In an ideal world I'd rest shaul, sneyd, mini, ellis and houghton next week but not sure we can afford to

Totally agree.rest ellis Houghton (although never worry about the machine) and most importantly sneyd. Need sneyd to stay fit so if chance to give him rest got to take it

Tell you what, isn't it nice to have these problems after the last few seasons!

its an ideal game to put a few of the youngsters in, radford can assess how they are developing on the big stage, the likes of lancaster and turgot have been out of the first team a while. its coming to the time of the year when a few decisions will have to be made about some of the younger players futures no doubt, so its a good time to do this. we also avoid picking up injuries to key players.

wigan have a derby game next weekend, no doubt they will do something similar with their key men

so something like this

naughton
lancaster
turgot
yeamo
talanoa
pryce
htw (is he fit)
green
washy
bowden
hadley
manu
abdul

tank
tommo
downs
matongo

want to rest fonua and michaels is really a wing so i've gambled on turgot in the centres (think he's played there before). of course if fully fit then logan can go in there, turgot to bench and fash drops out. abdul also gets a run in what a lot on here think is his best position, unless tyson wilson isnt fit in which case he plays in the halves. we will probably lose to salford though there is a school of thought which says second place is better than first as it most likely means avoiding a trip to france.

Agree totally. Wigan is the game FC need to go for. Talk of Grand Finals is pie in the sky. CC is the trophy to go for because we can. I would expect a wobble if we win the semi, plus another when the finals played. You can only play what's in front of you. All being well even with the distraction of the cup, we'll finish top 4 then concentrate on the charge to Manchester. It is a really special team that can keep the intensity up every week, as the 2 previous games to last night has shown.

My expectation this year was for Hull to at least reach the CC semi final. We have never played Wigan in a semi but I have been at Wembley to see us lose twice to them.('59 and '85). This match for me is the key to the season. If we beat Wigan we will at least win the CC. If we lose we will win nothing.

With Wigan losing last night it makes the decision to rest key players easier. Also just because a number of players are rested doesn't mean we are guaranteed to lose. Look what happened against Warrington earlier this season when Radford rotated the team. It also gives young players valuable first team experience. According to Sky Wigan had 9 players missing last night, obviously suspensions and injuries are factored in to this but they might have rested some players. Wigan play Saints next week and I can't see them resting key players for that game.

I would definitely rest the following;

Sneyd
Shaul
Houghton
Taylor
Ellis
Minichiello
Taylor.

Strongest team possible!!! Don't rest anyone. Backed us at 16-1 at beginning of May to be regular season winners. Don't want to fall at the last!

Think you would be making a big mistake if you start resting players with the finish line in sight. Finishing top of the regular season would raise your profile, bring more support in and ensure you play a weaker team in the semis. There is also the little matter of £100,000 that your chairman would be happy to gets his mitts on. That is a lot of dough in Rugby League, can any team really afford to jeopardise pocketing that amount ? If you weaken your team and lose to Salford, lose the semi to Wigan and then finish a couple of points off top spot in September, you will be kicking yourselves big time.

Speak for yourself

i agree with you there wilf.

I'll go with whatever Radders decides. He hasn't done much wrong this year so I'll trust his judgement.

Hear Hear, and exactly what I said to my mate on Thursday, when the team was announced.

Reserves got beat 34-6 away at Warrington, was 6-6 at HT, so wonder if a few on the first teamers came off at HT, in preparation for next Friday?

And ellis

I reckon Salford will finish in 10th place if we beat them, but 9th if we don't.

That's 4 home games already pretty much guaranteed, but 9th looks to have the easier fixtures.