Thanks!

This..

If it where pre season then there's sense to it but no it's at the start of the season after the injury nightmare of last year, surely an unneeded game.

Burgess is out. Replaced by Marshall.

I'm glad Vatuvei isn't playing then (not that I'd wish injury on anyone)! Marshall looked very good/productive ball in hand against Leigh, hopefully his defence has improved. Do we know how bad Burgess' injury is? We're a bit thin on the ground for wingers if he is out for long.

Wane said Burgess and O’Loughlin should be fine for the following week (not sure that’s true about SOL though).

Burgess is suffering with a lot of muscle tightness and reoccurring slight strains...he's still not at 100% IMHO.

I'll be pleasantly surprised if S O'L plays before Good Friday, as soon as he got on the plane for the World Cup you knew he'd miss the start of the season

Marshall can't do anything about his size, but if he can improve his defence *a bit*, he'll be a real valued member of the squad. I did wonder at one point if the club were going to dump him; I'm glad they haven't, cos he is a natural finisher with real pace and footwork. He sure wouldn't have been caught by Mark Minichiello last season!

I hope Marshall kills it and we get Manfredi back at some point as well because I want every last drop of effort coaxed out of Joe Burgess. In Burgess we have a lad who is ultra talented but I can’t help but feel the lad has got a little bit too big for his boots and he needs a reality check. He’s talking again about wanting to give the NRL another go but firstly he needs to find some form for Wigan. He was a shadow of his 2014/15 self last year and he’s never a player who I feel steps up when the going gets tough.

I agree with you completely,in fairness and one of my gripes with him last season was this attitude of playing for Wigan while waiting for the NRL to come calling again, which I doubt they will, but thats by the by, playing for Wigan,is in my humble opinion the pinnacle of any players career and as such they should all remember that.

I do worry that our backs look lightweight when faced with all these big South Sea Islanders, especially when defending on the right hand side.

It's the pinnacle of a players' career if he doesn't make it in the NRL or international rugby union. There is no point pretending otherwise, we need to find ways to work around that fact. If Burgess has a great season for us so that he can pick up an NRL gig, that's fine. If Marshall comes in and aims to do the same, and we sign a reserve who wants to do the same, that's also fine.