Yes, but, continuing the analogy, couldn't you argue that the point is, Wigan have three 'Sutcliffes'?

You could.

And I'm not quite sure why the previous poster picked me up on my point that Hampshire and all the others would have a tougher time getting games at other big clubs such as Leeds.

It's generally acknowledged throughout the game that Wane and Wigan give youngsters a fair chance. In fact the decisions not to replace such skilled and experienced performers as Pat Richards and Blake Green with similar will I believe backfire on the club.

I say again, Hampshire will get further chances, and most likely, if he's good enough then he'll take them.

In many respects it's players not coaches who pick the team. By that I mean, you can by virtue of your performances, make yourself undroppable.

i thought what wigan had was the best talent to come through their system in 20 odd years in Hampshire?
given how highly he is/was regarded, its dissapointing that they've found so few opportunities for him to play in his natural position, even as an opposition fan.

Williams was also an exceptional schoolboy talent.

He was, but playing at 7, with Hampshire his partner at 6. Surely this is the pairing that needs to be given a chance at some stage?

Smith really needs to up his game and justify his first team spot in front of Hampshire, Williams or Powell. The argument that he is "experienced" and thus worth his place should not hold water if he is consistently underperforming . Something that has been the case so far this season.

Im finding this frustrating as it seems the scapegoat is always the person outside Smith and he seems to be geting away with under performing. As an experienced player he should be more under the spotlight than the youngster inside him.

Well after tonights ridiculous 2nd half where we lost it 12-1 despite being camped on Hull's line for probably 35 out of 40 minutes we certainly need someone to spark things up. Unfortunately whoever plays 6 and 7 will not, in my view, be allowed to play their natural game and so do just that.

I really do not believe Wane has a clue how to adapt his tactics to make the best use of the players he has at his disposal. So if Hampshire got the gig he would probably look unspectacular because instead of using his pace off the mark to run at the defense (for example) he'd be under strict instructions to get rid of the ball so we could move the ball wide. And if he didn't do this he'd be dropped.

EDIT:

Wane has said this:

[iGeorge Williams started the game as the second Hooker off the bench, a move that Wane admitted he was talked into by Assistant Coach Paul Deacon: "George is going better at nine for me off the bench than Sam (Powell) is so that was the reason. He went on and he did give us a lift. Deacs (Assistant Coach Paul Deacon) should take the credit for that one, he talked me round. I think he's a half but it works for us at the minute and that's where he'll be staying in the near future."[/i

Well if Williams is bench hooker and Powell is the 6 in front of Hampshire. I give up.

LOgans the back up 9 who ever he prefers with Powell and Williams should be 6...he strikes me as being a bit of an idiot with that staement.

I don't get what changed his mind on Williams from just before the Widnes game when he spoke about being stubborn and how Williams would be kept at 6 even if he had early struggles as he'd back him because he knows what a good player he is.

A good performance against Widnes was followed by a good one against Brisbane and then a good defensive effort at HKR (when we had next to no ball) and then he was dropped.

It makes no sense and less so when you consider Powell has been pretty poor these past two games.

I'm well and truly baffled. Williams wasn't tearing teams apart at 6 but he was playing in a poor side. He also produced some very good play, made some half breaks, created breaks for others, created tries and caused problems with some excellent short kicks and generally offered a more direct approach that made the team a little less one dimensional in the halves.

Powell is a decent player but he has some big drawbacks. He's got a good passing game but his kicking is poor (despite being a strength of his at academy level) and he offers very little in the way of a running threat. Smith is the same. He's probably a better runner than Powell but defences know that if Powell or Smith get the ball they may as well slide out because it's almost inevitable that the pass will go out.

A halfback who can pass well and is a dangerous runner is always going to have a huge advantage because defences won't just slide across every time they get the ball, they'll hang off an be wary of them running it. Williams' passing will improve and he could easily become a very well balanced halfback. Hampshire is already like this. He already has a good passing game and is already a dangerous runner. The physical aspect is still an issue but that's the case with a lot of young halves. I think we need to start including Hampshire in the side. He's got a lot to offer and at the moment it's wasted.

Hampshire is a natural no. 6. Best prospect at Wigan since Sam Tomkins who also should have been played at 6 and not 1. Baffled with his lack of game time!!

Although I'm wary of yet more change at 6 & 7, there is no chance whatsoever we will go close to winning anything with Powell/Smith.

Far too similar - two steady eddies. One is fine but you need someone with a bit of X factor alongside.

Or somebody ala Sam Tomkins at fullback who will feed off two steady types but sadly Bowen is no Tomkins.

Nowhere near. He should have been, but he hasn't.

