For the last couple of weeks Hampshire has been left out of the 19 at Wigan and the only time he has got near the squad is when Bowen as been out.
(apart from when Williams broke down in the warm up and Hampshire had to do a quick change and almost caused the match to kick off late)

It seems that after Wane said that he didn't see Hampshire as anything but a replacement for Bowen and that is the only position he would play, he is being frozen out.

Everyone on here said that Bowen had a stinker at Cas last week, but more than that he threw the towel in.
So if Hampshire is the reserve fullback why isn't he even in the squad this week.

Food for thought.

I talked about last chance Saloon for one or two in another thread and Bowen is one of those.

I was the person who said he gave up at Cas and he did. He feigned injury during Castleford's last try and I didn't even see anybody do that during the shocking years of 2005 or 2006. He knew he'd been made a fool of and instead of turning and chasing like Manfredi and Bateman did (successfully) he threw himself to the ground.

Going back to Hampshire I worry for his future if he isn't getting a go after that tbh. He was very solid at HKR but did let himself down with a shoddy attempt on Dixon for their winner. I've said this before that I feel Wane highlights the negatives with Hampshire far more then some other players.

Hampshire wants to play 6 but he is fourth choice half back now.
It seems if your face doesn't fit then you've no chance with Wayne!
He might aswell move clubs

If I were Hampshire I'd give it a few more weeks, probably until May/June and make my mind up on where his career should go.

If the side was playing well then not being given a game is understandable but if we continue to struggle and more importantly Bowen, Smith and to a lesser extent Williams and Powell continue to not hit form he's got to seriously consider if he's at the right club or playing under the right coach.

Something doesn't feel right about the Wane/Hampshire relationship.

There's a few not getting their chance under Wayne. It seems no matter how bad some players play they won't get dropped. Must be frustrating for some squad members.

Not sure, he seems to have used pretty much his full squad this year already. The two I'd say have been a bit unlucky are Hampshire and Logan Tomkins but there is a lot competition in those positions.

With Hampshire it's not as much him not playing him on a regular basis that bothers me but more some of the things Wane says about him. He makes it clear he sees him as a back up full back and at points seems loathed to praise him. I don't know if he's trying to dampen expectation or it's a way of trying to gain a reason for not playing him but it all seems weird.

Ask me who our best stand off is and I like many would say Hampshire but Wane obviously doesn't see it anything like that.

I think money is dictating who plays for Wigan at the minute.
Last year Pettybourne this year Bowen.
Wayne should use his full squad if the team isn't playing well.

WANE

Hampshire is not happy at all. But there is only one decent potential offer for him, and that is from a, so called, unfashionable smaller club. IMO it would be best for him and the club for him to stick at it this year and hopefully prove his worth to Wigan or show other clubs enough to attract some interest.

I was at Cas, Bowen didn't have a stinker. He just didn't have a stormer either. People are really out for him at the moment, he took quite a few difficult kicks with good kick pressure on him which resulted in him being tackled as soon as he caught the ball, people being the sticks were still berating him. I'm a big Rocky fan but I reckon he would have dropped one or two of those kicks. We signed Bowen to be a solid experienced full back, the fact he scored a couple of wonder tries last season shouldn't detract from that. He is also good for a try assist per game.

Are the anti-tampering rules no longer in force then?

Serious question. I've been a bit out of touch recently,

Bowen has been 'safe' all season in fairness to him (apart from running past a kick at Widnes)and the early season pitches certainly don't suit him. He needs to offer more in attack but hopefully that will come like it did last year.

I still can't get past the build up to that last try though when he went all premiership footballer on us and clutched his leg rather then try and chase down the Cas attacker. I've never seen a player recover from injury as quickly as that!

Hampshire did ok at Hull KR and should have kept his place.

However look at it another way if he'd been at Leeds for example, (I chose Leeds because along with ourselves they are the most successful club over the last five years) he'd have played about a third of the games he's played for us. Wigan have given him plenty of chances and whilst he's done ok he's not exactly set the world alight.

He needs to keep his head down. More chances will come. And when they do, if he's good enough, he'll take them, and keep his place - just like Sam did.

I think he's unhappy because he is not playing at ANY level. Young players just want to get out on the field and play. I remember Sam Tomkins being rested from the first team and used as sub in the U21's. After 5 minutes he was prowling the touchline at Orrell, looking up at the coach in the stand, arms wide open shouting, can I get on now.


