I was going to say hopefully nothing major with Liam Byrne but thinking on, I think he’s banned isn’t he? He got a ban during the World Cup iirc.

The only other player missing that is a minor concern is Harvie Hill. Maybe he’s being loaned out like Silva or has a knock.

Yes re. Byrne, pretty sure it was just one match so he should be available for HKR

I believe the plan is to loan Hill out for a month given that the Reserves don't play for that long.

That would be a wise move. He’s probably not going to play here in the first month or two of this season but if he can go and smash it elsewhere, a chance may not be far down the track.

Byrne’s ban was farcical given what others got away with. Why did he not serve his ban in one of the other pre-season friendlies?

Impressive display from Wigan. Thought King looked very dangerous with ball in hand his ability to offload is going to cause teams some problems this year.

Smith looks to have upped his physicality and Cust looked very dangerous. KPP another lad who looks to have picked up his physicality.

Some nice touches around the ruck from all our 9s.

Field and French carrying on where they left off, Cooper looked very good in his spell too. Smithies looks every bit a Wigan 13.

Few bits to work on, sliding defence was caught out a few times in the first half.

Only negative for me was Mago who came up with 2 errors in his short spell.

Can only be pleased. Some tightening up to do in defence, with a bit of line jumping going on but that’s understandable.

The attack is going to be extremely dangerous again, probably more so with a clear increase in quality in the centres. I thought Cust was extremely impressive and there were nice touches from many others. I really liked what Forber brought again in his short spell. If you have a team coming at you with Field, French, Cust etc and guys like KPP and King offloading, the last thing you need adding is a guy sniping at you from dummy half as well.

Very impressive first hit out. Cust was outstanding in all areas but what really stood out from a team perspective was the amount of offload. Cooper, Mago, KPP and Toby King all look to be adept in this area. King was excellent with his offloads today and both centres seem to have added threat to the team. We'll be a hard team to prevent scoring this year, even more so than last.

Particularly encouraging was that we didn't seem to lose anything when the replacements came on. We still looked a threat.

Was a good hit out.

Like you mentioned about the sliding defence was mainly on Kings side which hopefully just put it down to the partnership developing

I didn’t see the other error from Mago but the first one looked like he had the ball reefed. To his credit he looked to be doing more mins. He had some good drives and was looking for the offload

Salford looked good. Bit rusty like but should be causing teams problems this year

I thought that both our half backs played well today. We are going to score plenty of points this season and, if our forwards can step it up we will be a real threat. I was slightly disappointed with O’Neil, Mago and KPP today, I think they need to inject themselves more into the game. After saying that, they are probably still blowing the cobwebs away. We have some exciting younger players coming through the ranks. Forber’s cameo was great and if he continues his development at this rate he will pushing for a place in the first team next season. Eckersley and Douglas look good athletes and if Junior can get aggression into his game he could be a top forward.

Overall, a good workout with a lot more to come.

Very good - as good as you could expect from a pre season game. The first try was a cracker.

King was the biggest plus - looked far more energetic. Clearly been told to look for the offload.

Shame that Mago came up with some errors - I suspect the squad numbers are an accurate reflection and he's 6th choice prop atm.

Suspect Forber will overtake O'Neill.

My main takeaways

Was interesting that Havard and Cooper started. Wonder have they overtaken Singleton?

For the vast majority of last year, Smith played on the right and Cust the left. They were the opposite today. Both naturally left sided. They played well today.

Two centres looked good. King had 5 quality offloads in the first half, but he defence worries me.

Attacking brand of rugby seems to still be with us, first try was a beauty.

KPP looked superb.

Good hit out and it was nice to see two centres. I expected Warddle to be decent but had little questions over King but I thought he was very good also and seems really happy. Bevan and Jai only need a sniff to turn nothing into something that edge of the seat rugby is a pleasure to watch. Marshy is relentless pound for pound as good as any. Miski must be best back up reserve winger finishing well both times. Smith looks like Tommy has been teaching him how to drop that shoulder and twitch it into ribs the rest of his play looks comfortable and Cust was also very good today, both leading the chase well off down field kicks. I though Cust especially when Forber came on with his sharp passing and scoots from acting half, seemed to benefit, it seemed to give our ball players more time I can't see how Forber won't force his was into the team sooner rather than later, very exciting player. For me everyone else was solid Mago's mistakes was down to a lifted leg and a strip both pens on a different day the whack to his lower back ended his time pretty quickly so hard to judge. Smithies Havard Cooper Ellis looked solid same with back row.
We got stretched when they moved the ball, but not many better teams ball in hand and they only got the one score. Bit of work needed on way we slide but should come with time. Best thing is the young lads all look able to make the step up I wouldn't have an issue with them being used on occasions.
Good game for Sam's testimonial well deserved.

I don't like to read too much into friendlies, but both King and Wardle looked good yesterday.

It should be a breath of fresh air to have 2 out and out centres in there this season. I suspect the 2 of them will make us realise just how much we’ve been ‘making do’ these past few seasons with guys like Bibby (who I like as a utility), Isa and KPP going in there on a regular basis.