Crosby, Tomkins, Taylor, Hughes, Burke and Farrell.

What a young pack that is.

I think Farrell is the old man of the group as he'll be 23 in July.

Very encouraging, but wish we had a few more experienced forwards back for Friday. Guardian reckons Lockers has a broken rib, which is worrying given the other absentees.

I was told cracked, what difference that makes I have no idea.

Guessing is broken rib is a complete break rather than a crack along the bone, and therefore a crack would be quicker to heal? Stepping well outside my area of expertise here, though!

Rib injuries are painful , but without an xray no-one can say it's broken or cracked

The only way of treating a broken rib is by resting it , it can't be immobilised

After the game Lockers did an interview with SKY on the pitch and said he could have come back on but was rested as a precaution and will more than likely play Friday.

Wane said he and McIlorum will both play on Friday.

Sorry, dragged this off into a medical thread

On topic again, I think the most pleasing thing about this season has been that, despite losing a large number of senior players in the off season, and a load more to injury, the young pack is still competing well. Frankly, Widnes were shocking today, particularly in the first half, and the pack will face far tougher matches ahead - but it's a massive plus for me.

Just hope people are understanding if we get steamrollered at some point this season by a more experienced pack.

Didn't see that - was too busy trying to get back inside after the match before hypothermia set in. Don't think I've ever been that cold at a game before.

Lockers being out would be a blow but I'm past worrying because I know we'll still give it a real go. A few years back when we were struggling against relegation I think all we all wanted was a team that would give 100% each and every week. It got to the point where I wasn't bothered about winning anymore because just showing some fight would have at least been a ray of sunshine.

We've got a side at the moment with possibly the best attitude I've seen in a Wigan side. They all look honoured to be pulling on the shirt and they all look to be loving life at the club.

I'm not sure we'll win anything this year but I'm having a massive amount of fun watching this team.

I'm with you on this. How pleasing is it to see the effort week after week from such a young team. The thought of where they can go as a group in the next few years is frightening!

They were piling in to Widnes at 56-0 up trying to force errors as though it was the first 5 mins.

Attitude can only get you so far but thankfully these young lads have much more then that.

Summed up fantastically.

We all went through that horrible period, and at the time, effort and performance were a million miles away.

Thankfully Wigan have grasped the nettle on youth development and kept the youngsters,instead of giving them away as soon as possible, and it really is a joy to watch.... hopefully this group can go on to achieve something similar to what Leeds have done this past decade (though that would be tremendously difficult)

Well put and a good sense of realism re how bad Widnes were but credit where it is due as I thought we'd get steam rollered v Les Cats.

Saints must still be favourites next week. There is no way you would expect to play with three props and those three be Flower, Taylor and Crosby and win against a top side. Still, fingers crossed!