Who's position is under threat ?
Before a ball had been kicked I think everyone would have said Tierney but he seems (IMO) to be getting better with every game while our half-backs to be blunt are offering nothing at the moment.
Sam to 6 and Smith/Williams fighting for the 7 shirt ?

Don't be silly, all the wet willies on here have already written his career off... Get with the program, and be depressed...

Sam to cover all positions in training, see where we are when he is back. Williams the most likely to be worried, stability of Smith would be needed with Sam's return at the moment.

Depending on McIlorum's fitness & Powell's form, how about Smith to 9, Tomkins & Williams in the halves?

I'd go for that, as i said, we would need to see where we are when he becomes available.... I'm a fan of Williams, but form a little sluggish at the moment... Early season tho, and he made a couple of good breaks against Salford, who were MUCH vaunted at the start of the season.

He's still about 6 weeks away isn't he? Might as well wait until then to decide... form is only temporary.

Just on Tierney, agree he has far exceeded expectations. Just needs to improve his support play. We made a few breaks against Salford and he was nowhere to be seen, but that will come in time I suspect. Bringing the ball out, under the high ball and in defence he has been great. Probably my MoM on Thursday.

If Tierney continues the way he has started Wane has an interesting decision. I'd have a think about Williams to hooker. Smith has not played well since Green left and he has shouldered all the responsibility, I think a halves partnership of Smith and Tomkins could work very well.

Maybe. I still think Williams is a real talent; he had a slow start to last season, but came good. And, as noted, even though he was very poor against Salford, he still made some telling breaks. And it's not like our team is full of players who can do that.

For me if his form stays and lets be fair he's still young he will make mistakes i'd keep Teirney at full back and give Williams a rest he is so out of sorts and again we forget hes still young rest him and let his for reappear

1 Manfredi

2 Charnley
3 Gelling
4 Sarginson
5 Gildart

6 Tomkins
7 Smith

9 Williams

Tbf though, I don't like Williams at 9, but Manfredi at 1 could be box office.

Still think his best position i easily in the halves, putting him at fullback has actually probably hampered his potential to become a world class half
He isnt comfortable under high balls and can be a turnstile in defence (how is his defensive organisation btw? Ive only seen him live 5-6 times), if Tierney or who ever is better at that stuff then surely 6/7 is his best choice
Your only worry might be his kicking game after 4-5 years at fullback, but Darren Lockyer and Anthony Milford did it fine, and the way Sky go on about him hes obviously better than them right?



You guys are aways complaining about smith right? Why not see if Williams has what it takes to run games?

Criticism of Williams is well overblown, remember he had a shorten offseason cause of England commitments. He'll get it sorted. When all are fit,

Tomkins
Manfredi
Gelling
Sarginson
Charnley
Williams
Smith

Sorted, Sam being back will be huge. Leadership, organisational, xfactor.

I'd go:

FB 22 Tierney
RW 5 Manfredi
RC 3 Gelling
LC 20 Gildart
LW 2 Charnley
SO.1 S.Tomkins
SH 6 Williams

H 13 O'Loughlin

S 7 Smith

Nothing against Sarginson, just think he's our third best centre on form. Smith average at best at SH but I think he would be an improvement on Powell as a bench hooker. He played well at 9 for ua when he first signed

Definitely Tomkins to full back for me, although Tierney is doing well and improving.

I think our whole game plan in attack revolves around having a creator at full back as well as a player that will offer his own running threat. That is why I'm convinced we'll see Tomkins back at 1 and unless we change the way we play it's the correct call IMO. When he is back I expect to see other players games improve because he's the type of player that brings out the best in those around him.

Great to have options though.

I think our areas of improvement need to come from:
creative roles within the team (1, 6,7,9)
pack leader, i.e. a big powerful experience prop

Tomkins will provide the 'x factor' from the back, he has to be played at FB. No one else in our team can come close to Sam, he needs to be played at FB given a free role to attack either flank running out wide either attacking the line or setting up his outside backs. At half back you're looking for someone to 'set up' other players/ball runners as a play maker, often only operating on one side of the pitch.

Who should be in the halves? Williams will come good. He's young, will attack the line and has a quick step. Smith, questionable. He's a good player but is he good enough? That's the debate. Hampshire? I don't get the hype to be honest, not in the senior team at least, if he would have impressed massively he wouldn't be bench warming at Cas.

I like Micky as a player, never been sold on him as a 9 though. I think he'd be a good 13, hardworking tackling machine and enforcer.

