[uWidnes 19[/u

Ah Van, Allen, Brown, Cahill, Clarke, Dean, Flynn, Hanbury, Isa, Lawton, Kavanagh, Leuluai, Mellor, O'Carroll, Owens, Phelps, Pickersgill, White, Winterstein.

Missing: Cross, Marsh, Gerrard, Hock and Joseph


[uWigan 19[/u


Greg Burke, Josh Charnley, Dom Crosby, Anthony Gelling, Darrell Goulding, James Greenwood, Ryan Hampshire, Harrison Hansen, Jack Hughes, Epalahame Lauaki, Lee Mossop, Sam Powell, Tom Spencer, Scott Taylor, Lewis Tierney, Iain Thornley, Logan Tomkins, Chris Tuson, George Williams.

Missing: Tomkins, Green, Richards, Smith, O'loughlin, Mcilorum, Farrell, Dudson, Flower

It will be interesting to see what happens with the Ah Van / Owens choice!

Got to be in with a good chance given the Wigan absentees though! Just hope it brings a good crowd!

I would stick with Owens, done very little wrong over the last few weeks, Ah van offers power certainly getting out of our own half but i would go with Jack. Hep i recon will start on the bench.

I'd agree with that. Owens has worked hard and deserves the place on merit, selecting him might also ensure Ah Van knows he needs to work hard too!

Cahill could be instrumental, but having spotted the absence of Marsh I'd be concerned about giving Hep too much too soon.

I'd be gutted if we lost. Injuries my . They did and last year and didn't learn from their mistakes.

As good as their youngsters are, probably the best in the game we should beat this time. It still has a bit of experience in it but so does ours. On the back of a good draw with Catalans we should be aiming for two points here.

I'd see it as more Ah Van / Flynn.

Owens wing play in general has really come on a lot the last few weeks. Plays clever in together situations and is quite powerful too.

So what if we don't have injuries? We're 3 points clear at the top of a meaningless table in a meaningless league. We may as well rotate and give the younger lads a chance when we're playing meaningless games.

Just because it's your cup final doesn't mean it's ours.

Meaningles game my ! Go up a rope.

If it was meaningless there wouldn't be 2 points on offer which would inch us closer to top 8.

If it's meaningless why doesn't the season start in September and you, Leeds, Wire & Hudds play semi finals to go to the Grand Final.

The likes of you give the game a bad name with elitist e like that!

That's pretty much what happens. It's meaningless for us because we've already qualified for the playoffs. That's all you need to do in this league.

Like I said, just because it's means something to you doesn't mean we have to pander to it.

Never bought into all this 'meaningless games' crap and its only came about more after Leeds fifth placed finishes.

Teams want home ties as they get more £ they naturally want to finish higher as SPORT IS COMPETITIVE. You get a trophy for finishing top. It's these stupid excuses that damage the game as the 'competitive' argument gets thrown out but when an upset happens 'the game didn't matter' so lower sides can't win!

P.s. apparently Ah Van is still a doubt even if has made the squad.

Pardon me but bollox!

The season basically does start in September, you don't get crowned 'Champions' for finishing top of the table as we have done in 2 of the last 3 seasons.

This game means nothing to us (Wigan) so why shouldn't we rest players... We can afford to lose against you, and resting all these players now will be key to the back end of our season if we want to win trophies!

Just because we play a weakened squad against you it doesn't mean we're disrespecting widnes it's about keeping players fresh for the important games at the end of the season because last year we didn't rest players and it shown at the end of the season and we fell short in both semi finals because of injuries and fatigue.

You can rest players because you have a gap at the top and we have intetnationàls and thr cup cladsh coming up which is fair enough. Not because its completely meaningless.

Non withstanding the fact Wane has a clear paranoia over the iPitch!

Not the only coach with a paranoia about the iPitch.

I've played on it myself and I don't see any problems with it. Yeah it a scratches it but got no other complaints

Are you trying to sound like a total or is it just your default setting?
And no, its not our 'cup final'. That's against our real rivals Warrington. We don't hold the pies in such high regard.

Joseph is out of Fridays game by the looks of things, Adam lawton is brought into the squad and gets a bench spot.

Really?

No wonder our lot get grief for being arrogant.

Just got a text brown and phelps are out too. Would kind of make sense, my mates were watching SOO in the stadium yesterday and said phelps had strapping all on his leg

It's not meaningless to me. Really looking forward to the game and hopefully a close contest and good atmosphere. Won't be devastated if we lose but I'll be made up if we get the win.

TBH mate, I don't think you lot are arrogant. You are one of the more gracious sets of fans that I've come across and by and large have been supportive of Widnes on our return to SL.

I just can't be doing with negativity and short sightedness and at the end of the day, if we play well enough to beat you tonight it will read Widnes as winners against Wigan, regardless of what team you or we put out. It will be a good scalp and a good, important 2 points for us in our development as a club/team

...........of course if you turn us over it will be because you are Wigan and what else did everybody expect

!

Hope to see a load of you down here tonight

Looking forward to the game and Widnes need a point to beat our points tally from last year.If Wigan lost they be still top of the league and wont matter too much.But for Widnes it is important to get points to distance from the bottom of the league.

We (Wigan) should be looking to win every game, thats the mentality of our coach and hopefully our players so to say the game is meaningless is complete garbage. How meaningless would this game be if we lost and ended up 2 points away from winning the LLS?

Im looking forward to the game tonight and seeing how our young players go and im not at all hopeful of a win but I think a draw would be a great result for us

Agreed OTC - two points tonight would be wonderful for Widnes; a great morale booster as well as the much-needed league points.