Saints have announced their 19 man squad ahead of this Friday's clash with Salford.

There are 4 changes to last weeks squad with Paul Wellens, Josh Perry, Nathan Ashe and Dom Speakman all being called up. These replace Jonny Lomax, James Roby, Joe Greenwood and Jordan Hand.

Lee Gaskell does not feature in the squad.

1. Paul Wellens, 2. Ade Gardner, 3. Jordan Turner, 4. Sia Soliola, 5. Francis Meli, 6. Lance Hohaia, 8. Josh Perry, 10. Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook, 11. Tony Puletua, 12. Jon Wilkin, 13. Willie Manu, 14. Anthony Laffranchi, 15. Mark Flanagan, 16. Paul Clough, 19. Josh Jones, 21. Tom Makinson, 23. Nathan Ashe, 25. Alex Walmsley, 31. Dom Speakman.

No Lomax or Gaskell.

Wonder what's up with J-Lo?

Slight knock, precautionary to ensure he's fine for Wigan.

Makinson/Ashe
Gardner
Jones
Turner
Meli
Hohaia
Wilkin
Laffranchi
Speakman
LMS
Soliola
Manu
Wellens

Puletua
Clough
Flanagan
Walmsley/Perry

I am surprised no Gaskell again

Just when you thought it was safe to go watch the Full Back...

Well, at least we won't be in danger of being predicatable this year.

I'm glad we've got chance to see Speakman, but I'm a little suprised by the rest.

No Gaskell, no percival, but he brings in Ashe, who we thought he didn't rate?

Will he play Wello fullback, or will he try him at loose and let one of the younguns have a go?

Well he likes to keep everyone guessing doesn't he?

You would assume that Salford would be an ideal match for Wellens to bed in to a new role, but the change in Lomax not playing leaves FB open to Wellens too.

No Gaskell, so pretty much that's in on that discussion front.

Speakman for Roby, so he's determined to replace like with like if a senior is out injured rather than move players about just to have a full senior team out regardless of ability in that position.

Has he said he didn't rate Ashe? If he did then from experience so far that means he does really.

No, Brown himself didn't. One of the "in the know" crowd implied it.

Wasn't there a tweet to say we were going to see Swift soon?

Surely you can't be unhappy this week, barring Gaskell not being included?

Speakman called up, Ashe called up too. Not moving around senior players just to ensure a senior team is out, he's actually bringing in young players to have a shot.

You always say how you like to see young lads given a chance, this year we've seen Brown give plenty kids a chance to play, more so than your beloved Simmons. Lads like the following who we would not have expected to see:

Joe Greenwood
Anthony Walker
Jordan Hand
Mark Percival

Now Speakman and Ashe have both been called up into the squad. You could also include Walmsley in that list as most were expecting him to play predominantly for Batley this year.

He's back to add power and pace to our attack


Maybe that's why he's slow - he's got a Widnes player stuck on his .

A bit of a guess but I'll guestimate

21. Tom Makinson, 2. Ade Gardner, 3. Jordan Turner, 19. Josh Jones, 5. Francis Meli, 6. Lance Hohaia, 12. Jon Wilkin,

8. Josh Perry, 31. Dom Speakman. 25. Alex Walmsley,
4. Sia Soliola, 13. Willie Manu,
1. Paul Wellens,

14. Anthony Laffranchi, 16. Paul Clough,
10. Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook, 11. Tony Puletua,

It's also worth pointing Soliola may not play this week. He probably won't be training much as the court case regarding the assault on him last year is going on this week.

I've said elsewhere that I don't think we will see Gaskell in the first team again this season. So his absence comes as no surprise to me. Unhappy? Neutral. If we win on Friday then I'll be happy; if we don't, then I won't. Same as most fans I should imagine.