Widnes squad -

Ah Van, Allen, Cahill, Clarke, Coyle, Craven, Cross, Dean, Haggerty, Hanbury, Isa, Kavanagh, Leuluai, Marsh, Moore, Mullally, Pickersgill, White, Winterstein.

No Liam Watts, Shaun Briscoe, Ben Davies & Paddy Flynn in that squad, Cameron Phlelps & Sione Kite not yet arrived. That can only be good news for us.

Like the look of that team if they all perform. Strong bench as well. Sweet

Could do with another prop

Pretty much picked itself tbh which is never a bad thing IMHO.

Only real tweaking is in the back row where we have a fair few options.

Trout and Woods to miss out.

Tiger? Or do we have more than one?

Trout in for Kirmond would be better he deserves the chance

I get the sentiment but I can't agree with that. I'm all for him getting his chance but he's not in the same class as Kirmond yet. We need our strongest team to start with, his chance will come.

Kirmond also has the experience of playing in the three quarters as well and with no other cover for there as far as the 19 goes he gets the nod over Trout for me (for now)

Is it me ? Or is it taking ages for Friday to get here ?

Wood and Trout to miss out for me

From watching the Batley game I would suggest that Wilkes and Raleigh are lucky to be in the 19. Both were returning from injury / operation and neither looked ready and offered little. No point playing lads who are not right. Get them ready for the Hull KR game. I would have liked to see Russ Speirs in the 19 man squad as he has played well in the pre season games. Think the backs are easy to pick, some tough decisions to be made in the pack and on the bench.

Isn't it Anthony Watts their main strike player you mean?

Isn't he the glass-jawed fella that got knocked out cold twice in one game?

could have a great chance of upsetting the Stobart apple cart this Friday. Just hope we come out of the blocks on fire, the adrenalin of the 1st game of SL and crowd noise will soon wear off if we get a couple of quick tries.

Yes sorry i meant Anthony, my bad.

Think Cockayne will be good on the wing as knows the defensive side having been a fullback and on the attack he will take some stopping through strength.Always the option if Mathers gets injured to drop to FB and if a centre gets injured mathers to move up and him to FB and sub to wing.Its looking good with the ability of being able to do this.If Washbrook keeps getting the 13 I can see things getting very good as we have some very good grafters in the pack.I dont go for this we need another prop we aint light in the department and can see Ali and Aiton when coming on speeding the game up even more and Ali adding the power I think some sides will have a real struggle to match up to this style of play.I honestly think once the side gel and start to know what everyones doing and is at we will play a very fast expansive game.I think at Hull we will find Agar had the same as when my old mate was player coach down here others in the club thinking they new more than the coach.All it needs is for me to win that euro millions role over £100 mill - now then Richard would you like an Aussie test scrum half and hooker Im paying.

All four would have likely started

Looking good that, the 2 Kyles to miss out IMO too.

I think the squad looks strong and agree it virtually picks itself. Am really looking forward to Friday and seeing our brand new team in league action for the first time. I thought we looked bright and sharp against Cas and reckon if we start throwing the ball about we have good pace out wide to do some damage. Time will tell but it's exciting and the anticipation great.

Cant wait for Ali to tear them to shreds on the flank just run at the ex Bradford player who looks like hes playing FB should be a sight to behold!!!

I think you'll find they are listed in alphabetical order, not positional!

As much as I want to see our younger players given chances, that should not be at the expense of playing our best side. Russ has done OK in pre-season but he is still not SL standard IMO.
Wilkes was playing his first game back after an appendectomy and clearly needed the run out, he will be much better for it tomorrow. Raleigh still has to convince me but he does give us some size and some experience so he still gets the nod from me ahead of Trout and Spiers, but their time will come.

I'd hope so


P.s. I'm not sure 'run at the full back' is the most conventional tactic!

You've obviously been out of Suuperleague too long to recognise one of the most important tactics in the modern game.

On pre season performances alone, Trout should be in there somewhere. I personally think they will go with experience for this game, but wouldnt be that surprised if he came in.