a few out of position and playing a lot of youngsters against experienced players

It’s far from ideal and the game is way more risky then it would’ve been had we been at full strength. We still should win but it’s far from being a given.

Looking forward to it anyway.

Early stages of the season throw up shocks even when sides are at full strength.

They may be slightly more battle hardened than we are, but I do think if we get our attitude right then we should win the game but I don't envisage a runaway victory.

If they go with the same side that played in Chris Hill's testimonial then one centre-wing partnership has four SL games between them. The other side is Thornley and Tierney who are experienced but hardly superstars. They're capable of causing an upset if they have a very good day and we have a very bad day but I think you're seriously overrating the quality of this Leigh side. They aren't as good as when they were last in SL. With the injuries I'll downgrade my prediction of Wigan by 30 to Wigan by 12.

we will see, they have people out of quarantine now and injuries back, I dont think Leigh are worse than HKR or Wakey to be fair and they give us hard games

At Leigh.
Their first SL match in a couple of years.
Home supporters allowed in.
No away fans.
Their Cup Final.
They always perform well against us, especially away.
Wigan missing a number of first teamers.
Most of our team not played a friendly, going in cold.

Will I be shocked if we get pumped? Absolutely not.

Behind closed doors at Headingley isn't it?

Just look at the pack even before they get injuries:

Flower - Had a good career with us but wasn't always making the 17 last year. Good signing for them nonetheless.
Hood - Championship journeyman, out of his depth
Ioane - Again just a bog standard Championship player. Did nothing of note for London when they were in SL then they got rid.
Hellewell - As above. Two of their best forwards are from the team that got London relegated.
Thompson - Has plenty SL experience but he never really did anything of note. Made the natural move to the Championship after opportunities dried up in SL. Like Flower he's a good guy to have in the side but not as one of your best players.
Bell - Unknown quantity (or to me he is anyway) as he's still very new to first team rugby.

Wakey - Fifita, Wood, Arona, Ashurst, Tanginoa, Westerman
Hull KR - Vete, Parcell, Sims, Takairangi, Linnett, Hadley

Flower walks into those teams. Thompson maybe pinches a bench spot. The rest of that Leigh pack would be sat in the stands even at Wakey or KR unless they had injuries. I feel bad for Leigh because they had inadequate time to prepare for SL. I don't want them to do badly but I'm struggling to see how they're on a par with Wakey or KR. I think people are getting mistakenly thinking we're up against the same Leigh that last got relegated from SL. That side had Hock, Higham, Patterson, Stewart, Hansen and Tickle in the pack and still only managed 5 wins. I'm not saying this time they will finish on 0 points but it's a possibility IMO.

I think you might be thinking about the game in May which could be the first one where fans come back. Friday's game is at Headingley.

Meh!

So it is......

Had the jab yesterday, can I blame Astra Zenica?

I expected Leigh to be far busier in their recruitment but financially it can’t be easy and the lack of time adds a further barrier. They’re also recruiting in a time when overseas players probably look at the situation with Covid over here and think they’ll continue playing Queensland Cup or scraping the odd game in the NRL whilst living a reasonable style of day to day life in the Sun (well apart from around Sydney these last few days).

Their squad is decent. I’d say it’s better than the one London put together in 2019 and if they get a similar spirit going then they could stay up but it’s certainly not at the level of the squads at Wakey or HKR as you point out.