Sweet 17: Hull FC (Challenge Cup Semi)

One day to go! The Wire make the trip to the home of Bolton Wanderers to take on Hull FC with a place in the Challenge Cup Final at stake. Let's see who I would pick to play our biggest game of the season so far...


This week sees the return of Ben Murdoch-Masila, though Stefan Ratchford and Kevin Brown are still sidelined, while Sitaleki Akauola remains suspended. The 19-man squad features Harvey Livett, but not Luis Johnson, Pat Moran or Danny Walker.

Full Back - 22 Jake Mamo
I was hoping that there might be a chance of Stefan Ratchford returning to this game, but in his absence, Mamo will continue at 1. He has struggled so much defensively of late, but does contribute plenty in attack.

Winger - 2 Tom Lineham
I expect Lineham to start out wide against his former team. I have been talking this week about whether Mamo or Lineham will play on the wing when Ratchford returns, we need to see more from Lineham in my opinion.

Centre - 3 Bryson Goodwin
Goodwin is one of few players playing well at the minute. He is a try threat and does well defensively too. Has a good record against Hull FC.

Centre - 18 Toby King
I've been talking a lot this week about the possibility of Toby King playing back in the second row, where he started the season. For me, he doesn't really have the passing range or partnership with Charnley to play at centre right now. Because this is such a big game, I wouldn't be making any big changes, but it's something to consider.

Winger - 5 Josh Charnley
Charnley has been bright in the last few games, though hasn't registered a try. Certainly one of our biggest threats and we need to get him heavily involved in the game.

Stand Off - 6 Blake Austin
Austin has been sensational this season, though has hit a dry patch of form. Teams are defending strongly against him and focusing all their attention on stopping his play. Still, he is creating stuff though, with two assists last week. We will need to give him the platform to influence the game.

Scrum Half - 15 Declan Patton
There were rumours of Kevin Brown possibly being back for this one, but he isn't in the squad and so Patton will continue at 7. The key thing for him is being quicker with his decision-making.

Prop - 8 Chris Hill
The captain will be hoping to lead the team to another Wembley appearance. He played well at Castleford, and will be very important in the battle of the packs.

Hooker - 9 Daryl Clark
Without a doubt our most important player. Clark has been in wonderful form and has been carrying the team lately. Allowing him to see plenty of the ball will be crucial to any chance of victory on Saturday.

Prop - 10 Mike Cooper
Cooper is a very reliable prop and will be absolutely vital to the forward battle, which is where this game could be won and lost.

Second Row - 11 Ben Currie
Regarding my earlier point about King, I have been thinking about the possibility of switching King and Currie's positions, though I wouldn't change it for such an important game like this one. Interesting hearing him speak this week about how much he is looking forward to it after missing last year.

Second Row - 12 Jack Hughes
Hughes is leaving me frustrated at the minute and seems to be going missing in games. We need more influence and leadership from him in such a big game. Again, I wouldn't drop him because I don't think making big changes for such a big game is a good idea.

Loose Forward - 23 Matt Davis
In this week's edition of loose forward lottery, I have selected Matt Davis. I was not at all impressed with Jason Clark last week when he started at 13, and I think Davis is a far more influential option.

Interchange - 17 Joe Philbin
Philbin always does a good job from the bench and will be useful in this game as we attempt to win the forward battle.

Interchange - 13 Ben Murdoch-Masila
Having Murdoch-Masila back in the squad this week is a big boost - let's hope that his intensity and commitment in making the hard metres is there.

Interchange - 25 Jason Clark
I really don't see how Jason Clark keeps getting picked when he offers so little, although he does make a fair number of tackles.

Interchange - 20 Harvey Livett
I think this is probably a good chance to play Livett from the bench. He has recently played FC, for KR, so has some useful recent experience, and he offers more than Lama Tasi, while I don't think Luther Burrell is ready yet.

That is my Wire team for the semi, but what team would you make from Wire and Hull players? I had a go at a combined team and you can find that here.

We need discipline, solid defence, good decision-making and better attacking structure. Hull are an exciting team and have plenty of talent in their ranks - Jake Connor, Ratu Naulago, Marc Sneyd, Albert Kelly and Danny Houghton are all more than capable of causing us problems. There are just two points between FC and Wire, which demonstrates how even this contest should be. I personally feel that we should be attacking from the offset, and if there are penalties, we should only be taking the two if it puts us an extra score clear, as this is a big regret of mine from the St Helens game earlier this season. We need to see far better performances from Wire than we have of late, though it wouldn't surprise me if we produced our best display of the year at Bolton, it would be a very Warrington thing to do.

You don't need me to tell you how big this game is. It's by far the biggest game of the season so far, and is a great opportunity to make the final. We need 100% from all the team to overcome a very strong Hull FC. I am confident that we can put this rut to bed, we often produce on the big stage - our semi-final record is actually very good. Come on boys.

It's always our year.

Daniel (@aloosewire)