Yet another ref bites the dust... I worry about the state of refereeing at the moment! Then again i'm not surprised. When i was younger (apx 10yrs ago, im 24 now) i was in the junior match officials program and it was a total ph. Cliquey, badly organised and not very informative; they didnt make it easy for people to have an interest in it! I never had aspirations of going pro or anything; only did it as i'd knackered my knee and couldnt play anymore so it was a way to keep in the game! The RFL training sessions and local society meetings (a gathering of 50+'s in the back room of a club) was enough to put anyone off!

On a different note; I hope Oldham ahve had the covers on the pitch!

Clough Fleming and Thomas replace Sidlow Walker and Purtell.
Very pleased to see Clough in the squad.
Will Thomas play at full back , at centre or in the halves?

think purtell is a planned omission as he did that charity swim this weds iirc. Don't think Thomas has played centre before?. Would guess at Blythe or mellor filling in at centre.

Be interesting to see how Jimmy goes. Think Blythe and Mathers are lucky to have kept their spots. Surprised O'Brien is doing 80 again, thought he had his worst game in a Bulls shirt last week.

O'Brien passing could be better. Can't see much hope for Halafihi however.

That's more to do with the fact that we lost every single collision last week. Even Cameron Smith would have struggled to make an impact with that kind of ruck speed.
I don't see why we can't have Thomas on the bench as a replacement hooker, and then have him and Addy swap roles when in the defensive line.

There is no need for O'Brien to be playing 80 minutes against Oldham! Not suggestion Oldham are mugs but if Vila or Lumb can't get a spot in the squad against Oldham that is concerning.

Or even Baile.... He was good enough to play in the MPG

Agreed. Would've liked to have seen Lumb get another chance off the bench.

Glad Clough is back.

Purtell is out injured for the foreseeable future. Blythe will provide the cover.

Why is Adrian Purtell out injured for the foreseeable future?

Surely if he had sustained an injury the club would have published it via the T&A?

I hope this one isn't called off!

From squad i'd go with...

Richie Mathers
Omari Caro
Kris Welham
Matty Blythe
James Clare
Lee Gaskell
Danny Addy
Paul Clough
Adam O’Brien
Tom Olbison
Jay Pitts
Kurt Haggerty
Rhys Lovegrove

Mitch Clark
Oscar Thomas
Alex Mellor
Dan Fleming/Steve Crossley

Dale Ferguson to miss out along with one of Fleming and Crossley. Think Fergie needs to be played carefully due to past injuries and throwing him in against Oldham which should be a fairly straight forward win might not be best thing for him long term.

I think mid way through game, I'd like to see Thomas in at halfback and switch Addy to hooker to give OB a rest. I think you could interchange those three at will.

It is a surprise though not to see Vila and Etu getting a shout so far this year in games like these.

Etu was in shop before Leigh game. Said he'd been injured and was close to being fit.