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.

What about giving Lee Gaskell a punt seems to have found is form now he as settled at Bradford is he a Wigan lad.

No, he's from St. Helens but a very good player who fell out of favour with a couple of the Saints coaches.

I still think Hampshire will be offered the #1 position next season at Wigan. According to todays League Express he played at fullback for Workington yesterday.

And wasn't very good according to the Workington fans.

Any truth in the rumours we (Saints) were looking at signing Hampshire?

I'd take Hampshire at Saints in a heartbeat.

I'd certainly go after him if Walsh is leaving as there's not a huge difference in 6/7 roles these days.

I think he could learn a lot from Burns over a couple of seasons and then be the senior half back for years.

High quality player.

He wouldn't be the first pacey wigan standoff who couldnt get a game to end up at St Helens in the number 7 shirt

If he went to Saints now do you think he would far a game ( assuming Walsh is fit and Burns isn't suspended)?

And there lies my concern!!! He's not a fullback in the memory of man, he has stated he wants to play six, he's played six all through the school boy rugby, he's represented England youth teams as a six, yet Wane wants him as a fullback???? Williams and Hampshire need to be given a go in the halfs together!! They naturally compliment each other as left and right sided players, and have played together for a good number of years. Matty Smith (whom I like) isnt firing at the minute, and with Wane in his wisdom changing the halves weekly, there is no chance of him and/or the six in getting any familiarity, so I'd play Smith as the interchange hooker, a position smith has played before. If we don't play Hampshire, we will lose him, and he will come back and bite Wigan on their arris!!!


Matt

Theoretically given Lomax may be out for sometime he would probably play fullback initially. Walsh may not extend for next season though , plus who knows how he will recover. I suspect he'd get more game time at Saints than he will at Wigan with all the players seemingly in front of him

But where would it leave him if Walsh signs another year as has been suggested by quite a few Saints fans. He's be even worse off as he's almost guaranteed the fullback position at Wigan next year. And what happens to Dave Hewitt (the next big thing according to some), he's now in his last academy year.

If Hampshire moves I suspect Leeds could be interested with Sinfield, Burrow and McGuire all in their 30's.

Well, we have only played 5 games and the halves have been disrupted by injury twice and suspension once, so try not to blame it all on SW.

Also, Matty played pretty well on Friday didn't he. Why move him to hooker (thus further disrupting the halves!)?

Hampshire, on my viewings, is a better half than Hewitt.

If Hampshire is given a run at 6 then I believe he'd nail down the spot as he offers more than Williams (a 7) and Powell (squad player at best)

I can't see Saints making a bid unless they know Walsh is departing.

I can see Hewitt going on dual registration for a season from next year as he's not ready for SL week in week out IMO. He's got time on his side.

Our next six games are Leeds, Wakefield, Saints, Salford, Catalan and Warrington.

I expect that Hampshire will play in at least three of those games, that would give him around 50% game time this season.

Williams and Hampshire are two of the most promising half backs I've seen in schoolboy and junior football and did a great job individually and as a partnership in the Wigan academy.
They should have been developed and moulded into a partnership for senior football. One is now a hooker/half and the other is a full back despite never having played there as a junior.The game is crying out for quality English half backs..it seems to me that the Wigan management can't see a good thing when it's staring them in the eye but sadly maybe it's symptomatic of the game in general.

Well said, Yorkshireman! I have been watching Wigan since the mid 60's and Hampshire and Williams could and should be the new Edwards and Gregory, who (for younger fans) were the Wigan half back partnership from 1988 - 1991, ie the start/first 4 of Wigan's run of 8 CCs etc. In my opinion, Wigan's best half back combination in the last 50 years - and 2 Wigan born lads as well!
Hampshire isn't a Sam Mk2 - Sam isn't the strongest in defence, but he is taller and better than Hampshire. One of Bowen's shortcomings is his weakness under the high ball when there is a lot of traffic and Hampshire seems to struggle similarly - not surprising as he hasn't been a regular full back before.

Is that your date of birth, 2. 2. 59.

The Hampshire / Williams combination SHOULD be the medium term 2/3 years off aim as Wigans halfback combination.

What you didn't mention was Wigan tried the "young way" with Edwards and Keith Holden. It failed. Holden disappeared via Warrington and Edwards was moved onto the wing and to fullback before eventually reverting to #6 or #7 Gregory only arrived at Wigan when he was established and around 25 years of age.

It was tried again with Kevin Brown and Luke Robinson and look where both players are now.

At present Wigan don't really have cover at fullback so Hampshire is the ideal player to do that AND cover the #6 role. Have a look at the players playing at #1 both here and in the NRL . Lomax, Dorn, Hanbury, Rankin etc. all started as half backs The #1 and #6 roles are not much different with the exception of catching the high ball for the #1 and the #6 has do do more tackling.

What does need to happen is for Wane and Radlinski to sit down with the young players and map out their plans for them over the next couple of years.

And sometimes, moving them in the opposite direction (#1 to #6) doesn't always work too well; see Barba and Milford. Also, the plans to put Josh Dugan in positions where he's required to pass the ball (never his strong suit). Conclusion: maybe #6 to #1 is easier than vice versa?

There is a shortage of half backs in SL hence so many arrive from the NRL. At Wigan we have quite a few in that not all can be played in their favoured positions.

I'm probably the only one who's quite relaxed about Hampshire not playing right now. The pitches are soft to muddy and ours at the DW is like a ploughed field and an utter disgrace.

Hampshire is a terrific player with exceptional pace. That pace is lost in the mud and on slippery surfaces. Being so fast enables Ryan make up for the odd mistake or being caught out of position. On a hard fast ground he can make that up, on a muddy field he can't and will get found out by crafty halves.

In two-four weeks the grounds will really have dried out and that's when I'd look for Ryan to replace Bowen. Bowen's pace is declining by the game and it will soon be time for his successor to start playing regularly. Bring him in over Easter and then play him regularly for the rest of the season.

The only thing I'm not relaxed about is that Ryan hasn't signed a new deal. The club need to get that sorted and soon.

I'm actually really excited about the prospect of a Hampshire & Smith partnership.

They have two contrasting styles that could merge well together. I really do think we would see an improvement in Smith's game if he had a 'natural' 6 outside him who enjoys taking on defences.

Would you sign a new contract if you were him?

Yes IF he was given assurances that the #1 position was his for next season.