Tomkins
Charnley (although his 'facial injury' is an odd one') Sarge Gelling Manfredi
Williams (NEW 7)
Flower (NEW 9) Lockers
Bateman Faz
Micky
-----------------------------
NEW INTERCHANGE 9 NEW EXPERIENCE PROP Clubb, J Tomkins

I think our areas of improvement need to come from:
creative roles within the team (1, 6,7,9)
pack leader, i.e. a big powerful experience prop

Tomkins will provide the 'x factor' from the back, he has to be played at FB. No one else in our team can come close to Sam, he needs to be played at FB given a free role to attack either flank running out wide either attacking the line or setting up his outside backs. At half back you're looking for someone to 'set up' other players/ball runners as a play maker, often only operating on one side of the pitch.

Who should be in the halves? Williams will come good. He's young, will attack the line and has a quick step. Smith, questionable. He's a good player but is he good enough? That's the debate. Hampshire? I don't get the hype to be honest, not in the senior team at least, if he would have impressed massively he wouldn't be bench warming at Cas.

I like Micky as a player, never been sold on him as a 9 though. I think he'd be a good 13, hardworking tackling machine and enforcer.

Tomkins
Charnley (although his 'facial injury' is an odd one') Sarge Gelling Manfredi
Williams (NEW 7)
Flower (NEW 9) Lockers
Bateman Faz
Micky
-----------------------------
NEW INTERCHANGE 9 NEW EXPERIENCE PROP Clubb, J Tomkins

I agree with you 100%
I hope that Sam plays at 6 going forward rather than 1
Although there's not too much difference offensively i don't think Sam is the best option at the back and would love to see Manfredi given a run there to see how he adapts

When Sam is fit Waney will put him straight back in at full back no matter how good Tierney is playing. Lewis will then be reserve wingman/full back.
Better with Lockers at 13 and it was good that Powell played the full first 40 mins.

Our attack didn't look great at times but this Salford are not the outfit we are used to. These past few years they've been a shambles but are quite the opposite now.
Having Sheens as coach is worth every penny he is being paid. They are very structured and have some good attacking ideas. Sheens has, IMO, made a very good signing in Lui.

It might be a bit early but I reckon Salford will make the top eight easily if just miss out on the top four.

Their squad depth is poor though. Other than their first 17-19 players, they are unknowns. Time will tell if/when they start getting injuries/fitness concerns and have to start playing these untested reserves. I can see them being 6-8th at the end of the season.

I would expect George Williams to suffer a loss of form in his second season. It is only to be expected. Matty Smith is the organiser and in play kicker and therefore cannot be moved to hooker.

For me, I've always felt that Sam is going to be a Stand Off in the long term. Plenty of the x-factor in Sam.

I agree with the poster who suggests Dom Manfredi at full back. This guy is special. But for now, I'm happy to see Lewis Tierney prove us all wrong for some time to come.

But he goes missing time after time, doesn't have game breaking ability and can be very suspect in defence. Smith has days when doing the basics well really helps us win games but they are too few and far between IMO, far more often he will fade into the background. I'd definitely be looking to give Williams more responsibility with regards to organisation and kicking and have Tomkins playing off him. Having Smith on the bench gives us an option if GW/ST is having an off day or we need to close out an ugly win in poor conditions (having said that, him not demanding the ball and taking a shot at the DG v Catalans and Huddersfield hardly filled me with confidence). Otherwise he can spell MM and likely do so more competently than Powell tends to.

I follow us home and away as I've no doubt you do as well Grimmy. I think we'll have to agree to differ. My view (and I realise I'm in the minority on here) is that Matty NEVER hides or fades into the background. He takes the ball right up to the line every time. Contrast that with Walsh at Saints. Matty's kicking is superior to anyone at the club. Providing the forwards do their job his kicking for field position is better than Williams, Hampshire, Powell or anyone else you care to name.

I'll admit that he's not perfect (who is?) but his is severely underrated by Wigan fans. I suspect he's one of those players who you miss when he's not there. He's not flashy but he does his job well. The Stand Off (Williams or Tomkins) can add the running - that's what makes a partnership. How many times do you see Thurston break the line? (I'd say Matty is a poor man's Thurston if you like) But it's not necessary, if your Stand Off can break the line.

Not to mention his non-existent passing game. How can someone that has played 7 internationally not be able to pass? It's unbelievable.

And to play devils advocate to th Manfredi to 1 posts, I think we need him out wide with his ruthless finishing ability. Some of the tries he scores most of the wingers in SL wouldn't be able to do never mind Tierney or Gildart.

Jeff Robson might be a better comparison.



And Thurston does take on the line, quite often.Surely half the point of being a half-back is that you come to the line, ansd you have three options: pass, run or kick. If you occasionally try all three, you keep defences guessing. If you always do the same thing...

Think the difference is Thurston has the best passing game Ive ever seen! I cant remember the last time Matty smith threw as 30 yard pass or put someone clean threw a hole where the overlap wasnt already there for the taking
When youve got a player like that you can afford to have someone to do the running for hime like Morgan does