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.

It's disappointing that we have no 2nd row again. If cartwright and Holmes or lane were fit we'd look much stronger.


Cartwright senior said in an interview that he'd made some mistakes in the build up to the 1st game so it will be interesting to see what we do differently on Friday. Hoping for a win but expecting a loss however I hope the game won't be over at half time again

i think this one has the making to be a absolute thriller.


mcilorum will be out, they cant call on leyland as he failed his HIA on debut for Hudds yesterday, so as mentioned above, they'll havee to play Litten at hooker for 80mins unless Broadbent can play there as well (that kid plays well every position. a bit like their own Whiting)


now Kr have lost a game, it could swing both ways. either, put some doubt in their minds OR rev them up more. 


like i said in the last derby, we need a fast start. somthing like that game against Wire and maintain that intensity for the game. 


the last time we lost, (wigan) we went and beat them in the next game we played them ... just saying 

Rapana will be fine just had an off game, Balmforth for Moy, Watts if fit for Eseh. Leyland failed HIA for them so Litten will have to do 80 if they rush Lewis back. 

Chance of a Rapana ban for the high shot? Accrued a lot of points