George Williams has had a blinder for Wigan Raiders in the NRL match against Melbourne. Match commentators Cronk and Alexander drooling about him.

Man of the match in my opinion.

2 assists, 2 try saving efforts and a massive hit on the fullback.

I don’t understand why some doubt he will succeed in the NRL.

For me his style of play is much more suited to the NRL and it’s intensity. I think his game will kick on to the next level.

George who??

He was absolutely quality!

He pretty much always has been

It’ll be another Bateman situation that fans from other teams all of a sudden rate them since they aren’t wearing cherry and white anymore

Dont just blame other teams fans
Theres been enough Wigan fans on his back for 2/3 years!!!

And it started when?
He had the audacity to get a pay rise (Marquee) after being MOM in a WCC andnthen year after being part of another GF winning team.

How dare he!!!

Every week on Sky, coaches, past players, current players constantly picked George out as the player they feared/respected etc.
Yet our own experts were rubbishing him over and over again, because they wanted to be proved right more than hope the lad succeeded

WILLIAMSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

I've got to add never done anything once he signed the new contract

Just shows how good he is when playing with a pack of forwards that can make yards. Always been a class act, just hard having to do most of it on your own playing with a pack that couldn’t make yards like when he was with us.

There is no question in my mind he is a quality player but I agree with this comment. Once he got marquee his general form dipped substantially. That’s what got fans backs up, the running around like a headless chicken, the infamous hop, skip, dummy and a jump. Don’t get me wrong I like creativity and sometimes when it came off it was a thing of magic but when it didn’t it was diabolical.

I hope he gets better and better in the NRL. I really do, I’d love nothing more for him especially given the lack of success British backs have generally had over there. He is a far better HB option for GB/England than Widdop IMO.

Had a little look on the Raiders fans forum and none of their fans had him as MOM....that’s a tough crowd! They all had him top 3 and maybe I’m bias but I thought he was easily their best. A lot had Hodgson as MOM and whilst I thought he was ok, I didn’t think he was anything like that. They seem to love him over there but he had plenty of the things that frustrate me watching him for England on show today.

I think he was taking the Pee?
Either way
His "Form dipping' was based on about 2/3 average performances over about a 8/10 week spell when we had about 10 injuries and were struggling.
But typical Wigan, we used him as a scapegoat because the Marquee and then stuck with that opinion of him despite him being in the top for tries/assists/tackles etc etc etc.

We moan about players not being creative, they try stuff and get criticised for being wasteful
We moan about players not taking the line on, we have a player that took the line on more than any half back I've seen in maybe 20years, and hes classed as running around like a headless chicken

Anyway

Hes gone now, a lot the Wigan public got what they wanted, I'll just wait for the next victim (Bear in mind Gildart started to get it when he signed his new contract, all the unfounded rumours, the saints rubbish, hes greedy for holding out for more money and now it'll be "his heads in the NRL, etx etc).

I'll be honest....i criticised George at times but our entire play was based on him as he got no help from his 7 and usually was behind a beaten pack. If George clicked, we usually clicked and that left side was as dangerous as any in the comp.

I'd have loved to see him with a 7 like Hastings who organised the play and let him do his off the cuff game. I've said on here before that I would have played Sam in the halves and think a partnership of him and George would have been incredible.

For me he just went stale and should have tried his luck before the last deal.he was always good enough but clearly needed to spread his wings elsewhere.

Amen brother.

Why oh why do our "fans" always seem to denigrate players, particularly the ones who have come through our systems. Is it any wonder they want to go and have a go elsewhere. Ryan Sutton was a consistent 8 out of 10 performer every week as an example.

Every year there has to be a scapegoat!!

Because they don't what they are talking about.

Have to laugh

The proof of how good he will be in the NRL is for him to be consistent in all games, not just on a debut!

It’s his 3rd game!

I criticised Williams on occasion I am happy to admit that.

I never doubted his quality however sometimes his style of play in my opinion was detrimental to our team performance.

I think this can be explained by the way of saying that often the players around him were not on the same level as him.

What I mean by that is in the NRL the teams offer so many more options ball in hand and there seems to be so many more runners. Great halves are the ones that consistently pick the right option.

At Wigan George often had 2 options, throw the ball to his one runner or step and go. That was it.

It’s not necessarily his fault but when things were not going right he seemed to try do too much or occasionally just sit back and leave us rudderless. He sometimes looked like he had lost his enthusiasm.

I have never doubted his ability I just think he is much more suited to the Australian NRL style of play and I think he had to leave to go there to kick on and take his game to the next level.

Watched the interview after the game with Josh Hodgson and George and I genuinely can’t remember him looking so relaxed, confident and happy when facing the media in SL.

I think Hastings suits our needs as a team better than George did and that’s not a criticism of George it just comes down to differing styles of play. I also don’t think that when Hastings goes back to the NRL he will be on the same level as Willians at I think Hastings style of play is more suited to SL than it is the NRL.

So far I’m really pleased to see Williams go well and I think he will only get better in that more challenging and intense environment.

Absolutely nailed it. No more to be said on that.

...and as always the truth is somewhere in between. For Wigan Williams was sometimes brilliant, often very good and sometimes mediocre.

Don't be confusing him with facts.

Interesting to see him operating primarily on the right as opposed to operating on the left for Wigan. He played very well.
If the likes of Widdop and Hodgson can get rave reviews over there playing as pivots then Williams should have no problems, he's far more talented than either of them.

I still think Hodgson has to be the most overrated player in the game. I just don't get the hype.