I wouldn't select Crooks for such a high-pressure and atmosphere match so early in his career. We have to blood him gradually, not just chuck him in at the deep-end. This is a match unlike any other - biggest crowd of the non-playoff season, plus at the Etihad, plus it's a derby, so I'd stick with the 'safer' option for this one.

I'm not slating Crooks, I think he's a good player and will have a great future. I wouldn't be concerned if he played, just that I think I'd go for a safer option.

I think Martin on the bench would give us better cover in the backs, and Gentle might not want to give him a full 80.

Id normally agree with that but I reckon he should be able to deal with Saturday. Afterall he didn't really have any trouble in the Leeds game so Kr, in Manchester aswell shouldn't be a problem.

Your centres are likely to up against Welham and Hall so we could see a lot of attacking down the flanks and not a lot of defending, from Rovers at least!

Think it's largely pointless us speculating on here whether it's best or not to chuck Crooks into a derby at this stage, it's him and Gentle who'll know. He may find it an intimidating prospect, or conversely he might be champing at the bit to play in a game like that. I trust that if he's ready he'll be given the chance, but if he's missing from the team sheet it's come too early in the fixture list for him and was the right call.

One thing I am curious about is Bowden falling out of the running in recent weeks, is there any particular reason for it does anyone know? Seems we're going with extra backrowers (i.e. Aspinwall and Kent) stepping up to cover O'Meley instead.

Think we'll go with Martin instead of Crooks. Not sure what I'd do personally, each option has strengths and weaknesses.

I agree with K-Diddy. Ben Crooks did ok against Leeds & unless he is played in certain matches like this Saturday's game, we will not know whether he will be able to cope or not. Both Turner & Crooks are young & fit, so give them a go. I do not think they will let us down.

It's not really the same thing though, IMO. Look at Garry Schofield, he's never been one with self-confidence issues and took big games in his stride, yet he's openly admitted in the past that he was terrified when he went onto the pitch for a derby and actively tried to avoid taking possession for the first 20 minutes in case he got belted.

wasn't he ill or injured up until the Leeds game? Imagine if he's had a cold or other bug he could take a couple of weeks to get back to 100%

That's only true to a point. You can't know for certain if a player is ready until they are thrown in, but sometimes you can see that they aren't, IMO.

I remember him being ill for the Hudds games, but he then played against Wigan. He was left out for Leeds, which I assumed was because of O'Meley and O'Carroll both coming back from injury, but he's not even made a 19 since with O'Meley out again. Maybe you're right and he's still not 100% yet but had to play against Wigan because we didn't have enough other options.

I thought bowden was injured