Warrington Squad

Sitaleki Akauola, Blake Austin, Josh Charnley, Daryl Clark, Mike Cooper, Ben Currie, Matt Davis, Bryson Goodwin, Chris Hill, Jack Hughes, Toby King, Tom Lineham, Harvey Livett, Ben Murdoch-Masila, Declan Patton, Joe Philbin, Stefan Ratchford, Lama Tasi, Ben Westwood

Presuming JClark is rested and not injured I’m happy with how Price is rotating the squad this season.

Ratchford
Charnley (Mamo still injured?)
Goodwin
King
Lineham
Austin
Patton
Hill
Clark
Cooper
Hughes
Currie
Westwood

BMM
Philbin
Sita
Livett/Davis I’d prefer Livett to play for versatility reasons, but think Price will go for Davis.

Price may we’ll swap round Philbin & Westwood, I just like Philbs off the bench.

Tasi to defo miss out.

The rest is pretty obvious so:

11. Ben Murdoch-Masila
12. Jack Hughes
13. Joe Philbin

Subs: Sitaleki Akauola, Matt Davis, Lama Tasi, Harvey Livett

Currie and Westwood miss out for me. I just feel as though Currie needs to recharge the batteries for a few weeks. I think it'll be better for him come the end of the season. I think it's time to move on from Westwood.

I also think that we should be starting BMM.

I'd go with.....
Ratchford
Charnley
King
Goodwin
Lineham
Austin
Patton
Cooper
Clark (D)
Hill
Currie
Hughes
Murdoch-Masila

Philbin
Westwood
Akauola
Livett (for his versatility)

To miss out.
Davis
Tasi

Ratchford
Lineham
Goodwin
King
Charnley
Austin
Patton
Hill
Clark
Cooper
Currie
Hughes
Westwood

Akauola
Philbin
Tasi
Masila

Have to disagree with Westwood. He was poor against Salford but so was everyone else. He was the player, for me, we missed against saints to set the tempo. Aside from the Salford game, he's always driven in hard and made good metres. I agree on Currie though- I think we need to be patient and let him fully recharge as you say.

With Akuola: Price has sung his praises in the Warrington Guardian and he was awarded 1pt in the MOS rankings (after the last game). Really pleased for him and for us- we need his and Westwood's type of ferocity to give us the edge in the pack.

With pretty much a full squad to pick from I guess SP will be completing his Easter rotation as he has enough quality on paper at least to beat Hudds. I think as Gaz just said, Akuoala will play, otherwise it doesn't really reward the performance he put in last week. Plus he is fairly fresh. On the other hand the main benefit of Matt Davis is his work output, and since he played in both Easter games I suspect he will be rested. I agree Currie has looked pretty flat recently, not to mention a bit grumpy (bolocking Patton in the Salford game) and could do with a break. But I suspect Price will play him. Phibs is my other guess for a bit of R&R. He has played in all 12 games to date and has taken on a starting role recently. I think he deserves a rest this week. I assume Mamo must still be injured ?, otherwise he could have been used to give Charnley and Ratchford a bit of a break.


To miss out;
Davis
Philbin

Fair enough Chaz on the squad rotation front, but, I agree with Jack (sorry Gaz) re Westwood.

He's been a bit poor this term and not just the Salford game for me. I'm not saying we need to move on, he's got plenty of credit as far as I'm concerned and in the last couple of what could be considered 'bonus years' he's far and away exceeded my expectations, but, IF selected this weekend, he needs to up his game and earn his shirt back, particularly if Price is running a meritocracy.

(No worries Uncle Rico). In our first game v Leeds, I thought he (Westwood) got stuck in and made, at a guess, more yardidge per drive than anyone else and he was key to our platform in the forwards. Even now, at his age, when Westwood takes the field, he makes at least as many yards in the forwards as Hilly and Coops, and definitely more than Hughes and Currie in the back row. He doesn't play as many minutes nowadays, but, bar the Salford game, I'm sure there's tangible evidence to show that his input changes the arm-wrestle in our favour. I haven't got the stats, but I reckon our forwards would have made more yardage and their attack less yardage when he's on the field. For me, at the very least, he gives our forwards an extra boost of confidence, like Morley did. Having a Morley, Westwood, Les Davidson, Nicholas figure on the field inspires and gives security for our other forwards to get stuck in. We missed this v saints. Imagine if Benny or Morley were on the pitch- they'd have rallied our troops and stuck one on them. A forward moving, uncompromising defensive line lead by Morley or Westwood would have totally changed the dynamic of the game. It would have freed Austin and the backs. In recent semi-finals v saints, when saints have been the favouites; we've won by an aggressive defensive line and aggressive forward running, and it's players like Westwood who are key. It's the no frills players like Westwood, Morley; Morgan Knowles and Matty Lees who make the difference- they were excellent v us.

(Anyhow, I've had a few pints so apologies for rambling on. COYW)

I'm with Gazwire, Benny still does those hard yards which we needed against Saints. If Sita can do them too, then great, but we need them making. One thing in Benny's negative column is the cards he's getting.