Just to clarify my post, I'm not criticising Clark's inclusion. I actually thought he played well in the reserves without doing anything eye-catching. As a workhorse prop he actually looked like the prop Clubb should be. I'm only critical of his inclusion in preference to Bullock who did everything Clark did and more besides and also outshone him in the Leeds friendly. There is nothing on the face of it to suggest Clark played himself into contention over Bullock who seems the more natural metre maker and has the more natural offloading game, both being things we could currently use, especially if we're to play the brand of rugby Lam has continually promised. Whatever the reasons (and I'm sure he must have them) it looks from the outside that Lam is shooting himself in the foot. Obviously that is not allowing for anything we don't know about.

For my own part I'd like to have seen Bullock in for Burgess and Clark in for Clubb. That said, I'd be more than happy to be proven wrong and that Clubb raises his game in the manner he (all too) occasionally does.

show me the proof? You guys were caught red handed.

My gripe with Bullocks omission from purely a playing perspective is down to two things really-

1-He outplayed all our props in his two pre season games (not just Clark and Clubb)

2-The side is crying out for a prop who chews up the metres. Saints start with two and we don’t have any in the current side. I’d have thought Saints and Salford in the play offs would’ve changed the safety first approach to our forward selections.

It has to be off the field issues with Bullock because nothing else makes sense.

Yeah but that doesn’t matter because its not Wigan. They also would have stayed up if they had beat Wakefield but they didn’t. In all honesty its best thing that happened with Cas as they came back better and are now as strong as ever. Which is great for the game.

George Burgess is selected in spite of not being fit and got a obvious injury while Bullock who has had two good games in the Testimonial and Reserve games is dropped from the first team squad.

Unless he got a injury in training, the lad must be gutted!

To be fair though with the Bullock situation. If he keeps being late for training (as suggested, i don't know for a fact) then i think it's right. It sets a precedent within the squad. Shaun Wane was a big advocate of punishing players who were late for training and he had the respect of everybody. I think it's a good thing, and good for Lam for showing he is no pushover.

Lam must have his reasons, but they'd better be good ones

Because we got whacked in the forwards by Warrington, and if we get whacked again by Cas - and this time don't have the advantage of opposition indiscipline to see us through - the question will be asked.

These are the kinds of decisions that coaches live and die by, and as far as I'm aware, Lam only has one year left on his contract.

Quote cas all the way="cas all the way":lol: show me the proof? You guys were caught red handed.'" This article pretty much sums it up. You cheated to gain promotion in 2005 so whether or not we overspent in 06 should have had no relevance to you whatsoever as you should still have been in the division below. https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2006/ ... ague.sport

Quote cas all the way="cas all the way":lol: show me the proof? You guys were caught red handed.'" This article pretty much sums it up. You cheated to gain promotion in 2005 so whether or not we overspent in 06 should have had no relevance to you whatsoever as you should still have been in the division below. https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2006/ ... ague.sport

Not to mention that we weren't actually charged with breaching the salary cap, but the spirit of the salary cap because we found a loophole that was perfectly legal.

Stop letting facts get in the way of some more Wigan bashing ha ha ha

Sorry

Exactly NK. The point regarding the playoffs is of particular interest as Lam has insisted that he would have done things differently had he knew he had more than one year at the start of last season and that they had addressed that this time around. I assumed that the way our forwards went about their business was one of those things as it has clearly become past it's sell by.

I don't want this to come across as Lam bashing though. It's really just about this one selection which I feel he has got wrong. I do, however, take on board the point about turning up late for training though, if that is true.

On that point, it would be really disappointing of Bullock were that the cause. It's not as though it's difficult to turn up on time. If he's a poor timekeeper just aim to arrive an hour earlier. It's not exactly rocket science, is it? It would be such a shame if he hamstrung his own career for such a trivial reason. I shudder to think just how stupid you'd have to be to allow that to happen.