19 Man squad:

Joe Philbin, Tom Olbison, Danny Williams, Adam O’Brien, Oscar Thomas, Adam Sidlow, Omari Caro, Kurt Haggerty, Ben Kavanagh, Epalahame Lauaki, Stuart Howarth, Matty Blythe, Danny Addy, Jay Pitts, Steve Crossley, Kris Welham, Alex Mellor, James Clare, Kieren Moss.

A couple of lucky players in there and very surprised Ryan has been dropped.

1. Moss
2. Caro
3. Clare
4. Welham
5. Williams
6. Addy (but my god i hope he doesn't ave the "my ball" mentality)
7. Thomas
8. Crossley
9. O'brien
10. Crossley
11. Olbison
12. Haggerty
13. Pitts
14. Howarth
15. Lauaki
16. Kavanagh
17. Philbin

Amazes me that Blythe continues to get in...
I could be well off the mark here but, given how much faith i have in ferret to interfere and stuff things up, i wouldnt be surprised if theres a bit of "he's a high earner, if he's fit then he plays"...
For me he's well behind Caro, Williams, Ryan, Welham, Clare and probably even Oakes.

I would be very surprised if Ferres interferes. I think Smith is the type of coach who will listen to others in the coaching staff but will take the final decision.

Only difference for me would be to have Pitts at loose forward.

If you assume Philbin gets in regardless (which he will as a Super League loan player), Mellor has done nothing this year and doesn't deserve a place above Pitts or Haggerty. Olbison hasn't been great either, but we know he can perform, so I think he warrants the spot more. Assuming we're not going with two back rowers on the bench, it has to be Mellor that misses out.

After that, it's one of the backs. Either Moss, Williams, Caro, Clare or Blythe. Since Blythe seems to have incriminating photos of Marc Green somewhere (there's no other explanation he keeps getting in the side no matter how bad he plays), we can assume it won't be him. Be interesting to see who it is.

I agree to some extent regarding Blythe. I'd be interested to see his Opta statistics. His obvious faults are a failure to bring his winger into play and trying ,usually calamitously, to make the big hit. But to be fair last week I thought he ran harder than most of our forwards.
I think you are being harsh when you say Mellor has " done nothing" this year. Usually he has been steady and don't forget he's still young and learning his trade.
Before someone points out that I left him out of my preferred 17 , I think we need as much experience as possible to meet their pack head on.
By the way the player I think we'll miss most on Sunday is Clough. He always does the hard work and it was noticeable to me how the Fax pack really dominated after he was injured.

I don't know what Ethan Ryan did to get dropped...

Blythes best game in recent memory was vs Leigh in the qualifiers, played a blinder i thought as did everyone, he might go forward but his trying to put in big hits causes huge gaps in our defence.

Agree about Clough without him we are weaker, we need Lauaki to have a belter this sunday, hopefully he can get himself up for it.

The best thing about this game coming now is that I can go and enjoy the game in the knowledge that we are playing a better side. With that comes less expectation, and as such I can accept losing, especially if we play well enough like we did at the Summer Bash.

Don't think he did anything wrong, tbh, he was as good as anyone last week.

He's still a young lad though and far from fully physically developed as a rugby player, so easing him into the side and not overplaying him is the right way to go, imo.

Vomiting bug gone through Leigh camp this week your luck might be changing

Nah, more likely we'll come away with null points and having caught the bug....

I would be tempted to go with Moss in the halves with Oscar, plenty of zip off the mark and crisp passing. Clare to fullback. This may be an option if Addy fails to do the business at S/off.

I hear that, but I would prefer the half back pairing to remain the same throughout the match, whatever it is, unless someone is having a complete shocker.....

Definitely an an option. I think we are better in the backs, but Addy completely stops our passing attack when he gets the balls. Thomas and Moss in the hales would get the ball out wide much quick.