If you'd told me last year how much I'd be hoping for Olly to be fit for our biggest game in many years, I'd of laughed hard. Happy to admit how wrong I was and how much credit Olly himself, Watson and all the coaching team is owed.

I think both Theo and Ollie are fully fit and Watson is trying to force Wigan to have gameplans for all our halves and spend less time on each. Would be suprised if both of them don't play.

Agreed regarding pryce he has been overhyped, last year Russell was the star of the show in terms of control and assists and he's carried his form into this season. Didn't know toulouse was pryces last game serving his ban thought he completed it the week before.

Lots of talk this week about matty playing in the final, I assume that means he will be playing for Seb?

Disappointed with the injuries affecting Fages and Seb but hopeful for Saturday.

Pryce, McGillvary, Leutele, Golding, Lolohea, Hill, Levi, Lawrence, Jones, McQueen, Yates, English, Greenwood, Cogger, Trout, O'Brien, Wilson, Cudjoe, Russell, I Senior, Hewitt.

Ive seen two teams named in the media- first one had fages in it - the second one did not! It looks like Fages is out which is a massive blow. you would think watson would name him anyway just to keep wigan guessing though!!!!! seb out too and no wardle so leroy will definitely play.
the only thing is will it be pryce or cogger.........
tui
jerry
leroy
leutele
I senior
cogger / pryce
russell
hill
levi
english
jones
mcqueen
yates
greenwood, wilson, trout, golding

Oh dear, i am trying to be upbeat but Fages is really who makes us tick against the better teams, i'm disappointed in the safe options in there too, lawrence and cudjoe are past it for me and it should be wardle and seb. Struggling to see us winning with this team

Leroy has been excellent recently and I think Seb is injured.

How many tries has he scored this year? Would he have scored the try wardle scored against Wigan? Yes, he can give a good pass to Jerry but that's about it in attack

if you think this game is going to be about how many tries one player can score then you are going to be very disappointed. Its cup final rugby. right back at you - would wardle have had the body strength to make the break leroy did last game out? leroy has been excellent this year and has outshone wardle when hes played by a mile!!!!! lawrence is in the squad, he may not play but I think you do these players a diservice tbh!
How many games has wardle played this season? - when he's played how good did he look? is he match fit to play a full 80 minutes at full pace at top speed - he was pretty anonymous when I saw him play tbh and he does not have the match fitness. Leroy has looked good every game. His defence has looked solid, he is good in the air, has a good pair of hands and can contest the ball against which is going to be important. these little one percent games are going to make all the difference.
yes Fages missing is a blow as his short range kicking game is the best we have - but we have to deal with that and make do without him.

If wardle isn't fit fair enough, otherwise, when defences are as you say on top in a cup final, you want the player who can do what others can't, Wardle has incredible footwork and can score in very tight spaces and that may be the difference. I do not do those players a disservice, they have been at the club a long time, and during that time we won nothing and were mostly uncompetitive.

With Fages it's much more than his short kicking game, he goes directly at the line and passes late creating space for others, we look SO much better when he plays. Cogger is a journeyman and shouldn't get close to a cup final team, and Pryce is untested. I'd probably take the risk and play Pryce because theres a chance he will be brilliant and we win, and theres a chance he plays badly and we get hammered, With Cogger he plays at his level and we lose, but by less than if Pryce plays badly.

a tough one to call for the Fages replacement.

If Pryce plays, at what cost? he will get targeted by wigan defensively as he did by them earlier earlier in the season (which paid off for them!) and his defensive record is quite poor really whilst Coggers is much better. We cant afford to cover defensively for a player in a final as effort will have to be at maximum from everyone. He doesn't have the match fitness as he's been out for two months, which could add to that problem but has he been working on other things to improve this part of his game?-
but then a player like pryce might be able to bring that little bit of magic in attack, - is it worth the risk?

Cogger has played the last few and done well. He held his nerve to take the drop goal last week in the last few minutes, that's the kind of level headedness we need. Defensively he is much better, he has an ok kicking game but not the running spark of Pryce.

Watson doesnt seem like a risk taker - what do we think he will do???

Heart & head for me. Pryce, we all hope, is a player with a match winning X factor and appears to be the sort of lad who'll relish the big occasion but inexperienced with significant match fitness conerns. Cogger is limited but steady, better defensively and match fit, with probably a bit of confidence after his drop goal. I think I'd go with head - I'm just not sure we can go with half backs who between them you've got one who went off injured in the last game & may still be considered a doubt & one whose been suspended for a couple of months. I think Watson will go with Cogger but may choose Pryce over Golding on the bench.

Is there any way fages could still play or is it not allowed now he's not been named?

I.e could we say 5 players are injured so we need to draft fages in? Watson said fages could have played at a push last week!

According to my grandad Ramsden was a similar character to Pryce, one of his tries he had a man free for an easy try and dummied to score in the '53 final. He said he wouldn't have been able to come back Huddersfield if he hadn't scored it! Both 19, both halves, maybe it's fate! I do think he will play Cogger and put Pryce on the bench, but i can't see us winning with Cogger and Ollie in the halves. I also think Wigan will play Leuluai(sp), as he is a massive big game player who will be looking to put himself about with his big shots. He has manage to sneak him under the radar as everyone thought he was out, i was certainly relieved he wouldn't be playing.

So they have players extra, and we have a massive miss, it is going to take them being off their game i'm afraid for us to come up with anything.

How many games has Fages played for us this season? He is a big miss, but I remain confident we will put in a good performance. I was in the camp last season of doubting Russell's ability to continue improving. I am very pleased to be eating my words this season. The young man is growing into a leader on the pitch. By all accounts his hamstring is fine and he is good to go. I have been happy with Coggers performances and would say hes continued to improve and grow on me. Russell and Cogger are capable of making us tick with Tui helping with the creative kicking.

I went to Wigan to watch us and Pryce struggled with their physicality. For a Cup Final where the intensity will be through the roof I simply cant see how he will be match fit and up to defensive duties. Cogger starts without a doubt for me and I think Watson too. Can Pryce take a position on the bench? Its a shoot out between him and Golding. Golding has earned the spot and is very versatile. Could Pryce produce THE moment of pure class to win the game? Without a doubt.

Also watching at Wigan I saw our pack really tear into them in the second half. We won the battle up front convincingly in my view but couldn't convert that dominance into tries. Which would push us needing Pryce on the bench. Also we didn't have Levi there so he will be a great addition for us to up the tempo and push them hard.

But with all things considered, Im still on the fence! haha. Id like like to see Pryce have 25mins at a tiring Wigan depending on the game situation.

Its going to be an arm wrestle. I just hope we start well and then grind them down over the 80 minutes. Really impressed by our fitness levels particularly across the bigger lads. Here's hoping we can do it.