I like Varkulis and wonder why out of favour?He has played quite good when played so i am shocked.So team i reckon will be as follows.

1.Flynn
2.Gaskell
3.Marsh
4.Haggerty
5.Ainscough
6.Thacks
7.Coyle
8.Ben Davies
9.Smith/netherton
10.Gannon
11.kurt Haggerty/Grady for kicking goals but i hope not.
12.Allen
13.Gerrard/Doran

14.Neth/Smith
15.Doran/Gerrard
16.Haggerty/Grady
17.Pickersgill

Ashame Varkulis,Kavanagh,Gardner,Houghton and Hecky to miss out.What a great problem when good players like these miss out.

Having Pickersgill back is absolutely massive for us, we have missed him big style so far this year IMO. Our pack with Ben Davies also in the mix should be giving Leigh the rounds on Sunday [size=200IF[/size we play to our ability. Previous games against Leigh our team just havent turned up.


Were due a performance against the leythers.

Wasnt Davies in the Wigan Squad, possibly 18th man tonight, sure I seen him in the dressing room before KO?

Davies did not play for Wigan,so will be playing on sunday.

And we're due for a performance, full stop!

Doesn't matter as long as he didn't play.

Well aware that this might bite me on the , but on paper that looks to be the weakest Smogs side in quite a while.

Team for me would be

Flynn Gaskell Varkulis Marsh Gardener Thackery Craven Gannon Smith Pickersgill Allen Doran Gerrard

subs G Haggerty Davies Netherton Kavanagh

Rest Grady , play Craven who didnt play in the 18's today.

The vicar

Flynn Gaskell K.Haggerty Marsh Ainscough Thackeray Craven Gannon Smith Pickersgill Allen Doran Gerrard

Subs G Haggerty Davies Netherton Kavanagh. Looks strong even without Coyle at scrumhalf.Craven deserves a chance now.

Agreed. I thought Widnes would really go for it this season just to seal their Franchise bid but instead they have ended up with a very average team.

I cant decide who i want to win this one. I mean it would be good if Widnes could win to help us secure second place but i also wouldnt mind Leigh winning because i think their bubble has burst and a Leigh win would put another dent in Widnes already fragile looking franchise bid. One things for sure i will be happy if its a real tough game especially since we have Widnes on Thursday.

Fragile lol

Why is our franchise bid fragile? we dribble all over most of the applicants.

That's not a very "Super Leaguey" image



You're right of course .................

Hey if got a franchise 90% of the players wont stay and we would get a new coach.There should be players in the first team from the U18s .It showed how good our youth is when Danny Craven was one of the better players on the pitch.

WHY are you mutants so convinced you are going to get a franchise?ok you tick a couple of boxes ,but someone will have to get relagated for you to replace them,and where will all your decent and new players come from,Wigan cant spare anymore.
As for DRIBBLING i saw your fans doing plenty of that Admiring our PACK OF FORWARDS.

Its other clubs fans that are convinced in the main not ours

Charlie.

i dont know what team you support whether it be super league or championship team it doesnt matter.

i am convinced Widnes will get the franchise next time, i am a Halifax fan and would love my team to get it, there are only really 3 candidates, Barrow i wouldnt class as one cause of there stadium.

Halifax, Leigh and Widnes that leaves, Toulouse i would imagine will get the next one.

i think Widnes should get it cause they should have got it last time, they have the stadium, they have the highest average attendance, they have successful youth squads. they have everything they need.

the 2 other candidates my club Halifax and Leigh, we both have the stadium, the attendances arnt as high to meet the average required and the youth side especially on the Halifax side is non existent at the moment.

i think all the Halifax fans have given up on this franchise, not sure about Leigh fans but Widnes will get it

Not sure where to start with this one, or whether taking you up on the "challenge" might consitute picking on the thick kid, but nevertheless...

This is the one place you will find the least amount of presumption on that subject. It is only amongst Widnes fans that you will find the cynicism, worry and scepticism that the RFL will do what many many fans outside of Widnes think is the right thing to do and promote us. A lot of people are assuming it is our turn, because we've done the most and got the most outside of super league and someone has to come up. But no one here is assuming anything just yet.

And if you think dribbling over burly men is the right reaction to your pack, you're on the wrong website to find like-minded people, NTTAWWT.

A guy who talks sense.Mate i do wish our first team was as good as yours though.

Anyway if a team gets relegated for us, we will recruit some players from them, and from oz.Only about 5 or 10% of the first team will be with us.I suppose if fax got a franchise only a small percentage would play in Superleague.So charlies pop is a rubbish statement.

Not the best way of going about it, do you really want to sign players from a club that couldn't sustain themselves in Super League?

I'm sure Widnes will be able to attract some decent players when you go up.

Not suggesting we will do this, or that I want us to, but it won't neccessarily be the team bottom of the league, will it.

OFF THE CUFF

I would imagine that there would be a couple of our backs that might have the quality to have a go at Super League, Maybe, Gleeson, Penky, Black and maybe Beswick, Royston, thats about it though it at the moment though so our recruiting would have to be massive.

talking of who we would sign is abit pointless though as we wont get it

Super League is not the Promised Land,the last time my team Leigh were there,we had a CLOWN in charge Abram,lost nearly all our games,i hated it,ilove watching the Championship games,love the friendly banter with opposing fans,and most grounds are easy to park at,all imtrying to say is why go to Super League to finish bottom each year and probably end up worse off taking years to recover.

Who says we would be going into SL to finish bottom?? SOC has already indicated that we would be spending the full cap on players. Ok we know it wont be easy, especially in the 1st year but I would hope that we could at least be challenging for a place in the top 8. The problem Leigh had is you didnt have a chance to recruit a good squad because most players thought it would have been a risk to sign for you due to switching from a part time operation to full time and only having a few months to create a competitive squad. With the franchise system we would have three years to build and offer players the luxury of 2 and three 3 contracts without the threat of relegation. Youngsters can be brought in gradually without too much pressure on them.

IMO, and I am sure fans of Widnes,Leigh, Halifax etc would share the feeling is that SL is the promised land. Any fan, club and player would surely want their club to be playing in front of big crowds, against the best players with decent tv exposure. SL is not a cert for Widnes, and if you ask any fan we know that we could just as easily miss out as we could be granted entrance.

So long as you've got the cash to splash.

Widnes would certainly have that with SOC behind them. With a decent team and respectable finishes on the league ladder i'm sure that five figure crowds would follow in the medium term. I don't want to come across all lovey dovey towards Widnes (i'm not a fan, honest) but you are currently the club with the best potential outside of SL to kick on and establish yourselves. Hull KR have done a fantastic job and i'm sure you could more than match their efforts.

The old farty Grandad army's still gonna kick some Widnes butt on Thursday though. Up the Fax

Depends on how we start the game, if we start well and stop you playing then we have a chance, if we dont then we may well be beaten comfortably.