WN83

Looking forward to it more than I would've been in Huddersfield. I've been to Dewsbury a couple of times watching Wigan and it's decent and there should be more atmosphere than us all rattling round at Huddersfield.

Great to see the club trying to make a difference. There's some really good people in positions of power at the club currently and long may it continue.

Always recall the story about his end at Wigan and how he apparently wagged his tackle at a group of OAP's, who were doing an over 60's gym class, while Smith was on the rowing machine in a gym in the town. I don't remember much else from his time at Wigan (apart from Noble keep picking him ahead of a clearly once in a generation talent in Sam Tomkins), which probably isn't a great sign but glad to hear he's doing well as I know he's had issues.

Wire will want revenge after feeling hard done to in the play off semis last season. It's a good final for the neutral and one that could go either way. I get the feeling KR would've done a number on Leigh tbh.

We definitely should've snagged a win against the Aussies in one of the many fixtures we've played against them in the last 7 or 8 years.

Surprised Steve Mac thinks sides getting no penalties and six agains is new. He should've come and watched Wigan this season.

You can't help but wonder when seeing that call. How quickly he wanted to move on from the obstruction was as shocking.

When I posted it, I hadn't seen the reverse angle, which showed Kendall staring at the put down, about 3 yard away, with a totally clear view. Think they're trying wind people up at this point.

Time give up if officials on the field can't give that without a referral to a VR.

Fingers crossed he'll get back to his best at Newcastle but yeah, it's not been going well. If he does find form though, we'll pick him because of the size and athleticism he'll bring. We're lucky though they we've got options.

Poor game to watch him in granted but I paid close attention to him in the recent Brisbane v Canterbury game and I wasn't impressed. He looked to be blowing pretty early and didn't seem particularly athletic. England will need size against the Aussies but they'll also need mobility and athleticism to be able to defend well and I think Wane will stick to guys like Lees and Havard because of that. The fact King also basically said he'll play for England or Oz (whoever wants him) will count against him. I just don't see Wane picking anybody with an attitude of 'either side will do'.

Just going off past squads, I can't see us going with a back up FB, winger, centre and a halfback. That would mean picking 11 backs in total, when we only picked 9 in 2024 against Samoa and 10 against Tonga in 2023. My guess is we go with 10 in total, with Brimson covering a few spots. My 10 currently would be Welsby, Young, Farnworth, Wardle, Ashton, Williams, Smith, Lewis, Brimson and Marshall or Johnstone (can't split them two at the minute).

Feels like we'll have our starting 7, a back up winger and whoever you class as back up halfback in the squad from Williams/Lewis/Smith and that would leave us needing back up for fullback and centre. Brimson being able to cover both of those, with the added bonus of covering stand off makes him a solid pick. It would likely be bad news for guys like Newman, Gildart or whoever else had claims on a spot in the squad.

Feels like there must've been some encouragement from Wane if it's gone as far as him requesting to switch allegiance. Looking at it from solely a playing POV, he's very handy back up to Welsby, at centre for Farnworth and Wardle and even stand off.

Daft part was that Edgell did go to jump but unlike Murphy, he timed his jump correctly and his jump was stopped about 6 inch off the floor by being hit in the head, with a flying knee, from a guy who had timed his jump badly and had gone past the ball. I thought it should've just been a penalty, as it was an accident but Wilkins taken on it was embarrassing.

Sky can't let Wilkin keep pushing this narrative that Saints are getting all the bad calls. I get he wants to help his mate in Wellens but he's paid to give proper and balanced opinions.

As if Wilkin just said the effort of Edgill to get off the ground was pathetic he didn't get chance to as he got kneed in the head! I don't agree with the yellow in all honesty but what is he on about.

It's full of effort and desire but a bit of a grind to watch. In saying that, a style like that doesn't hurt a team in the play offs.

Class player but he never was. He benefits from the young British player bias. His teammate tonight in Whitby somehow made the man of the match shortlist on the same basis. He's a young kid doing pretty well and sometimes it feels like they don't need the OTT reactions they get from the Sky team. It heaps pressure on.

"keep going, keep going, keep going,I just want to check if there's any grass marks on the rugby league ball on the floor, keep going, keep going, zoom in, keep going, I just want to check if there is a worm between the ball and the ground, keep going"

I think we can be really pleased with that. I'm not saying we'd be happy with it but I was there in the 2011 Tri Nations game and there was 42,000 on, all in the lower two tiers and that felt pretty good, so we look well on course to smash that and hopefully get past that 2013 Semi final crowd. If the lower two tiers are full, a crowd of 65-70k would look good and lead to a good atmosphere.

It's what I'd do, certainly in terms of the first 3 and maybe use Sailor as a utility from the bench. They need experienced leaders in there at the minute and Lomax at the very least is a solid player defensively.

If there is no reaction from Saints to that display last week, then I do fear for Wellens because it was really poor. I do think we'll see one though and they may just grab the game. Saints by 4

That second half against Saints was probably the best display of grit, fight and desire I've seen from Warrington for a good while. I think that bodes well for them giving this a good crack but Wigan should have too much. Wigan by 18

I saw on the 80 minutes podcast them saying sales are at about 25k currently. If that's correct and we want to get up to 70k and we have 25 weeks until the game, it leaves us needing to shift an average of 1800 tickets a week. You're going to get more of a rush in the weeks leading up to the fixture, so it probably doesn't need to be that at the minute but things are looking positive enough if blocks are selling out and in your previous post you mentioned nearly 500 tickets selling in a day.