Head Coach, Willie Peters has named his 21-man squad for our RD25 clash against Wigan.

James Batchelor returns to contention after serving his one-match penalty notice, with George King dropping out.

21-man squad:

1 - Peta Hiku

2 - Niall Evalds

3 - Tom Opacic

4 - Oliver Gildart

5 - Ryan Hall

7 - Mikey Lewis

8 - Sauaso Sue

9 - Jez Litten

11 - Dean Hadley

12 - James Batchelor

13 - Elliot Minchella

14 - Matt Parcell

15 - Sam Luckley

16 - Jai Whitbread

17 - Matty Storton

20 - Kelepi Tanginoa

27 - Tyrone May

35 - Joe Burgess

36 - Jack Broadbent

37 - Jack Brown

38 - Danny Richardson

Both strong sides I’d hope we have enough in the forwards to beat them. Need to watch the quick play the ball around the ruck that killed us in the craven park game. Looking forward to this one should be a cracker

Is there a potential depending on how the game is going we could put eckersley on the bench put him at centre use Kierghran in the halves and spell smith or visa versa.

1-7 picks itself.
Thompson Leeming Havard
Farrell Nsemba
Ellis

Bench is the tricky one, I think Forber is nailed on for a spot, two of the remaining props and do you go Walters for the 4th or have Eckersley as just incase cover for any backline injury

Should be a great game. They have the momentum but we've got a better side. The worry for us is having a few players who've just come back or will be back in this game (French, Smith, Faz etc) and that rust will still be there.

As for the team, you'd imagine the starting 13 will be pretty easy to pick and then it's just the make up of the bench to decide on. I like that option of having Walters on the bench, which helps you cover prop, second row and even centre and therefore would go-

Field
Miski Keighran Wardle Marshall
French Smith
Havard Leeming Thompson
Nsemba Farrell Ellis

Subs
Byrne Mago Walters Forber

Dupree and Eckersley to miss out from last week and both could feel unfortunate.

Agree with your 17.
Maybe it might give Dupree a nudge to get back to his form of last year.
I’m pretty confident that Smith will be firing on all cylinders and could be the difference between the two teams.

I'd be starting Forber for this one. Going to be tough to work out which forwards to rotate though, don't envy Peet.

Wouldn't surprise me to see Patrick Mago left out - seems pretty clear he isn't trusted to play decent minutes in big games when the intensity is high. At Catalans he played about 15 minutes when the game was done and dusted.

The counter argument would be that he's a useful player to have if you need something different to change the momentum of the game.

He's an ever present but I've thought all season that he will be under threat should we have a big game, where every prop is available. Thinking back to the cup final, his minutes were extremely limited IIRC and it was just the same on Good Friday, so clearly others are trusted more. If Cooper were available I think he would miss out. Personally I would leave Dupree out, both due to a lack of form and to try and wake him up a bit but I think Walters will miss out and we'll see 3 props and Forber on the bench.

I'm with you, and I think Peet will be too.

Field
Miski Keighran Wardle Marshall
French Smith
Thompson Leeming Havard
Farrell Nsemba
Ellis

Byrne Dupree Walters Forber

Some team on paper, but there's a few players who have only just come back in, so rust may be a factor.

Hopefully we'll do our talking on the field but Hull KR are very confident. Today I've already seen articles about Peters highlighting Mikey Lewis' unfair treatment, Ryan Hall comparing his current side to the great Leeds' sides and the HKR local journalist referring to them as a 'big beast'. Unusual to be so outspoken before a big game...

I am confident Walters will be in the 17. His work rate, particularly defensively, against Catalans was high. Come the big games we look to suffocate teams and, in my view, Mago doesn’t contribute much to that type of plan. I agree regarding Cooper he is a big miss, does anyone have any update on his fitness. It is a significant amount of time to be out of the frame and very worrying if he is still suffering the effects of his head injury.

I vaguely remember some new protocols that were put in place for this year regarding concussions - can't remember the details but something around players needing to sit out for two to three months if they have more than one concussion in a set time period.

All this crap about mikey lewis needing to be closely watched by the ref is a stupid comments by Peters. Great coach but lost a bit of respect after that. I seem to remember Peter Hiku showing a bit of attention to Fields in the CC semi final. It happens to most star player unfortunately get on with it

I'm more concerned with his ability to wind the opposition up, I think we can all agree our discipline leaves a fair bit to be desired this season, just don't bite whatever he gets up to.
Any cards now and you're running the risk of missing the play-offs.

Hull KR doing the talk then talk pre-match, whilst we quietly go about our business behind closed doors. Should be a good one.