I always wonder if we could get more out of friendlies. We never see a full team run out before the season kicks off. I wonder if we would be better served by playing combinations of players together to build up some fluency in these run outs. Obviously getting all the halfbacks/ pivots working together would be beneficial. We seem to use the warm up games more to sort out which fringe players will be going where.

I must admit that that is an issue, however I would like to see our 6, 7, 9 combinations given a run before they have to do it for real.

I’d hope we’d go pretty strong against Leigh and Swinton given we look reasonably fit and healthy at the minute. It’s looking like our spine is going to change so the practice at getting them combinations going will be needed.

No point playing Lockers but I’d hope we’d see all of Escare, Tomkins, Williams, Powell and Leuluai in at least one of those fixtures. We obviously had Williams and Leuluai away at the World Cup but they hardly had to break sweat given the minutes they played (and due to an early exit in Tommy’s case).

Reserves v Skolars on Fri 19th - £20
First team v Leigh Sun 21st - £20
Reserves v Swinton Sun 28th - £10

1. Anyone any idea on what kind of team you will be playing against Leigh for the friendly? 2. How many do you think will attend? 3. This is our current squad,but i don't know who will get a run out. viewtopic.php?f=22&t=608958

1. Anyone any idea on what kind of team you will be playing against Leigh for the friendly? 2. How many do you think will attend? 3. This is our current squad,but i don't know who will get a run out. viewtopic.php?f=22&t=608958

Cheers pal.

£20 to watch the kids play in London is steep!

I don’t miss any regular season games but gave up on preseason games a few years ago.

I’ll take Pre-season games seriously when Wigan do

I reckon a tenner for the Swinton game will be a decent way to spend a Sunday afternoon whatever team we put out. The Leigh game we usually lose - so I guess armed with that information you takes your choice. I suppose it depends how much you've missed the rugby since September. For mine, I'll be going especially as I miss two weeks whilst the club are over in Australia (but that's another thread!).

I don't bother with friendlies these days. The Old Locker cup matches used to offer up some spirit in the past, and often a bit of biff.

I’d imagine it’ll be the strongest side we’ve put out in the Leigh fixture for a long time. Even if we rest the international players, we’ll still be pretty strong. Something along the lines of-

Escare
Davies Sarginson Gildart Burgess
Tomkins Shorrocks
Sutton Powell Flower
Tomkins Farrell Isa

Subs
Nuuausala Clubb Tautai Hamlin Wells Marshall Ganson Field

I hope so. Pretty strong side that. Our new squad needs to be tested and I'm really looking forward to this one.

I'd go:

FB Escare
RW Davies
RC Sarginson
LC Gildart
LW Burgess
SO Williams
SH S.Tomkins
P Nu'uausala
H Powell
P Flower
SR J.Tomkins
SR Farrell
LF Sutton

S Clubb
S Ganson
S Tautai
S Isa
S Shorrocks
S Hamlin
S Marshall
S Forsyth


Missing:
Manfredi - Injured
Leuluai, Bateman, O'Loughlin and Navarette - Played in the world cup
Bretherton, Higginson, Davies, Field and Barnes - More than 1 injury away from the 17. Better off getting a full game v Skolars than 10 mins v Leigh

I've included Williams despite him playing in the world cup because I think it's important for him to get experience playing together with his new HB partner.