plus, pat's already in with a shout of top try scorer, goal kicker and points scorer as well as farrells wigan points record. so, the team on friday should give pat all the assistance needed to finish top in all three categories.

Hence why it's the record

Roberts omitted from the squad.

S Tomkins,
Charnley, Gleeson, Carmont, Richards,
Deacon, Leuluai,
Fielden, Riddell, Coley,
J Tomkins, Farrell,
O'Loughlin.

Feka, Tuson, Prescott, McIlorum.

I can't understand why Amos is out unless he is injured or some other domestic matter.

Give him another week in the reserves. he just needs to be fully fit to fire I think, he's said as much really in his interviews. Give him a mini pre-season and get him back 100% firing for the playoffs.

What they may do is to play Roberts at stand off in the U20's again to give him more game involvement.

IMO Sam is better at 1, but I'd play him as a 6 on friday for damage control. Wrap him up in cotton wool. Use Amos as FB he'll still get game involvement and he played fantastically there in the past.

Works for me.

Gives him a good 80 minute workout in less physical conditions.

The team have had two weeks off in the last month. Why would anyone need another rest?

They have also busted a gut over 26 rounds to get us safe at the top with a game to go. Plus we haven't been able to rotate team much because injuries have dictated the side most weeks. Plus we have the play offs and final to think about, we may well have to play four games in a row against top 6 opposition, so an extra weeks rest might just help to keep them fresh, also if one of our top players got injured in a dead rubber we would be kicking ourselves. Also its a good chance to get a look at some of the fringe players to see who's in form ready for next week. Phil Clarke made a point about this last year when he said that resting a couple of players for a dead rubber doesn't neccessarily weaken the team, because the players coming in will be trying to break into the team, rather than just thinking about next week.

I disagree. Now is not the time start looking at "fringe" players or messing about with the team. The play-offs start here and we need to play with that intensity on Friday so we don't go in cold in week 1. As for injuries, they are part of the game which is why we have a squad, you can't keep players in cotton wool and then expect them to play at 100% in a high intensity game.

We are in a better position than our major rivals who haven't had the same rest we have over the last month. I'm struggling to see how any more is beneficial.