Barring injuries, should Lam give the same 17 who played against Leeds the chance to redeem themselves or are changes required?

If we don't drop some players after that performance I will be amazed.

Would go with:

French
Manfredi Hardaker Gildart Burgess
Hastings Smith
Bullock Powell Havard
Farrell Greenwood
Isa

Leuluai Shorrocks Wells Clark

Give Smith a crack from the start. We need to start upping his gametime in preparation for next year when he's presumably going to be a regular starter. Whether Lam has the incentive to do this if he isn't going to be here next year is another question. I remember Maguire not really giving youth a chance in his last year, possibly for the same reason.

Saturday was that deflating it’s hard to think about Friday with much positivity. I’d certainly make some changes on the back of that dross.

French
Manfredi Hardaker Hankinson Burgess
Hastings Smith
Flower Powell Bullock
Isa Farrell Shorrocks

Subs
Greenwood Kilner Partington Leuluai

Guessing Havard or Gildart won’t be available. If Lockers isn’t fit enough to get through 50+ minutes it’s a luxury as things stand. We need to look at Harry Smith properly and give him the reigns. Tommy can’t be allowed to be our main kicker ever again, that joke has gone far enough and it isn’t fair on him because he’s still a good player if used correctly. I’d love to have another look at Kilner and see what he can do in a stronger side.

I agree. I quite like your team, though, NK, even if I doubt Lam would go for it. it would also give us the option of swapping Isa and Shorrocks, and trying him as a wider hole-runner, which is where he's mostly played as far as I know. Either way, at least play Faz in the left!

Would anyone be tempted to play Leuluai at #13. We were talking about it yesterday at the aftermatch discussion (wake) and it came up as a suggestion.

Isn't Smithies available?

Yes he's available - I'm sure he will play. I imagine Flower and Clark will come into the mix, particularly given Havard's injury and our struggles in the middle of the field. Other than that I'm not sure too much will or should change.

After that mauling Lam needs to make changes to achieve the improvements we need to compete with Wire. Starting with two young props on a rain soaked pitch against Hill and Cooper is less likely to work than against Leeds. He needs experience and size and it is there in the squad. One of Lam's main problems are his fixations. He's utterly fixated with starting Tommy and equally in not giving Hankinson a game even off the bench (except Saints). How he can persist with Bibby when Hanks is available is anyone's guess. Anyway, hopefully Gildart will be fit.

Bearing in mind the opposition and likely conditions and that we need experienced props plus a top class kicking game my 17 would be -

French,
Manfredi, Hardaker, Gildart, Burgess,
Leuluai, Smith.
Bullock, Powell, Flower,
Greenwood, Farrell,
Hastings.

Partington, Havard, Shorrocks, Smithies.

Do something Price will never anticipate and play four halves with Hastings at 13. He can be the ball playing 13 in the middle with good kicking games available from Smith, Hastings and Powell from dummy half.

I'd be more tempted with Hastings at 13 like Wire have done with Austin

We get totally outmuscled, so people want to fix that by adding Hastings or Leuluai to the pack???

Yes, the pack I named added size, experience and skill. That was Bullock and Flower at starting prop, Greenwood 2nd row and Hastings at loose. We have to do something different and catch them out with selection and tactics Price won't anticipate.

I don't think we can afford Hastings or Leuluai in the pack unless we had two big back rowers, which we don't. We were playing well prior to last weekend, I genuinely don't think we need wholesale changes. Drop Lockers, who can't get through a game anymore. Start Smith for his kicking game. Give the props a go who didn't play at the weekend.

FB 6 French
RW 21 Manfredi
RC 23 Bibby
LC 1 Hardaker
LW 5 J.Burgess
SO 28 Smith
SH 31 Hastings
P 14 Flower
H 9 Powell
P 19 Bullock
SR 11 Isa
SR 12 Farrell
LF 17 Partington

S 7 Leuluai
S 15 Greenwood
S 22 Clark
S 40 Kilner

I'd like to see something like this. hastings/leuluai to 13 isn't gonna happen.

We'd played well for three games so I wouldn't throw the baby out with the bathwater. How we play vs Wire should give a good indication of where we are going forward. Can they compete with one of the top teams and do they want to make up for what happened?

Our no shows have become too frequent to change anyone's mind but it's an opportunity to bounce back to some degree. More aggression is a must but i don't know if its lam's style.

Who knows what the team will be now or even if the fixture will go ahead. We’ve had two positive tests for Covid from players with symptoms and then the whole squad has been tested and are waiting results.

To think somebody said the other day us leaving Gildart out was scare mongering.