Wane on Warriors Injury Problems

[josie andrews]

Wigan Warriors are set to be without upto nine players for Friday's Super League clash away to Widnes Vikings, 8pm kick off.

Head Coach Shaun Wane has revealed that young Full Back Lewis Tierney and Stand Offf Ryan Hampshire are both set to make their First Team Debuts at the Stobart Stadium and will be named in the 19 Man Squad later today.

Shaun confirmed Sam Tomkins (achilles), Liam Farrell (knee), Blake Green (high ankle injury), Matty Smith (knee), Sean O'Loughlin (knee). Michael McIlorum (operation on knee), Gil Dudson (neck), Ben Flower (ankle, having a scan and may need an operation) and Pat Richards would all miss Friday's clash.

Shaun confirmed that McIlorum could be sidelined for 3-4 weeks following an opeartion on Tuesday and that Flower may require an operation on his ankle but is possibly looking at upto 8 weeks on the sidelines. Epalahame Lauaki missed the win at Wakefield on Sunday with a virus but should be OK in time for Friday's meeting.

Shaun told us,

"We have alot of injuries this week, players with injuries from the Leeds game, then Wakefield, a quick turnaround and we are carrying quite a few injuries and knocks. Obviously there is the International game as well coming up, we will have to make a number of changes for Widnes but I will pick a 17 and I will expect that 17 to be really competitive and we are going there for the two points. Despite giving a couple of debuts I still expect a certain level of performance and the indication in training is that I will get it.

"Ryan Hampshire and Lewis Tierney will be included in the squad. Lewis is an out and out Full Back, he is busy very strong and brings the ball back well, he has good skills on him and he is looking forward to his chance. Ryan is a Full Back come Half, very talented, a good runner with the ball, he is buying in to what we do. He is a good smart kid and I am looking forward to seeing them both.I obviously don't want Sam to be injured but it is a positive negative for me."

http://www.wiganwarriors.com/WContent.a ... &type=news

[BriH]

"We're all doomed" as the Scotsman said in Dad's Army!!!

[markill]

Shaun confirmed Sam Tomkins (achilles), Liam Farrell (knee), Blake Green (high ankle injury), Matty Smith (knee), Sean O'Loughlin (knee). Michael McIlorum (operation on knee), Gil Dudson (neck), Ben Flower (ankle, having a scan and may need an operation) and Pat Richards would all miss Friday's clash.

Shaun confirmed that McIlorum could be sidelined for 3-4 weeks following an opeartion on Tuesday and that Flower may require an operation on his ankle but is possibly looking at upto 8 weeks on the sidelines. Epalahame Lauaki missed the win at Wakefield on Sunday with a virus but should be OK in time for Friday's meeting.

The way I read that is: Sam (rested), Farrell (rested), Matty (rested), Lockers (rested), Pat (rested) - If we were playing Leeds or Wire or knock out game they would all be patched up to play but as we aren't we'll give them a bit of recovery time. That would be fine if Micky, Flower, Dudson and Green weren't already out of the reckoning. My concern is all the leadership has been taken from the team in one go for the game, as well as us being a few good forwards down. I assume H, Goulding or Mossop will captain?

[exile in Tiger country]

And the SLY TV team will probably talk more about Leeds injuries than they do about ours, and for once, Leeds won't even be on.
:sly:

[KOOCH]

This is will give us an insight into our future without the likes of Sam and Pat. I have every confidence that the youngsters will come through despite Widnes thinking that this is a win win game for them. I'm personally excited at the prospect of seeing young Tierney , Hampshire , and George Williams. I have been unable to attend recent games due to work commitments and am hoping for a strong display.

[exile in Tiger country]

If as suggested players are being rested because they have a knock, I can't help but think this smacks of the previous, play the youngsters, debacle at Widnes.
Wane has effectively done Betts' team talk for him again.
IMO it would be better to rest players next week, after gaining two competition points, by simply not releasing them to the ridiculous and potentially risky Exiles game.

[josie andrews]

Blake Injury Getting Better

In the latest edition of Blake's Blog, the Stand Off talks about the recent wins against Leeds and Wakefield as well as updating us on his progress as he looks to recover from the ankle injury he picked up in the Cup win at Hull KR last month.

Blake told us,

"My injury is getting better now and earlier today I was doing some running in the pool so the next step is to get outside and see how I go running out on the turf, all being well I will be lining up for the Warriors against Warrington hopefully. My injury has not only kept me out of the team, however it has also stopped me from competing in the Crossbar Challenge competition."

05/06/2013 14:03:13

Hey guys,

Once again I'm stuck indoors for a little while writing this, to be honest I'd much rather be out there catching some sun, long may this weather continue I say!

Since I last checked in it's been a weird couple of weeks as the boys have picked up two wins including the battle against Leeds but we've not been ourselves really and haven't played the way we want to.

Waney spoke after the Leeds game how he wasn't too happy with the actual performance as he knew the guys could do better but he was delighted with the attitude of the team who gave it their all to get the win.

At Wakey we didn't really perform as well as we can and for one reason or another our attitude wasn't quite right and we looked fatigued at times. The main positive we can take from the game is the fact we managed to win when we weren't at our best.

On the weekend we had three guys back in the team in Scott Taylor, Greg Burke and Rhodri Lloyd who had all been out at Leigh the week before on dual registration. Before the season started the RFL scrapped the reserve grade and instead of having reserves, under 18s, under 16s and under 15s they made it just under 19s and under 16s with any first teamers who weren't in the team on a weekend expected to just sit on the sidelines or play on dual registration at either Leigh or South Wales Scorpions.

Personally I think it's a terrible idea and it has to go! Are we just expecting a 19 year old to walk straight in and play in Super League? The competition is so intense and very few guys at that age are ready, sending them to a lower league club isn't right for me as teams will see the ‘Wigan guy' on the team sheet and be lining him up all game! A stronger reserve grade is what's needed and this is a step back for me, not a step forward.

We've recently had the Magic Weekend again and I'd say it was a success, over 60,000 on the two days watching the games and soaking up the sun. What I want to know is why can Sky show 7 games that weekend and then only 2 all the others? I understand it's in the contract but I want to see that expanded, back home we have all 8 games on tv and that split across a couple of channels so let's get that sorted please RFL so we can share our great game with as many people as possible and increase revenue streams too.

My injury is getting better now and earlier today I was doing some running in the pool so the next step is to get outside and see how I go running out on the turf, all being well I will be lining up for the Warriors against Warrington hopefully.

My injury has not only kept me out of the team, however it has also stopped me from competing in the Crossbar Challenge competition. Harrison Hansen was put forward to take my place and well H is a top bloke but his co-ordination isn't really the best...to be fair though he came up trumps and two weeks in a row despite being in the bottom two he managed to scrape through. Waney lost last week and well I'll just say he was unlucky, I can't go round telling everyone how bad the boss is otherwise he might not put me back in the team when I'm ready to go!

Catch you later
Greeny


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