Drinkwater was released at short notice. Having played for Leigh before, he might not have wanted to come back anyway. Not every player has a good experience at the LSV.

I would have thought O'Brien would have been a good choice, but he did not look good in the halves against Leeds, but is solid at Fullback. Hardaker is one of the best Fullbacks in the comp, but we are weak in the Centre position. Chamberlain had a good season in the Championship, but he looked out of place during the World Cup, and fluffed a couple of good opportunities.

Overall Leigh are looking competitive in defence but have no cutting edge in attack. Lam cannot be expected to lift the team on his own. Mellor is a big loss, and Reynolds might be a trier but he lacks game management.

Ipape carrying an injury is not helping with our attack. No sniping from dummy half and the second rowers are not finding any gaps as a consequence.

It is early days, but there are no easy games in this league.

Why don't we play Ipape at 6 ?

He'll still be carrying an ankle injury! Hopefully Joe M will be available for KR.

Any new team needs at least 6 games to gel. Unfortunate that we don't have Lam and Mellor playing together in those 6 games. We definitely need more size in the forwards, even with Ava joining us. This season is one of consolidation. We were never going to be challenging for anything. And Ipape is never going to be MOS. Isn't fair to put that pressure on him. It's between us and Wakey for relegation and on present form Wakey are certs whereas we will improve a lot.

Only played a couple of games and bringing in players on loan,Not a good sign

3 problem areas for Leigh, Halves, Centre and Hooker. In interviews Peet and Lam talk about Shorrocks utility. The squad contains Mellor and Ipape, so I am guessing Shorrocks takes Centre and Hardaker moves back to Fullback.

All based on how fit Mellor and Ipape are.

With no Smith in the 21 man squad, I can't see Ipape not playing. I agree with Shorrocks at Centre, and then it's between Mellor and O'Brien in the halves.

Graham , I love a bet but there is no such thing as cert, Constitution Hill is 1-3 for the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham in a couple of weeks , he looks unbeatable , but is no Cert , we will have to beat Wakey 3 times this season to have a chance to survive .

Derek just been chatting with some Wigan members of the family , they really rate young Shorrocks , he can also play hooker , Chamberlain,Reynolds,Gannon and Davis , my 4 missers from the 21 players in the squad .

That becomes an interesting scenario now.

I would imagine Sharrocks will start at hooker with no Smith. He has a good defence which will suit early in the game, then Impape to come on as he does later. So either Chamberlain at centre and Hardacker at fullback or Hardacker at centre and O’Brien at fullback.

Joe Shorrocks loan period extended.

Back to Wigan this week. How was he?