he's not looked half as good this season.

I thought Gelling's defense in the Leeds game was admirable (particularly the tackle on Sinfield near our line in which the ball was dislodged) but as the game went on he did seem to tire a bit, culminating in his not-fantastic effort on Moon for his try. I don't blame him for this, he's a big lad and IMO Leeds seemed to target his side so he's bound to get a bit knackered. If Hughes is in the squad, I personally wouldn't waste a bench spot on a specialist centre in Goulding; instead I'd give Gelling a ten min spell when he seems to be flagging a bit, let Hughes have a little run around out wide, then reintroduce him when he's had his breather.

Also, I'd prefer to see Hampshire at stand-off with Dan at full back. I see Powell as a scrum-half, Williams as a future hooker/scrum-half, and Hampshire as an out and out stand-off. I'm a bit worried playing him at full-back too often could harm his development as a half and be a waste of his unique talent (also Sarginson wasn't half bad back at full-back against Hull either!)

I really think this will be hard for us tonight to back up after Saturday's performance. Mentally it will be very tough for the players to get up for this one. I think it will be close but can see Salford nicking it.

I think our lads should be up for this after beating Leeds.
As for Salford, their players probably got a good ear bashing from Koukash after yet another loss.
Apart from the ex Wiganers the rest, I don't think, will be up to much!

they was certainly tired the first 20 minutes looked like we was running in a swamp some times. Good solid Win and it won't take much to turn that Salford side around.