4th official was Thierry Alibert. Says it all!!

I'd say winning a trophy in AP's 2nd year would be better evidence of progress to being taken seriously than finishing, say, 7th. Winning the CC whilst finishing 9th was a springboard for Warrington.

Given our lack of attacking threat, as it stands we'll be missing 4 of our 1st choice 1-7. Lineham's importance is therefore greater than if the others weren't out too, in my view. Charnley and Richards are pretty handy wingers. Don't fancy Crookes against either.

Hence the reason i suggested in a previous post, stick Whiting there.

Yes many will disagree but Whiting has it all for a winger except the speed. But he's quality in the air under pressure and is a decent tackler also. Plus as today showed, great at interceptions.
Yes we will lose a versatile player off the subs bench, but it will give us the extra opportunity for another forward.

As you said, Crookes against either Richards or Charnley is a no go. Whiting against them more promising.

I think the main area we seem to be disagreeing is in Lineham possibly being the difference between winning and losing.

Whilst I know he's a cracking player and we do have attacking problems, it's worth noting that last week we got it right and scored 12 without him getting on the scoresheet. If we can win, we can win without him, just as we can lose with him, too. I just think that talk of preferring to lose games than have a player (and not even in a pivotal position without backup) get injured is silly.

It's our biggest game for 5 years and IMO he's a talismanic figure this season, our gamebreaker. Wing is Wigan's strongest position IMO. Apart from Holdworth, Houghton and Ellis, he's arguably our most important player to lose. I see your points and they are valid, but to me a Lineham-less Hull is a big deal for the final. We'd fancy our chances more if Charnley were out and replaced by a utility player for sure.

As you were

@KCCLARKY: For those asking about Lineham interchange. 4th official allowed Pitts on and signalled for Tom to leave on the far side #noproblemsthere

It would be a plus for us, but it wouldn't have me writing them off. I'm just not convinced Lineham is as big a loss as you think it is. As unpopular as he now is, Briscoe would have been a bigger blow on the past month's form. Obviously I'd prefer Lineham to play, but the 2 points today were big IMO (both in terms of the table and going into the final with momentum), so I wouldn't trade them for his injury.

At the moment its all conjecture anyway. We won't know the extent of his injury until he's had a scan. Even then there's almost 2 weeks to the final so possibly still time for him to be available.

There... corrected it for ya ...

Gutted is he misses out and it takes out some genuine strike we have. With Horne, Crooks and Galea also missing it's another blow.

You're even funnier than Travis Burns.