Winnable assuming we have a hooker. I've not watched saints yet this year but the faster ptb won't be something they're over fond of, I wouldn't have thought. Maybe Cam Smith could do a job if Ack and JOC are both out.

Think we’d see Bentley named as hooker but in reality I think a few players would cover dummy half throughout the game (frawley, miller, smith)

I don’t think Saints are guaranteed anything this year. They have a couple of worldly players but they aren’t dominant any more. I think they’re back in the pack with the other sides like Leeds and maybe Wigan out in front.

Would be much happier with Fus and Lisone back for this one but the Saints game, early as it is in the season, looks a really big one.

I fully expect us to have Ackers, O'Connor and Sangare banned next week.
Possibly Handley for scoring too many tries.
And no doubt Saints will successfully appeal Percival's ban.

Ackers needs to watch his tackle technique, he goes high/over neck at times and it feels like it’s a matter of time with him.

O’Connor was a bit daft a couple of times but he does add great energy.

Bentley in at 9 isn’t ideal but not the worst result either. Hopefully Ackers will be fit and not banned.

I don’t know about anyone else but I just want to see our best 17 against theirs and a fair contest.

I thought it was a really pleasing win on Friday. That is another game we would have lost last year, said that a few times already haven’t we.
Seen a number of posts saying that way of playing isn’t sustainable, not sure I agree. You need to win as many games as possible and you need to play different ways in different games to win.
The main difference I see with Leigh is that they only really look like scoring close to the line, they have a number of lovely, well executed shift plays that they scored from. Those plays were brilliant plays, but teams normally sharpen up to shift plays as a game progresses.
Now we at present don’t have those shift plays, however Leigh have 3 halfbacks all with nice pass selections skills (O’Brien is a halfback playing full back in my eyes). Also 2 of that 3 have played together last year.
We have the ability to score from deep, from trick plays, from mid length line breaking, we have some power close to the line, some short kicking plays but we don’t really have the shift play options. I think those will come as our spine plays together more and we get used to each other. I would say teaching the shift stuff is a lot easier than the other off the cuff stuff we have. The shift plays is almost pure coaching, the other stuff is mindset and skills.
I am happy with where we are, we aren’t complete in terms of a Squad, don’t have a fully formed set of game plans yet. But we have won 3, been close in every game, not got rolled down the middle and scored some lovely points.

I agree but only up to a certain point. Our attack from deep or from open play is great; but on its own it hasn't seen us top four tries in any game yet. Against any sort of committed side that puts us in shoot out territory. And while we've won 3 from every game's been a battle. We'll be a genuine top drawer side when those world class scores are the ones killing games off, not merely gaining us a slight edge in arm wrestles.

That said, I definitely don't want the entertainment value to be sacrificed to any Ian Watson -type vision.

Surely if Ackers and O'Connor are out, we bring back Johnson if we can?

Hopefully, for the sake of the competition, arm wrestles are something we'll have to get used too. We've played some strong teams so far; Salford & Catalans only defeat came against us, KR are clearly going to be good, and Leigh at their place are no mugs. I think if we'd come up against a Cas, London or Hull we might have scored a few more. All that said, the bar is raised considerably on Friday and we are going to have to play well for far longer periods to get a win.

I think we are going in the right direction, albeit two steps forward and one back. Strong possibility the top six places this year will be a dog fight .
Wigan probably ahead of everyone else, at the moment doesn’t seem much between the rest of the pack. My only major criticism is whilst in our opponents 25 yard area ,we don’t seem to have any moves or structure to break down a smart defensive wall. Leigh in the first half looked quite sharp in that aspect. Obviously the saints game is intriguing more so for Saints ,they will be wondering if the Salford game was a blip or an indication of a gentle decline.

I think Saints have been in some gentle decline for a while and will miss Walmsley in particular when injured or retired.

You cannot stay at the top forever as we know.

Wigan just have that swagger and squad depth right now that’s impressive.

See I’m not going to say we’re going to win against Saints because I’m really not sure. We’re going to have to play better and cut out the silly errors with the ball and in tackle technique.

If we can beat them it would be a massive 2 points though and a statement of intention from us for 2024. If we lose it’s not season over either though.

Just on the not scoring a load of trys yet, we’ve played 4 teams that will be in the top six playoff mix, and all 4 finished above us last year. They are decent sides, had we had a Cas/Hull/London in there we’d have scored more.

I get the annoyance in the lack of set plays in the 20, i do think that will come, but I’m also loving our identity, i want to be entertained and they are certainly delivering on that aspect.

You must have got there at half time on Friday Chris....

Isn't that when you turned off the TV?

I don’t care if we are 50 down at half time if we go on to win the game. You don’t get any points for half time score, or 78 minute score. You get points if you win, so simple question is did we win on Friday, yes we did. Did we get two points on Friday, yes we did.