I was at HKR and honestly didn't see any major problems in his game. Maybe he could have done better with the last try but it came from an incorrect ptb from Campese and Bateman along with McIlorum and Smith were also caught out. It doesn't seem right that he got took out of the 19 for the Cas game and George Williams got benched to sub hooker (only getting 20 minutes)

To be fair to Wane he appears to have done what most coaches do and gone back to experience. Burrow comes back for Leeds and Sutcliffe gets left out. Saints have two halfbacks missing v Wakefield so they play Wilkin and Wellens in the halves.

If Wane sees Hampshire as the replacement for Bowen, then he heeds to do one of two things.

1) Send him out on loan for a month to play in that position to gain confidence

or

2) Give him a run of games (3 or 4) in the first team

As I've said many times I see Hampshire and Williams as the long term halfback pairing at Wigan but I think it would be unfair on them to put them there at present, it's never worked in the past here or anywhere else that I can recollect.

I just hope that Wane and Radlinski sit down with the young players and explain their plans for them over the next two years rather than try to bully them into signing contract extensions.


Slightly off topic but in 2013 the England Knights halfback pairing was Sarginson and Powell. The England U18 halfback pairing was Hampshire and Wiliams and Jake Shorrocks was the England U17 halfback.

Food for thought?

Workington are waiting of an half-back from Australia if he ever gets his paperwork sorted but in the meantime they have been crying out for a number 6. Twice it looked like Hampshire was going to come to us but both times he was pulled from that idea (once being when Williams withdrew late on matchday). The lad could have had some quite valuable time playing in his favoured position and maybe let Wane see that he could be Wigan's number 6 for the future. I could see him doing for Workington what Lee Gaskell is doing at Bradford.

Zak Hardaker maybe available again soon if it's a replacement for Bowen you're after...

Quote ="Charlie Sheen"Zak Hardaker maybe available again soon if it's a replacement for Bowen you're after...'" Hmmm viewtopic.php?f=17&t=579668

Quote ="Charlie Sheen"Zak Hardaker maybe available again soon if it's a replacement for Bowen you're after...'" Hmmm viewtopic.php?f=17&t=579668

Has Zak been a naughty boy??

I heard he isnt keen on that move and he doesnt fancy the commute to st helens

Liam Sutcliffe has played 40 games for Leeds in SL, but Hampshire only 13 times for Wigan
not sure why you think Hampshire would have had a much harder time at the Rhinos going by those figures?

Only going by what their fans say on the Leeds board. They reckon McDermott is very reluctant to play his youngsters and almost always plays experienced guys first.

But yes, Sutcliffe who is about the same age, has played a lot more than Hampshire (who did have his injury problems last season).

According to the Wigan site Hampshire has made 20 appearances - is this wrong?

A.O.P.

I have just done a quick check on Hampshire's competitive appearances in the first team squad.

2013 season 5 starts, 4 at fullback 1 at standoff 2 as sub.
2014 season 8 starts 4 at fullback 0 at standoff 4 as sub.
2015 season 2 starts 1 at fullback 1 at standoff 0 as sub.

Please can anyone correct me if I am wrong.

These figures show why I have been saying for so long that it isn't fair to throw a young lad into first team rugby in a strange position without giving him the chance to establish himself in the position that he as played from being a young boy.

He was out injured for a large part of last season.

With pivots I think it's more important that they're starting games and developing in that position at some level rather than getting the odd 10-20 minutes here and there in the first team. My argument with Sutcliffe at Leeds is that I think it's better for his development to be playin 80 minutes at 6 for Hunslet (or another SL club) than playing 10 minutes off the bench with no obvious role except to give someone a rest.

From what I've seen of Hampshire he should be playing in the halves, and I get the feeling he's been moved to full back to try and shoehorn Williams into the team. I think long term Wane will have to make a difficult decision between Williams and Hampshire because I can't see them both staying.

It does seem that most people rate Hampshire at Stand Off and maybe Wane's legendary cussedness is at play here. But I would reckon that Deacon, Harris before him and the junior coaches would have had some input into the decision to play him at full back.

At Hull KR I thought he did ok and deserved another shot last week. Of course it is difficult to drop your 'marquee player (haha)' and senior pro when he is fit to play. But that decision will need to be made soon I would have thought.

I don't think it is actually that rare to change a youngsters position at all. You have to play where the vacancy is after all. If you limit yourself to just playing your 'natural' position then you may never get a chance.

We don't know what is going on behind the scenes here regarding contract extensions etc. and of course we are not party to what goes on at training day in and day out. I would trust Wane to know his job a lot better than I do, so if he thinks he's a full back...then he's a full back!