So after the squad news... What tactics would you enforce and I don’t mean who plays where. I think we have a chance of winning if we do what Leeds did to us at LP. Force the mistakes, break up Wigan’s play, kick into touch, take the 2 points if on offer. Let’s not let Wigan get into the swing of things. The fowards are young at Wigan and they have a hot head in MM... Perry should be winding MM up and force him to lose his cool.

- Wind McIlorum up
- Pepper Tomkins with kicks (not that he'll return any of them)
- Close Smith and Green down on the last, and not let them get their kicking games going
- Go out all guns blazing for a change, rather than get out-ethused! (if that's a word)

Kick early, play it in their half and instruct the forwards to play with a bit of mongrel. Wigan's forwards are young so if we pin them down and get into them they may crack.

Make it a forward battle, find a kicking game and play with the kind of aggression and intensity that Wigan usually manage to find for this kind of fixture but we don't.

"Close Smith etc down on the last" ....they will expect that, so close them down every time and look for the early kick ....and for gods sake be agressive. The fans will forgive anything but a lackluster approach and weak forwards. If they cannot get up for this game they never will!!!

Play very hard and rough them up , especially McIlorum who will snap, there a young pack so if we start to dominate them they wont have the platform for Smith to kill us with his kicking game.

If we can get some momentum we have a slight chance

I thought Perry wasn't playing!

Get Howarth to start a fight with Mickey. Probably the most useful thing he could do to even up the sides.




Obviously not a serious suggestion....

Twat'em. Go out like its a derby day and our weight in the pack should be enough.
Amble into it and we're screwed.

Play like Wire do against us! Win the forward battle and play the game in our half pinning Tomkins back in our 20 with a good kick chase. They're the only side that have regularly got on top of the Wigan pack in the past 3 or 4 seasons.

If Wigan even break even in the forwards battle we win the game IMO because Tomkins and the halfbacks will have too much quality against their makeshift opponents (although I still feel Lomax may play evening that up somewhat).

Hope.

We need to utterly smash you in the forwards to stand a chance. If we merely have the upper hand I suspect our lack of an experienced halfback, a decent 9 and Lomax will mean we'll struggle to break your defence. Saying that if you were missing Tomkins I'd be alot more confident as I think Wigan lose alot of attacking threat without him (hence you keep losing when he doesnt play). It would be one hell of a grind but might go either way

Smash Em

Whilst I do think we'll win, this time last year I was stood in the glass house commenting that minus Lockers, Faz, Flower, Eric and Mossop that we had no chance. Spencer, Dudson and Crosby would get smashed all over the place.

Don't forget 2003 (twice) and 2005 when we beat you with a bunch of kids.

It's derby day........ANYTHING can happen.