I see no benefit to us picking Clubb at SR. Looked poor every time i've seen him play, lethagic, slow, penalty machine. Stick with Bateman and run with it, he's the next SR superstar

I think people reservations with Bateman is his size and the fact that playing alongside Farrell would make for a small second row. He is however exceptionally strong for his size and he was punching holes all over the shop yesterday.

He's a must for the 17 and possibly for the 13.

No, he was great in the play offs, but they were four months ago and he was average before them amd now he looks average again. You seem to be minimising his average form over 25 games, including his most recent one, in favour of three games, that makes sense if they were an indicator of his current form, but they aren't!


Yes that's what I'm saying, in addition to losing the plot I wish our players didn't play well in finals. Yes the playoffs were 4 months ago, but hey...there have been no games in that time.

Friendlies are for fitness only. How can you gauge form in friendlies? Surely you have to look at who you are playing. How would you judge yesterday's opponents? How strong were they?

The only game in the last 4 months to gauge form is the Huddersfield game. If you think that 1 game is enough to assess an individual then only Taylor plays against the Roosters.

You seem to want to drop Green based on his performances over the entirity of last season yet giving him no credit for performing when it mattered, in the biggest games. He is part of a half back combination that delivered the double.

Have you even considered the damage to his career that you could do by playing Powell against the Roosters (e.g. Jack Murphy against Leeds). Let's face it we are really up against it a week on Saturday. Shaun Wane knows what he is doing. Powell will replace Green in time. But that time is NOT YET.

If there was no point in friendlies besides fitness they would just spend the day training instead. Powell has done everything right v Leigh, Saints, Huddersfield and NZ. Yes there were no trophies on the line but three of those teams took some beating and all their players will have been eager to impress. If Green had been great all last season then just had a quiet couple of games then I wouldn't be saying is, but realistically three great games four months ago doesn't give me the same blind faith in him that I would have in McIlorum or Lockers who we have seen step up to the plate time and time again.

That Jack Murphy comparison is laughable, he had played one first team game v Bradford before that and was in the most exposed position on the field against the best play kicker in the league. Powell isn't straight out of the academy, he has 20 games under his belt against a range of opposition, it would do his career no harm whatsoever to play in the WCC, and I fully expect him to do so albeit out of position

I think the general feel on here is that Clubb should be dropped. But interesting to see how Wane views his performances of late.

Nah i wasn't thinking of playing hampshire out of position i just think we need some spark on the bench to bring on att he right times throughout the game, sort of a plan b so we could either spell bowen or throw hampshire into the halves he's the most skill full back that we have by a long way i feel and we cannot ignore that against a highly skilled team in the roosters. Not only do they have skill in abundance but they have huge power and probably greater fitness levels due to the weather out there so i really think that Micky Mac will have to put in 80 minutes like he did against huddersfield alowing us to put some big men on the bench to cover the forwards who will no doubt be blowing in the humidity a bench of Pettybourne, Burke, Dudson and Hampshire would be the way to go to match the physical strenghth of SWB and co. Either way only only a week and 2 days to go, beers already in the fridge cooling.

Yeh i think the general feeling is that he hasn't yet adopted the Wigan way and there are bigger units in the squad who defend better and have got more games under their belt doing things the Wigan way, but it will be interesting to see if he plays him, personally id drop him to 19th man but Waney makes the calls wel have to wait and see

he played well against saints but awful against hudds and NZW. I think he will take a couple of months getting used to he looks a little lost in defence.

And running the wrong lines in attack.

Forgive me but I think you are over emphasising the usefulness of friendlies and you certainly can't use them to gauge form.

Friendlies are for match fitness and maybe to try new things out. Remember when Hock came back from his ban, looked as fit as he'd ever been, but was blowing after 5 minutes, because he wasn't match fit. The players need the friendlies to get that sharpness back that no amount of gym work can give them. But the quality of the opposition needs to be taken into account. Out of Leigh, Saints and NZW only the Saints game can we verify the quality of the opposition and Green played well.

1. Hampshire
2. Charnley
3. Goulding
4. Sarginson
5. Burgess
6. Green
7. Smith
8. Taylor
9. McIllorum
10. Dudson
11. Bateman
12. Farrell
13 O'Loughlin

Subs
Pettybourne
Powell
Clubb
Flower

Bowen
Charnley
Goulding
Sarginson
Burgess
Green
Smith
Flower
MM
Taylor
Farrell
Clubb
O'Loughlin

Pettybourne
Dudson
Hughes
Crosby

This is what I think will be played. I think SW will use a prop/SR strong bench with Powell (unluckily) missing out.

If we are talking about match fitness Lockers should not get near the team, yet everybody on here has him in even though he has hardly played during the last few months.
I hope we are not going to get into a situation when we play an unfit Lockers out of desperation and then have him missing for weeks afterwards.