Unless Horne is declared fit and plays this weekend then in all honesty time has run out for him and it would be a bigger gamble to play Horne with him having only played against Salford before Wembley.

Yes Shaul is inexperienced but has shown that he has the ability as a FB and that for me is a better gamble than playing a player who's been out for a while and not in his natural position.

Think the derby will show whether Shaul is good enough as he will no doubt be tested in the cauldron of the derby. If he comes though this well then for me it would be madness not to put him in the 17 for Wembley.

I think if Horne is fit before Wembley that makes sense, but I wouldn't want us to go into that game unsure about him in any way. We saw firsthand how that sort of gamble can backfire in 2005.

Would it be an option to have either Shaull or Horne on the bench? Against Warrington, Whiting wasn't quite quick enough to prevent a try. I'm not having a go at him, he did his best. At Wembley wer'e going to need speed, especially in our 20,(Tomkin's curving runs for instance,) if as I think, Wigan will try and get some points on us early. This is were we'll need speed in defence.Then in the second half,it may well become an arm wrestle which is where we need a game breaker such as Horne. I know this would only leave 2 forwards+Heremia as subs, but as the above post says, at Wembley you need pace. I know I'm only clutching at straws, but at the end of the day it's 17against17.

Yeah it would be apt for Shaul's big test for a cup final to be against a team who will be playing in their "cup final".

Looking forward to it, you already won your cup at Manchester right? At least you'd of thought so if you were at the game.

Grow up, this cup final business is becoming very tedious.

tedious, from the experts.

That's why I said 'if he's fit'. I wouldn't put anyone in if there was a doubt about their fitness to play, but a Richard Horne who has come through the Salford game unscathed represents a safer option than a promising youngster with only a few games in total to his name.

And also an extra pivot player who prior to injury was the league's top try maker. Also a short kicking game to utilise!

What cup was at Manchester?? If anything i'd say a certain Steve Ganson won the cup at Manchester.

As for the growing up.. Don't like what you see?? Stay on your own forum.

If Horne is fit for Salford, Gentle will have a tough choice to make. Sunday should let us see if Shaul can handle pressure as I expect Rovers to target him from the start, he needs to have another strong game if he is to be considered for a starting berth at Wembley. If Horne isn't 100% fit then he may have already played himself into the FB position

How I see it ...

If Horne fit for Salford then he plays at FB.
If he comes through that game unscathed he plays at Wembley.
If he isn't fit for Salford he doesn't play at Wembley - Shaul does.

Fair enough, I just thought it was unclear from your post whether you meant proven fit beforehand (ie having played), or declared fit in the week leading up.

I'd agree, with the proviso that Shaul plays well this weekend. If he struggles and Horne doesn't make it for Salford, it's back to Whiting.

That'd be my view, too.

Fair comment - only if Shaul has a mare though in my book. We need Whiting off the bench at Wembley if at all possible to cover all other positions