You think the two situations are the same? Bowen has proved he can do it and in theory the risk to this signing was his knees (my main reservation as I did acknowledge his skills). The risk with Powell was not only his age being against him but the fact he had never played the game and it was going to take more effort than it was worth to turn him into a good player. Given younger RU players than him took a while to get to grip with the game in the past I don't think I was being unduly unfair to him whereas I think it is a bit quick to write Bowen off.

I also thought Clubb looked far worse v Hudds than Bowen and I'd rather have us still have Hansen in that slot but again despite my bias toward Hansen it would be unfair to write Clubb off also.

If we are wanting to get rid of Bowen after those two games then there are several other players who by the same token should be leaving with him. Dudson was dire in the WCC so what about him as well?

He was played in the wrong position though under a dubious coach. Miles like Bowen was coming into a good set up and played in his rightful position. Still got the same kind of flak as Bowen.

I am hoping class is permanent and from temporary with Bowen as was the case with Miles.

I wouldn't criticise anyone who is trying. Bowen hasn't so far given any indication that he wants to be here.

As a world class player surely we can expect more from him than the likes of Clubb and Dudson and therefore the criticism is justified. I was so looking forward to him playing for us and maybe that's why he has attracted so much flack. Maybe he can't live up to the hype.

Maybe my memory is playing tricks but I really don't remember Gene Miles being so poor. I do remember an unbelievable spear tackle at Saints (not sure who the victim was). And he certainly is one of the best centres I've ever seen. Here's hoping Bowen can prove me wrong and he really does want to play for us.

It generally takes overseas players 4 to 6 weeks to bed into the team, the style of rugby in super league and to get acclimatised to the weather and lifestyle over here.

I agree he's not set the world on fire yet but surely we can cut him a bit of slack and actually give him some support, to hopefully speed up the settling in process. We all want to see great performances by our team but criticism after so few games won't help anybody.

If he's not showing any signs of improvement by May then maybe some tough decisions need to be made by the management.

Thing is it might take Bowen 4-6 weeks, but why invest the time in him when Hampshire could well be ready now? Give him a chance to prove himself v Wakey, it's the perfect match for him, if he plays well and looks better than Bowen keep him in.

Lets not lose sight of the future, Bowen was only brought over as a stop gap between Sam and Hampshire, at Bowen's age and with his injuries he was never meant to be here long term. If Hampshire is ready already then I'm sorry but Bowen needs to play second fiddle to him.

Our long term is Hampshire not Bowen, he's our prize asset, it's about developing him at his pace. I'm not in agreement with Bowen slowing down his development.

Although I think Hampshire should play on Sunday (unless Bowen looks more comfortable in training with our systems) I still think Bowen will prove to be an outstanding signing once he settles and I still think he will be in contention for the MOS at the end of the year.

I think though there is little point selecting him at the moment unless he is totally comfortable with out systems as the team is greater than any 1 player, and he clearly is not yet comfortable with our systems, whilst Hampshire is.

There is no great issue for me, it's very simple.

On should Bowen play or not I think he probably should, his stress levels should be less playing against Wakefield so allowing him to concentrate more on his team development. SW has already said he has done well in training and I don’t think he would have thrown him in in the first place if he didn’t believe he was ready. I think the best way for him is to put him in a real game and see how he goes after a few more. The guy has vast experience and if he can’t get with the plan soon then it’s time for plan B, but I think he still may come good.

If you gave me a choice of playing Bowen at home against Wakey or away to Cas I know which I'd choose! If he's low on confidence which seems to be the case, a trip to Cas playing in such alien conditions won't be a walk in the park. I doubt he'll have ever experienced playing somewhere like the Jungle and I could see that going horribly wrong.

I'd be tempted to play him at 1 with Hampshire at 6 on Sunday just to try and get him some confidence.

In my OP I suggested Bowen at 1 with Hampshire on the bench. That, I thought, would give SW a choice should he feel changes are needed during the game.
Bowen hasn't been great at all, however I do think his tackle on SBW last Saturday was telling. Another 6 points at that stage could have meant them getting 50.
The other reason for benching Ryan was that I've not been over impressed with our half backs either. Hampshire would give SW options in that regard too.
At this stage of the season I think the best place for Hampshire is the bench rather than a starting spot where he would be targeted.

