Weather could be a big factor over the next couple of weeks. We've been a bit fortunate in the semis and finals of the CC and SL over the last 12 months with dry weather perfect for Field, French, Wardle etc. Obviously the CC semi last year didn't go so well in torrential rain though I'm sure its something Peet will have learned from.

Forecast for Friday is dry, as is Thursday and Saturday, so reasonably confident that torrential rain wont be an issue.

This,
and we should be targetting their right side of Mcintosh and Hanley, which is definitely their weakest point, both in attack and defence

I know they may need to juggle the backs a bit so Hanley probably goes other wing, with Hardaker into centre, which probably improves their defensive setup but that then leaves both wings and FB weak in defence and under the high ball

The 'week off' thing is always something you can take either way, isn't it? If you have the week off, you can be regarded as either nicely rested or at risk of losing your rhythm, whereas if you play the week before, you can be seen as either battle-hardened or tired. Damned if you do and damned if you don't, really. As for the game, I give Leigh an outside chance, but I'd certainly expect Wigan to win, by 10-12 points.

Yeah, the week off debate is as easy to win as the 'is it better to go to Catalans on the day or to go a couple of days before' debate. Nobody knows the answer and without looking at a load of data, over a period of multiple seasons, you couldn't put up an argument to say you're definitely correct either way.

Realistically, different teams probably need different things at different times. I think from a Wigan POV a rest is likely to be a good thing for us currently because of the amount of games the players have had and because of the emotion of some of them (Cup Final, Penrith etc) but no way of proving that either way, even if we won by 50 or lost by 50 on Saturday.