He's been a terrible signing, sadly.

He's only provided brief flashes of his former self (I gather he was a good NRL player? I don't watch the NRL), but on the whole he's been dire.

I'd have got rid in the offseason as he provides nothing to the team.

Agree totally with DaveO. There has been a lack of creativity at half back all season, which culminated last night in Wigan failing to score a try in the second half despite dominating territory. There is an almost unanimous consensus that Hampshire should be given a chance at 6 - his natural position. Wane's intransigence and refusal to give him this chance at 6 may well have repercussions in the future and his inconsistency towards Williams is also contradictory: last month saying he would keep him at 6, yesterday saying he would now be the bench 9. Surely, he has to let Hampshire show what he can do at 6, whether that be with Smith, Williams or Powell at 7.
My personal preference would be to play Hampshire and Williams at 6 and 7 - and let other teams worry about us having 2 speedy half backs, rather than us worrying about their perceived "lack of experience" or any defensive frailty. Half backs are almost always the smallest players in a team and the most successful may have been regarded as being "defensively weak" - Long, Briers, Burrow and Deacon, to name but a few. I'd also have Smith or Powell as the bench hooker to spell Micky Mac. Last night proved they are not going to be a successful half back combination against most super league teams.

Could it be, maybe, that when he has played this year, he didn't play all that well? Also, he didn't play well in the pre season friendlies. Just because he's young, talented and came through the academy, doesn't give him a god given right to play.

The lad is only 20, there are other talented players of that age who aren't playing every week. Jamie Doran, Oliver Gildart & Connor Farrell to name but three. We only have 17 spaces available week in, and week out. The coaching staff obviously feel that Bowen is the better option at FB and Smith & Williams/Powell are better options are HB.

Rocky's time will come.

I thought that Hampshire had a good game vs Huddersfield, especially given the circumstances in which he was drafted into the team at the last minute. Surely we have to give him some game time at 6 off the back of that performance.

Incidentally, I think that the Williams/Hampshire pairing looked better at junior level when they played as a pair rather than splitting the halves. Maybe Hampshire, for all his obvious talents, doesn't fit well into the current first team structure?

I agree he struggled against Saints but he absolutely tore Leigh apart at SO

Wanes comments that he wasn't initially getting picked against Huddersfield in the halves because he'd been poor at fullback in pre season frustrated me and is the type of comment that makes me worry about their relationship.

As you say he was outstanding in half a game against Leigh at stand off and it's all well and good saying 'it's only Leigh' but they're a really good side who were battering us in that game until Hampshire went in to 6.

Wane seems to have an issue with him IMO and Hampshires confidence will be effected eventually.

My view is we simply need to stop messing around and get him in the team, even if it is at fullback for the time being.

There's no doubt we'll lose him if this keeps going.

So Powell is now injured (along with Sutton and Charnley) - so I would play Hampshire in the halves and continue with Williams at hooker.

Instead though the WEP suggests (which obviously doesn't necessarily mean it will happen) that Williams will move back to the halves and Logan Tomkins will come back in.

In a team currently lacking in creativity and flair, I think we need as many potential game breakers as possible in the side. Logan isn't one (yet another steady Eddie) whereas we know Williams and Hampshire have the potential to do something different that can change things.

If you recall that game, like ourselves Leigh made plenty of changes in that second half, of course I may be wrong about that, but that was my impression at the time.

I don't put too much store in someone 'tearing apart' (in effect) Leigh reserves in a pre-season friendly.

Ask yourselves this. What does Shaun Wane have to gain by omitting a player who could help him win games, if he is as good as people seem to think?

My view FWIW, is that Hampshire will get his chances at Full Back. Shaun Wane has his reasons for not picking him at Stand Off. And he's pretty well qualified to decide who to play and who not to play there.

Yes. Also, the team need to know where they stand. The talk early on was, for better or worse, they'll stick with Williams at 6, and give him time there to gell with Smith. Despite that, he's already been dumped in favour of Powell once. Should he now be dumped a second time in favour of Rocky? That hardly seems fair on the lad, who, after all, has shown signs of steady improvement this season.

But Wane said after the Hull game that Williams had done well as a bench 9 and would now be used in that position. Surely then, Hampshire has to be brought in at 6.......!
Wane needs to start thinking a bit more about some of the things he says to the media if he changes his mind yet again after what he said about Williams playing at 6 at the beginning of the season (he would be played at 6 for a considerable time but was then moved after just a few games) And I hope he has told Charnley not to take to heart the comments he made about Manfredi being able to do things he can't - and that he was just doing it to boost Manfredi's confidence rather than it be an implicit criticism of Josh.