Yes but then he said he is close, and if not this week, definitely the next.

So shall we assume this is a bit kidology on the part of the goons & all the players named will be fit and playing???

One or two of those may be back but our injury situation is very real. Thornley's out for the season, Charnley has missed the last 6 and told people at the Magic launch yesterday he's another couple of weeks away, Flower and Pettybourne have missed the last 4 and could be nearing a return, Lockers has missed the last 3 and sounds like he's still struggling, Bowen and Farrell missed the Hull game, Hampshire picked up a knock playing for the 19s and Clubb and Sutton went off injured in the first half on Friday. Kidology isn't really SWs style tbh.

I will always be wary of Wigan, whatever 17 they field. O'Loughlin is obviously the big loss for them, he is their Sinfield and easily their best player. I think Ben Flower has been a big loss for them as well. I thought he was one of the best forwards I saw last year - not seen so much this year.

You would have to say that if that injury list is real then we should have the edge on Saturday. Take nothing for granted though.

Irrespective of the result this weekend, I expect both teams to be very much in the mix when the trophies get handed out this year.

Saturday is a meaningless showpiece for the RFL.

Of far more importance to SW is the cup game against Cas. There is NO chance of Lockers, Faz, Charnley, Flower etc being risked against Leeds if it means being weaker for the cup.

A top 4 place is within Wigan's grasp and as we well know there is absolutely no point whatsoever in knackering the team trying to come first on the ladder. Wane learnt that last year. Leeds have known it since the playoffs went to 8.

That said - Whatever team is out on Saturday will be competetive. No danger.

I wonder if the Wigan club are becoming concerned at how many games O'Loughlin is missing these past couple of seasons ?
A great player and without a doubt their key man to how they perform,but he just isn't getting out regularly enough
Wouldn't William be calling him Biscuit Bones by now if he played for us?

It seems to be almost akin to the situation Paul Sculthorpe went through at Saints

There's no doubt about it - they will be concerned. But what can you do? He played the Challenge Cup Final and Grand Final on one leg, and was clearly unfit, though still our best player, in the WCC.

But if he hadn't played we probably wouldn't have won the double. He might however be fitter now - for the meaningless part of the season.

At the moment we are still in the Cup and sitting nicely in the top 4. I wouldn't expect to see him until maybe the week before the Cup game then there's a two month gap to the semi final (if we win). The club did beat Leeds and Huddersfield in the playoffs without him last year - so it's not critical.

Did you have Tomkins, Richards & Mossop?

Yes - correct. No doubt that we will miss Tomkins, Bowen is good, but not AS good. Burgess is already proving to be a more than adequate replacement for Richards and to be honest, although he was not really rated by anyone (except Wane of course) Tony Clubb has been something of a revelation at prop.

Bateman has impressed everyone, and Williams, Hampshire, Sarginson and Manfredi, have all proved themselves this season as being capable deputies. These players will all be looking for regular first team rugby next season.

The pace of change at Wigan has been immense these last two years. But SW trusts in youth - although probably through necessity.

I wish we could have kept hold of our stars the way Leeds do, but we don't for whatever reason, and that makes SWs success as a coach all the more remarkable (I'm a fan - can you tell?!!)

It's something like 22 games out of 50 that he's missed since the beginning of 2013, and our win ratio drops from nearly 90% when he plays to under 60% when he doesn't, so yes I imagine it definitely is a concern!

To be fair, that Win ratio is blow out of proportion to me. In most of those games he misses and you lose, they are usually at a time when you have other players missing also.

That is not in anyway playing down the player, just stating that too much emphasis is placed on the one player missing.

O'Loughlin is simply a player you want playing. Every club is greater with their talisman playing.

I've been massively impressed with Wane. He's at a major disadvantage in terms of player retention yet his teams are always in the mix and 99% of the time when he has to resort to your youngsters they play with real grit and passion and, most importantly, without apparent fear.

Wigan have some good kids and Burgess looks a good prospect, but unless he's knocking over goals and smacking every dropout 70 metres from his line then he's not really replacing Richards.

The issue with Lockers is we don't have another player like him who is so important to both our attacking and defensive structures. If a prop, 2nd row, winger etc. is out, then we can throw a youngster in and expect them to perform adequately. If Lockers is out we either have to play a 3rd prop-style LF, such as Clubb or Flower, so we lose our attacking link from that position, or we put a smaller playmaker in there and lose the tough defence in the middle. It's looking like we're going to run with McIlorum at LF this weekend which will be an interesting comprimise.

It was the same issue when we had Tomkins, we didn't have another fullback who could be utilised as a playmaker out the back, so the whole emphasis of the team's attacking play changed when he wasn't available. This is highlighted by the fact that the last 2 games that Lockers played in that we lost (You and Hudds away in 2013), we had Tomkins missing.