Adrian Lam names the Wigan Warriors 21-man squad to face York City Knights
No changes in the 21 from the side that beat Wakefield last week
York City Knights v Wigan Warriors, Fri 9th April, LNER Community Stadium, K.O. 7:45pm
Adrian Lam has named the Wigan Warriors 21-man squad to face York City Knights this Friday at the LNER Community Stadium (K.O. 7:45pm).
The two sides will do battle in a bid to reach the Betfred Challenge Cup quarter finals, with the bout being broadcast for free via The Sportsman on their website, Youtube and Facebook page.

Team news
Adrian Lam has named an unchanged 21 from last week’s Betfred Super League encounter with Wakefield Trinity.

Earlier this week in his pre-match press conference, the Papua New Guinean provided an update on full back Bevan French, who has begun training with the squad after completing his isolation following his return flight from Australia.

“He’s back in training. It’s day one back on the field with us today. There’s no chance of him being involved at the weekend.

“He’s ok but he needs a couple more weeks to get up to speed with the rest of the squad and we need to be patient with him.”


York’s LNER Community Stadium will play host on Friday evening.
Injury news
Jai Field will be sidelined for five months following a hamstring tear sustained against Leigh Centurions in Round 1.

Dom Manfredi is unavailable as he recovers from a fractured thumb. Oliver Gildart misses out with a groin strain.

Liam Marshall continues his recovery from a knee injury sustained in September 2020 vs Castleford. The winger is expected to be in contention from May.

21-man squad to face York City Knights

3. Zak Hardaker
7. Thomas Leuluai
8. Brad Singleton
9. Sam Powell
10. Joe Bullock
11. Willie Isa
12. Liam Farrell
13. John Bateman
14. Oliver Partington
15. Morgan Smithies
17. Tony Clubb
19. Liam Byrne
20. Harry Smith
21. Ethan Havard
22. Jake Bibby
23. Mitch Clark
25. Joe Shorrocks
28. Sam Halsall
29. James McDonnell
30. Umyla Hanley
31. Jackson Hastings

Same again for me other than maybe rolling a couple of props around.

For me:

FB 3 Hardaker
RW 28 Halsall
RC 11 Isa
LC 22 Bibby
LW 20 Hanley
SO 20 Smith
SH 31 Hastings
P 19 Byrne
H 9 Powell
P 21 Havard
SR 13 Bateman
SR 12 Farrell
LF 15 Smithies

S 7 Leuluai
S 17 Clubb
S 23 Clark
S 25 Shorrocks

Rotate the props, give an opportunity to Halsall to compete with Hanley for that wing spot. Start to have a look at whether Smith is going to be ready to step up to being a starter next year. Spell Powell with Leuluai to give them both an easier week. Powell has been playing 80 mins making a ton of tackles, Leuluai is getting older and it worries me how many head knocks he has had.

Is this being shown online anywhere?

19:45 KO – York City Knights v Wigan Warriors – Live on The Sportsman website, YouTube & Facebook

(free)

Makes sense to roll full strength IMO given we only had 1 pre season game. York are no mugs and though we should still win with a weaker team this all but ensures safe passage into the next round

Quite a few ex-SL players in their squad - some I hadn't even realised were at York!

Ryan Atkins
Kieran Dixon
Adam Cuthbertson
Ben Jones-Bishop
Danny Washbrook

They'll be looking to do a number on us.

Anyone else see BJB getting into the clear and being chased down by a second rower v Sheffield in the cup? I bet he got some stick over that afterwards They just got pumped at home v Toulouse as well. If they can keep us under 40 they will be happy. Not sure what approach Lam will take, but personally I think it's less risky to give some of these fringe players a game now, rather than throw them straight into the deep end against a good team when injuries/COVID force our hand.

If we are worried about any of the above players then were in serious trouble. If we play with some intensity for 20/25 minutes game will be as good as over.

They’re missing quite a few players York as well (Danny Kirmond, Chris Clarkson, Jordan Baldwinson and Kris Brinning are four with superleague experience), so anything less than a comfortable win will be poor really. I’m not expecting 60 or 70 points like you got in the cup games against championship clubs a few years ago but a good, solid 20-30 win shouldn’t be beyond us.

Bit of an exaggeration, I wanted to give two kids (Hanley and Kilner) a run back when we thought everyone bar Marshall would be fit and available. I get that in the short term the least risky option is to always play your strongest side, but longer term that tends to lead to lads being thrown straight into the deep end against a good team when injuries strike (see Murphy v Leeds in the 2012 play offs which basically wrecked his career as an example). It also runs the risk of burning out your best players later in the season (which is why we didn't make the Grand Final in 2011 despite being the best team in the league IMO).

We only played for 20 minutes and still beat Leigh

That's never going to impress Jukesays. You're wrecking the system now!