Choosing Wigan Warriors' props is not all about form, says Adrian Lam

Welshman Ben Flower is set to come into the mix for Sunday’s visit of Hull KR.

It will be his first appearance of the year after recovering from a back injury.

His return is likely going to force one of the forwards from last weekend’s win at Huddersfield out of the frame.

Ollie Partington, George Burgess, Liam Byrne, Tony Clubb and Joe Bullock all played their part in the 42-10 win.

Lam also had young Ethan Havard – whom he rates highly – and Kiwi recruit Mitch Clark waiting in the wings.

And while he will favour those playing their best, the Warriors boss also has the bigger picture in mind – in both keeping players fresh and developing younger players.

He says fans shouldn’t automatically read omissions as meaning a player has been dropped because of poor form.

He explained: “Sometimes a player may be going okay and he misses a week. As long as we communicate the reason why, they usually understand.

“You’ve got to remember it’s a long season and we’ve got a lot of quality in the middle.

“We need to make sure we keep developing and maturing the younger players and making sure we don’t play the older ones too much.

“You don’t want to change too much, if you don’t get it right it can backfire, because you want consistency and fluidity in the side.

“But while we have middles there with a good mixture of youth and experience, we’ve got a chance to make sure everyone gets a bit of a go – we can settle our final team halfway through the season.

“The key to it all is to make sure we communicate to all the players, they understand why they’re not in the team, I’m honest with them all.”