Apparently he is due to play in this gamehttps://www.halifaxrlfc.co.uk/article/51626/halifax-reserves-take-on-wigan-warriors-reservesrl

Shows the value of the reserve competition. I doubt a championship side would want to take on a player on the road to recovery and I doubt Wigan would want to send him out on loan anyway as Wigan would want to monitor and manage his comeback closely.

Wane has just said on Wigan t.v that he expects Manfredi to get a short amount of game time on Saturday in the reserves.
I remember a few years back Pat Richards making his comeback in a reserve game at Leeds, again only playing about 30 mins.

Williams and Sutton to return to first team duty on Friday with a debut for a player. I expect it could be Ollie Partington or Liam Byrne, both have been going well in the academy/reserves.

I’m elated he is on the way back. Whether or not he comes back the same player is, at the moment irrelevant. I think all he’s been through in the past 3yrs physically and mentally would have taken a huge toll on him and his close friends/family and it’s a credit to him for his sheer guts and determination, and the coaching staff at Wigan for him making his long awaited and well deserved return.

Fingers, toes and everything else crossed for him that he comes through the game fine. If ever there was a player who deserves a bit of luck over the next few years it’s him.

Yep, the standard is completely irrelevant. His mental state when he takes a ball in or sets off on a big run will be seriously tested and hopefully he’ll come through with flying colours. After that, he can think about getting back to fitness and only after the mental aspect his game is 100% should he start to contemplate fighting for a first team spot. After over 2 years our, he needs to be managed one step at a time.

Keeping everything crossed he gets through the game and can sit with a smile on his face at the end of it. It must surely be the time for his luck to turn.

Conversely, Tautai banned for 4 games after pleading guilty to dangerous contact! Hope Sutton’s fit!

Fantastic news about Dom.

Was a genuine joy to watch, a player with ability to score a try from anywhere. I honestly thought, if it wasn't for his terribly injury, he'd be pushing for an England spot.

Game in progress. He plays and has just scored.

EDIT - He’s just scored again.

2 tries,the second was from a great back of the hand pass which he finished well.

Not come on for the second half but I don’t think he’s injured as he seems in good spirits chatting away on the sideline

It was a decent effort from Dom given how long he's been out. He's obviously a long way from match fitness but that 40 minutes should give him confidence. The game wasn't great though. Looked like men against boys at times as Fax had a very big side that was struggled to deal with. Samy Kibula was our best player and played about an hour. A good first stint as a ball playing 13 and was a key part of the attacking structure. Had to be more direct in the second half but created a try with a very good pass.
Sam Grant was also very impressive at centre and caused problems. Our halves really struggled though.

I like Kibulas handling skills but he doesn’t hit the ball up enough for me and he is very work shy defensively. He is very good at passing on the line ala James Graham and his show and goes he looks like a half back but im not sure where he is going to go in his career,maybe trim up and be a ball playing 13 or a short stint bartering ram prop?

That's why I think he's better off as a ball playing loose forward. If he plays the same way as Lockers he'd do half as many drives as the props but get his hands on the ball quite often as first receiver. As you mention at the moment his issue is his defence. I don't think the issue is necessarily that he's work shy, but that he's slow in and around the tackle. He turns his back too often when he's slow to retreat and sometimes when he's not first or second to the tackle he's left grasping or slow to bring the man down. Best thing he could do IMO is work with Ben Flower as there's nobody at the club better at controlling the tackle and making sure the defenders have enough time to retreat.

Excellent news about Dom getting through 40 minutes with the tries being a nice bonus. Doesn't matter for me if he doesn't manage to play for the first team this year so long as he can stay injury free and get his career back on track.