My priority between the two would be Hampshire. Bowen can't stand in the way of Hampshires development. If it's right that Hampshire is ready to play then he should.
I don't like the idea of someone who's only here for a season to stand in the way of a future stars development.

I don't want another Tim Smith episode were it took him to break his arm to see Tomkins geta run of games. Even though Bowen is a much better player than Smith, the comparison is there for all to see.

I am amongst those on here who have memories of the lack of impact that Gene Miles had in the early part of the season he played with Wigan.
So I had a look at Bilko's stats for that season and it really showed how the memory can play tricks years after.
Up to early December of that season Miles only played app 4 games, it was a case of play a match miss 3/4.
From the 15 of Dec he went on to play app 24 matches with him only missing 1 match in that run of 24 matches.

Not a bad suggestion FT. Bowen has actually played backup 9 in the past (even at Origin levelif I recall) possibly give the starting 9 a rest, bring on Hampshire, send him to 1 and Bowen to 9.
Otherwise I wouldnt wanna see a subsitute wasted on a fb interchange.

Sounds like a good idea but I would rather keep Bowen at full back and put Hampshire on as hooker.

I am not keen on making lots of positional changes and hampshires pace at acting half could give a real good attacking option against a tiring Wakey defence.

ahhhhhhhhhhhhahahahahahahahahahaha

Regards

King James

I remember that - there were a lot of rumours/concerns during the early part of the season whether he would ever play (if I remember rightly it was chronic injury that kept flaring up). I think the play one miss a few was due to him either being pushed/or pushing to play and breaking down and then missing a few.

Sooner see Hampshire get as much game time as poss at fb personally in prep for when he takes over the position FT.

Bowen wouldn't have played on Sunday even if he'd had a stormer in the WCC, IMO. SW has always said he'd rest players for the first game back. Sundays squad will be made up of one or two who played WCC, the ones who travelled and didn't play and probably a couple of younger squad players.

I think Rocky will be in the halves next year.

I also think Bowen will do 1 more season also.

Who knows. Personally I don't. Rocky seems to be marked out for the FB role similar to Sam. Has he even played at 6 in the first team?

To me, and I could be wrong, Wane has his eyes on Powell to replace Green in the halves with Williams also waiting.

I'd go with:

1. Hampshire
2. Charnley
3. Gelling
4. Thornley
5. Manfredi
6. Williams
7. Smith
8. Dudson
9. Tomkins
10. Crosby
11. Bateman
12. Clubb
13. Burke

14. James (Assuming he's fit)
15. Hopkins
16. C.Farrel
17. Hughes

I'd like to see:

Bowen
Charnley
Thornley
Sarginson
Burgess
Hampshire
Smith
Taylor
McIlorum
Crosby
Farrell
Hughes
Bateman

Clubb
Tomkins
Dudson
Flower

But I think we will be weaker.

www.wigantoday.net/sport/wigan-w ... -1-6468786 Looks like a few more first team players will play than Wane originally suggested.

www.wigantoday.net/sport/wigan-w ... -1-6468786 Looks like a few more first team players will play than Wane originally suggested.

The players I'm sure want to play and SW probably has realised how important a convincing win is this weekend.
Doesn't surprise me one bit!

Is Hampshire a 6 playing fullback or an out and out fullback? I would use the Saints Johnny Lomax situation under Royce as an example here. We moved our most promising fullback to half back where his confidence took a battering for 2 seasons just to move him back to full back again, therefore slowing his development down. Just a thought guys...

He's a 6 they're looking at converting to fullback in the way they did with Sam Tomkins.

Lomax was a halfback in his St Helen's academy days as well but did shift to fullback at that level before his move up to the first team. Once he got in the Saints first team he played as a utility really before getting his spot at 7. I think you can tell now fullback is his best position because it gives him freedom. He's not a great organiser, kicker or even passer of a ball but his skills are ideally suited to being an attacking fullback.

As for Hampshire I think he is suited more to the halfback role then fullback but circumstances will probably dictate where he ends up.