Field is out for 6 weeks apparently. Do we have anyone returning other than Hastings? Presume French will sit out a week? Assuming so and we can't or won't recall Hankinson then I'd go:

FB 3 Hardaker
RW 22 Bibby
RC 11 Isa
LC 13 Bateman
LW 28 Halsall
SO 20 Smith
SH 31 Hastings
P 8 Singleton
H 9 Powell
P 10 Bullock
SR 15 Smithies
SR 12 Farrell
LF 14 Partington

S 7 Leuluai
S 19 Byrne
S 21 Havard
S 25 Shorrocks

Looking ugly in the backs. I'll get some flak for wanting to drop Hanley but he's making too many errors deep in our own half. Those things lose you games. Get him out of the firing line and on loan to a Championship team to get him some experience playing against men once our injuries ease up.

Yeah I was buzzing at the start when he could those couple of early kicks and thought about what you had said in the week about him maybe gaining confidence from a couple of good early touches, but then after that we get the knock on and the incorrect play the ball deep in our own half, at least twice he was totally beaten in the air for what could/should have been Leigh tries too. It the errors were at the other end of the pitch I'd say leave him in but they're going to start costing us points and games, which could wreck his confidence a lot more than getting sent out on loan would. Surely we have to recall Hankinson now if we have the option.

so we drop bateman next week as he had far more mistakes and gave away stupid penalties? It wasnt an incorrect play the ball the Leigh player was in the way, I know the rule changed last year but that should have been play on or a penalty against Leigh, we cant improve his confidence by dropping him for making mistakes when other players arent for making similar if not more

Biggest way Hanley will build confidence will be when he gets some opportunities to attack properly. How many times did he get the ball last night with a bit of space?

It was an incorrect ptb, you can't step over the man anymore, you have to step back if necessary. You're right that 3 years ago it would have been a Wigan penalty. I wouldn't kill him for that but add it to the unforced knock on in our own 20 and being beaten in the air at least twice for bombed Leigh tries and it's extremely lucky he didn't cost us the game. I'm bothered about his confidence but I'm a lot more bothered about the win to be honest. Players have been taken out of the firing line, gone out on loan then ended up having good careers with us. Goulding and J.Tomkins are a couple I can think of.

I agree, apart from that dropped ball at the ptb I thought he did ok.

So bateman gave away a daft penalties and had more knock ons and missed tackles, if we more bothered about the win do we drop him?

we have seen Bateman perform brilliantly at SL and NRL level. Hanley has had two SL games with six or so critical errors between them. I don't want to turn it into a bashing session against him because he may well bounce back and I hope he does. We just can't keep giving the opposition extra sets on our line or not contesting their kicks to the corner.

Edit - gave you the benefit of the doubt with Bateman but I've seen the stats now. 5 errors for Hanley (8 between his two games), 2 for Bateman.

Bateman will have to deal better with having a target on his chest. He’s a big fish now and players will go after him. He had a poor start but by the end he looked really dangerous.

Hoping Gildart can play, think he’s week to week?

I really think that we need to bring Hank back. With Field being out for 6 weeks, there's a need for more back support + he can kick too.

Isa should never be picked a centre again either (not his fault before anyone starts). Leave the guy in the middle and let him set the tempo for the defence.

Gildart's the one I worry about, how often do groin strains turn into hernia ops, really hope I'm way off the mark with this one.
Hopefully Manfredi is close otherwise it could be a very short challenge cup run if we're drawn against anyone decent with our current backline

Agree re Isa, he’s a cracking secondrow but a liability in defence on the wider channel against more mobile centres.

In relation to the Hanley debate I thought he went ok too.

He’s probably not robust enough to play week in week out though.

We tend to use our wingers as extra forwards early in the set coming out of our half.

We have 3 wingers who generally do this well and generate good post contact meters.

Hanley seemed to lose contact every time he tried to do a similar carry. He’s not developed enough yet for that style.

I’m in the keep him on the wing for now camp but I’d also say I agree with others who think we need to bring Hankinson back from his loan spell now.