Should we go hell for leather and promote this as our big one?

I think if we but a lot of effort into it we could and should beat the highest opening season attendance at Odsal pre 2003 which was 17,000 for the visit of Warrington in 2000.

It's not on sky tv and it's a Sunday 3pm kick-off and Wigan are the current Super League champions so I would expect a good three thousand travelling over from the pie dome.

As for the game I think that it's the best time to play Wigan at Odsal when it's going to be cold and wet with horrible conditions underfoot.

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As I said elsewhere. We'll be having the expensive World Club Challenge (£40 for my usually £20 seat) a week after the Bradford trip, so I'd be surprised if Wigan travelled in those kind of numbers, a week after many will have spent on a weekend trip to Cardiff.

Will be interesting to see though.

I can see there being at least 32,000 at this one

I am going to write to the RFL complaining that they have given Bradford the hardest first round game. It's just not fair.

But surely if Bradford stop the Wigan pack then there will be no problems now that Deacs has signed an extension?

Fair point. Well made.

A rumour's gathering pace in Wigan that we'll be entertained by Monster Trucks before the match, is it true?

Absolutely but they will be attacking the Wigan end when the fog descends!

how much is it to get into odsal bowl next year ?

dont think they've announced walk up prices yet. Given the reduced prices given to season ticket holders, the club have a lot of scope to do special deals for the walk up support(including away support). something that was always a bit of a problem doing before as they couldnt undercut the price paid up front by the season ticket holders and risk alienating them. Cant see them reducing prices for 1st home game of season though. Would think any reductions would come later in year against clubs that bring less away support.

i think you should invest in some giant fans to blow away the fog ..just in case

The amount they normally send to Odsal wouldn't be enough to blow out the candles on a 6-year old's birthday cake, never mind fog.

I wouldn't be surprised if the club requested this (on the sly, of course).

Not Wigan specifically, but a big draw at home to help create some momentum. Playing wise, our start couldn't be much harder - but a chance to created a real buzz after the hard work in the close season is now all in our hands.

the other thing that could come into play is that if its going to take a few games to gel, then playing a couple of teams that we could realistically expect to lose to takes some pressure of the team to come out of the blocks firing on all cylinders.whereas if we had started against 'lesser' opposition there would be a greater expectation that we should win the games and If we lose due to combinations not quite clicking etc then it would have a disproportionally negative effect and take away the momentum we've built up.

To be honest I'd take 2 decent performances against leeds and wigan at this stage even if they were losses (although hopefully not heavy ones), for us to take any points out off those two games would be a bonus, albeit very welcome.