Not the one I'd have gone for...

Seems like a bit of a missed opportunity for Farrimond to play with French and Douglas to get a game too..

Looking at the 18, I still think we'll see a few rotations i.e we're not going with three hookers. You'd expect Eckersley will probably feature too. Chan & Nesemba open up a few options.

Ultimately, Peet has earned the right to pick the 18 and knows the squad and how they are feeling.

Really looking forward to seeing Kruise get going for Wigan - his attitude to pre-season seems to have been fantastic and he seems motivated to be the best he's ever been this year.

Yeah, I’d still expect some rests. I’d like to see Eckersley either in his natural position of centre or maybe at fullback but either way, it would be nice to see him with the ball in his hands a bit more than at London.

As a minimum O’Neill, Thompson and Farrell should sit this one out IMO.

I'd agree with that NK with possibly the addition of Dupree to be rested too.

Oops, you are correct.

Serves me right for skip reading the team and just assuming

Quote NickyKiss="NickyKiss"Yeah, I’d still expect some rests. I’d like to see Eckersley either in his natural position of centre or maybe at fullback but either way, it would be nice to see him with the ball in his hands a bit more than at London. As a minimum O’Neill, Thompson and Farrell should sit this one out IMO.'" Rocky at fullback https://www.wigantoday.net/sport/rugby- ... ck-4563031

Quote NickyKiss="NickyKiss"Yeah, I’d still expect some rests. I’d like to see Eckersley either in his natural position of centre or maybe at fullback but either way, it would be nice to see him with the ball in his hands a bit more than at London. As a minimum O’Neill, Thompson and Farrell should sit this one out IMO.'" Rocky at fullback https://www.wigantoday.net/sport/rugby- ... ck-4563031

Quote Zig="Zig"Rocky at fullback https://www.wigantoday.net/sport/rugby- ... ck-4563031'" He’s also confirmed on Wigan TV that Isa is getting a rest and Nsemba is starting. Great opportunity for him to push for a spot.

Quote Zig="Zig"Rocky at fullback https://www.wigantoday.net/sport/rugby- ... ck-4563031'" He’s also confirmed on Wigan TV that Isa is getting a rest and Nsemba is starting. Great opportunity for him to push for a spot.

Hopefully he'll come through with flying colours, we'll need every attacking threat we've got against Saints and with all due respect to Isa he doesn't bring much of that.

Don’t totally understand why Hampshire is playing FB. For me he’s poor in the extreme at FB and if say Field was out long term I would expect French to revert to FB and we would play Hampshire at 6. I can only assume that French is effectively not much more than a rookie at 6 therefore, Peet wants to further improve the relationship between Smith and French in the halves.
I like the idea of Nsemba playing with Farrell and hopefully he will play the full 80.
We need to give Forber some decent game time. If Peet doesn’t think that he’s ready for a combative game against Salford then don’t pick him. Sheffield on paper should be the perfect game to give him 40 minutes on the pitch.

At some point Farrell has got to be rested unless when Walters is fit we play with only 2 props on the bench.

I'd have rested Farrell over Isa without a doubt. With all due respect to Isa, we'd miss Farrell far more should one pick up an injury/suspension and both of them are in the latter stages of their careers and both have played big minutes this season, so it's as simple as choosing which one is more valuable to us IMO and resting them.

Looking forward it'll be interesting to see whether Peet sticks to three props on the bench or goes with two and one second rower. Personally I'm hoping to see a Walters/Nsemba rotation soon - would give us more strike out wide and more flexibility. Isa has been a great signing for Wigan but I don't particularly like seeing him in the starting 13 these days - he offers very little attacking threat. The one upside is that he's an 80 minute player so you don't waste interchanges.

The other player I keep going back and forth on is Liam Byrne. Clearly a very solid and tough player and strong defensively but still gets dominated too much on contact for me. Its not all about making meters but you'd at least like to see him win the collision more often than he does. In an ideal world where everyone is fit I think we're probably strongest with Thompson and a fit Ethan Havard (assuming he's in form) with Dupree and either Cooper or Mago off the bench. Maybe that's harsh on Byrne but as I said I go back and forth with the guy.