I'd even pick Salabio over Eseh, strange use of the bench yesterday where we effectively only used 2 spots. Balmforth played loose man in the reserves so should be good for a stint coming off the bench.

Wonder if we maybe swap Briscoe and Rapana around

We can't only rotate 2 bench players against rovers.  

Reckon Rovers will go after Rapana if he plays centre he looked a bit out of sorts defensively against Wire. It will be an incredibly tough game and we'll have to be at our best to stand a chance.

I wouldn't have ever thought that we'd be in the top 2 going into Easter this season and goes to show the incredible work Myler, Cartwright and everyone else has done so far this year.

Watts to come in for me if fit
need a big bench so no room for Moy.
Wonder id Hardaker could be the next Callum Watkins

Hardaker at second row seems a perfect fit to me. He's lost a bit of pace required to be a top centre, but he's still got plenty of it to cause problems in the second row. He's tough and combative and a good defender. He can run a good line and break a tackle, and he's got a good engine. I suppose the issue is whether it leaves us short at centre, but I'm liking what Litten is doing, and both Briscoe and Rapana are solid if not spectacular options. I think we've stumbled across a really good solution here.

hoping for a derby day boost....Barron cant be far off now

Would you guys keep Litten  and Martin as a pairing or split them up?


I'd combine them with Briscoe and Rapana. That way, they have an experienced player with them.


Hope Balmforth is back too, Amir could do with a breather during the games.

I think batchelor and lewis will be back and Sue will probably play so only Martin missing for them

Sue didn’t look too good going off. Be interesting to see if both Lewis and Batchelor are fit for Friday. Two players both returning from muscle injuries the same time is always a risk.

Hope Baron is fit, but wouldn’t be surprised if he’s not ready. Another thing great with Carty is he says the injury timescales as they are. Unlike Smith who was trying to convince us Trueman would be back last February, when everyone knew it was going to be May/June. 

Didn't peters say mcillorum has potentially torn a bicep too? Be a loss for them, he's still a decent player 

Sue had massively bandaged elbow today 

Very interesting game, they have to big favorites, but think we have a chance, them losing last week could go either way, slight loss of confidence or a big performance on the rebound. 


I actually think Lewis going off worked against us last time, a lot of our plans would have been to stop him.


Balmforth is fit has to come in for Moy, Rapana although has errors has a a lot of plus points, he make yards, tackles well and has an assist in him, he needs to cut out those errors, same for Ashworth, whose poor discipline could have cost us the game, we can't afford that against Rovers.


Think we have to split up Knight and Ese Ese, always have one of them on, with a couple of 10 minutes spells with them both on.


Eseh is strange one, Cartwright obviously doesn't fully trust him, giving him the last 5 mins, when the game was gone, be nice to have Fash or Watts back. Think the same applies to Salabio, both are raw with potential, but not quite ready.


No Mccllorum means maybe 80 minutes for Litten, which reduces his impact, we have to get at him with the forwards and tire him out.


Seen a lot of slander towards JWH, who has been solid at best and his stats back that up, but do reckon he is a good signing, probably an impact like Pritchard was for us in 2016.


Lastly, was wrong about Pryce and Cust last week, for now they have to be 1 and 6, gives us threat and balance.


Whatever happens, to think we could be top this week if we win, is bonkers, not had an easy run in either with 5 away games and 2 at home, could easily be joint top if that Briscoe call had gone our way against Leigh, what amazing job Thirkill, Myler and coaching staff have done.