I’d just go with Brad O’Neill. He looks very comfortable when he plays, has good aggression and I don’t think we’ll lose a great deal (if anything) on Powell’s poor form this season so far (and I’m far from a Sam Powell knocker). Harry Smith needs a break IMO. A Saints derby looks beyond him on current form. He had a great game against Leigh but has gone backwards since. I’m still confident he’ll crack it at some point but not under this coach.

Bateman being out would be a big blow. It’s been a nothing season for him so far sadly. I guess his illness is him being pinged or having had Covid with him now missing two weeks. If they are out I’d go-

Hardaker
Hanley Bibby Gildart Marshall
Field Hastings
Havard O’Neill Partington
Smithies Farrell Isa

Subs
Bullock
Pearce-Paul
Byrne
Shorrocks

I’d start Isa and Partington in the middle together because we need to set some sort of defensive tone and guys like Clubb, Bullock or Shorrocks won’t do that (for varying reasons). If we don’t start quickly we’ll be out of the game by half time.

Agreed, though I fear the worst Friday. If we start like we did v HKR the game as a contest will be over by the 30minute mark and it’ll turn into nothing more than an opposed St Helens training session.

Field and Hastings must start in the halves. What we can’t have is Field sat on the bench for a ridiculous amount of time like last week, it’s utterly pointless in even having him in the side if that’s the case. Sadly though I fully expect the team to be

Zak
Hanley/Halsall
Bibby
Gildart
Marshall
Smith
Hastings
Bullock
O’Neill (or Powell if fit)
Clubb
Smithies
KPP
Isa (the back row is interchangeable so irrelevant who’s where)

Field
Havard
Partington
Shorrocks

Why does nobody pick Clark last two games he played scored in both games and improved 100%

I keep thinking this. He's not the long term option, but he offers more than Clubb.

Likewise, I'd have him in over Shorrocks. That's not because I don't like the lad btw, it's because we need size.

I don’t because I find it a pointless waste of energy thinking he could be in. It clearly looks like he’s being frozen out. On the flip side I do find the energy to leave Clubb out, even though it’s equally pointless doing so.

This, plus you can bet anything you like Bullock will be dropped for Partington on Friday

Agreed. And Shorrocks could do with a break, more than most. Saying that, Lam will probably play him at dummy-half again...

Glad Powell's missing out.
Sam has left the field with a head injury two matches out of the last three and subsequently failed both H.I.A tests. Over 16 days.
That's too much to ignore and I do hope his missing the game is due to looking after his medical welfare.

I think it will be far closer than is being suggested on here. We don't tend to hammer anyone, let alone a team that defends well against relatively structured play like Wigan.

No Farrell?

If Saints score early it could well be a rout.

I think a couple of people have mentioned that it’s important for Wigan to start strongly and I couldn’t agree more.

Suspect a lot of the field work has been done in wet and windy conditions this week and wondering which team will benefit most if we get wet conditions on Friday?

Think Powell should miss out. Duty of care, remember his bad concussion week 1 against Wire at home last year?

Think Bateman will play, involved in all the pre match media etc.

Think O’Neill and Burrouh need to play to cover 9 (maybe we could get away with Shorrocks covering for 25 minutes actually).

If Hastings is at 9 I’ll cry. He’ll play well there no doubt (he’d play well at prop if needed) but he needs to be in the halves.

Watch a video of the Saints v Castleford game.

As Punch would say, "That's the way to do it"

Difference being of course. With a Wane team you know the team is guaranteed to be in their faces, defend like trojans and make it difficult for the opposition. But we have Lam........ and I haven't got a clue what goes on when I watch. No cohesion, no guidance and no clue what they are supposed to do.

get them down to 12 men?