Depleted Wigan have no place for Martin Gleeson at Huddersfield

Wigan face the toughest test yet of their Super League title defence at Huddersfield, the early-season pacesetters, on Friday night. The Warriors are missing seven players because of injury or suspension but still refuse to call Martin Gleeson in from the cold. The champions are refusing also to provide any explanation of Gleeson's omission from a third consecutive fixture but the 30-year-old's absence from a 19-man squad would seem to be final confirmation that he will not play for the club again. The Tomkins brothers, Sam and Joel, were suspended this week, for one and two matches respectively, following incidents in Sunday's 14-12 win against Hull. The experienced scrum-half Paul Deacon is also missing after suffering the latest and worst in a series of blows to the head in the Hull game that could rule him out for a while, joining the long-term injury absentees Pat Richards, Stuart Fielden, Eamon O'Carroll and Brett Finch – although Wigan's coach, Michael Maguire, has suggested that Finch could make his delayed debut for the club in next Friday's home game against Warrington. While maintaining his flat refusal to make any comment on the Gleeson situation, Maguire would seem to have been equally unaccommodating to any possibility that the former England centre could return. It is an open secret that he was sent home from a training session two days before a game at Salford two weeks ago after turning up in an unsuitable condition, and that was far from his first offence. Coincidentally he was also dropped from Wigan's game at Huddersfield last season, when Maguire was more forthcoming about the reasons. "Unfortunately Martin's not lived up the very high standards that we expect at the club," he said then. Gleeson knuckled down sufficiently to regain his place and score the first two tries in the Grand Final victory over St Helens at Old Trafford last October. This time there is no sign of a happy ending but, as things stand, the situation seems to be deadlocked with no agreement between the club and the Gleeson camp more than two weeks after the incident. Maguire has had more pressing priorities before the trip to a Huddersfield team who put 50 points on Bradford on Sunday and have the England scrum-half or hooker Luke Robinson in contention for his first appearance since breaking his arm during last autumn's Four Nations series. He has recalled Joe Mellor, a young scrum-half, from a loan spell at Harlequins, and he is likely to be selected on the bench, with Sean O'Loughlin switching from loose-forward to partner Thomas Leuluai at half-back, Amos Roberts replacing Sam Tomkins at full-back and Chris Tuson taking over from Joel Tomkins either in the pack or on the bench. Willie Mason's crash course in British rugby league will continue with his second appearance for Hull KR at The Willows for another of the four-match Friday night programme at Salford. Gareth Thomas marks the anniversary of his debut for the Crusaders against Catalan Dragons in Wrexham and Hull face Wakefield at the KC Stadium. The Crusaders have signed Jordan Tansey, the full-back who was sacked by Hull last month after a series of breaches of the club's disciplinary code. There seem to be a lot of them about.