Personally, I'd rather have Miller than Hampshire at 6.
There is no doubt Hampshire is an athlete but its how you use it that counts and Miller is better at that in my opinion.

I wouldn’t argue with you.

My point was that in the last few games he looked to be heading in the right direction again, after a year or so of decline. That’s all you can ask. I don’t think he is a Thurston in the making, never did. That was just ludicrous hype peddled by some.

Doesn’t mean he can’t be a very useful HB within the limitations of his game. If he concentrates on what he does well and works hard on what he doesn’t I’m happy with that, so long the team can work with it.

Very few players are true masters of their trade, less so HB’’s. Some of the Aussies often touted on here aren’t even close. Personally I’m yet to be convinced that Sam Williams is any kind of upgrade. I honestly believe people are viewing his last stint with the club through rose tinted specs.

We will see.

Is he?

Miller has all the same faults as Hampshire, most notably the true ability to run a game. Miller himself has always admitted that both Brough and especially Finn did all the thinking. He said it on SKY in Finns case.

Not sure what version of Miller you see.

Truth is both he and Hampshire only redeemed themselves in the last five games.

I agree they only redeemed themselves in the last 5 games, as did most of the rest of the team. I also agree that neither are the kind of 'organising' type half that we need, so it does then become a choice of one of them playing not both.

To me that, plus a better all-round kicking game, is where Sam Williams has the edge. I don't think we saw the best of him 1st time round as Finn was playing so well and so regularly that he didn't get the run of games he needed to fully settle in - nobody expected Finn to go as well for as long as he did - perhaps the added competition for his place spurred him on.

However, since that spell Sam has performed in the NRL whenever called on, which I can't see Hampshire or Miller ever being able to do

You are not talking about the same position.
I don't want Miller to run a game. I want the 7 to do that.
I want him to run at the line, pass at the right time and inspire the team. I think he does that better than Hampshire.
Can't see the problem though. If we get a decent 7 they can compete for the 6 role and will push each other. But Miller has the starting spot for me right now.

They are very similar styles indeed. The way I see it, is that Miller is 28 and Hampshire is 25. Miller has had 6 seasons with us and almost all his games, probably around 150, have been played in the halves, and mainly alongside good organisers. In this time, he has had time to develop his game, but yet we still see those hospital passes coming out often, yet Hampshire has had 3 seasons with us, half the amount of games, but within those games, played in several other positions, without having a long consistency run there like others.

Don't get me wrong, in his day, Miller is as good and dangerous running half back in super league, but is very inconsistent unfortunately.

Over and above this, he is a local lad, which is useful if we ever have to juggle our quota.

After re-watching the Salford game and seeing just how comfortable Brad Walker looked in the halves and the fact that he created so much and made it look so effortless and with playing all his junior rugby in the halves, it makes me think if after all this time in our search for a half have we been missing a perfectly good one right under our noses?

I know it is only half a game but for him to fit in to the side like that and play like he has been in the side for a few seasons is almost unheard of in that position.

What kind of money are we spending?

https://www.superleague.co.uk/stats Look at the stats for the 2017 season, butcalso bear in mind that of his 24 games for us, probably a third were from the bench. Compare to Finn who played the whole season, and Miller, who missed half a dozen games a so, through injury

https://www.superleague.co.uk/stats Look at the stats for the 2017 season, butcalso bear in mind that of his 24 games for us, probably a third were from the bench. Compare to Finn who played the whole season, and Miller, who missed half a dozen games a so, through injury

Agreed, Miller is defo a 6, its his running game and off the cuff play is where he excels

How about Jowitt kicking ?

He won’t come cheap, no experienced Aussies do these days. That’s not to say some aren’t worth it because they are but some definitely aren’t but all cost.

Mr Carter said the Sky money had come down because of the 240 thousand pounds each S L club as got to pay back because of breach of contract

Thats more than the salarie cap! Sure you've got your figures right?

Not quite, Cheshire....£2.1 million according to this, although I thought it was around £1.8 Million ?? https://www.rugby-league.com/salary_cap_regulations

Not quite, Cheshire....£2.1 million according to this, although I thought it was around £1.8 Million ?? https://www.rugby-league.com/salary_cap_regulations

Quote ="FIL"Not quite, Cheshire....£2.1 million according to this, although I thought it was around £1.8 Million ?? https://www.rugby-league.com/salary_cap_regulations'" I might be wrong, but I’m sure MC said on the last Full 80 minutes program, the next season payment was about £1.52 million, + £100,000 for running an academy, £15 or £20 thousand for Sky games being shown on Thursday or Friday nights. The rebate to Sky he estimated is £280,000 per SL club. I’ll have to listen to that program again, it was towards the end of the show when he mentioned this.

Quote ="FIL"Not quite, Cheshire....£2.1 million according to this, although I thought it was around £1.8 Million ?? https://www.rugby-league.com/salary_cap_regulations'" I might be wrong, but I’m sure MC said on the last Full 80 minutes program, the next season payment was about £1.52 million, + £100,000 for running an academy, £15 or £20 thousand for Sky games being shown on Thursday or Friday nights. The rebate to Sky he estimated is £280,000 per SL club. I’ll have to listen to that program again, it was towards the end of the show when he mentioned this.

To be fair to rocky yes his kicking was a bit off this season I think his stats last year were 97%. But I do know rocky was carrying a serious knee injury this season and in lockdown couldn't receive the correct treatment which had an effect on the injury and on his training.

I have no idea if you’re right, sorry but this forum is full of it.

Although I’d say I doubt you can play with a ‘serious’ knee injury it wouldn’t surprise me if he didn’t have a long term injury that needed corrective surgery. I suspect a lot of players had to do so to allow the club to fulfill its obligations.

One thing I find it hard to believe though is that he couldn’t get the treatment, money talks even during Covid and NHS and private sports injury specialists are running as normal. I know I see one once a month. The truth is only a percentage of medical staff have been run off their feet. Pontefract Urology is running better than ever, another of my ailments that requires medical supervision, oh the joy.

I hope he now gets the chance to have it sorted and he’s ready fit and well for 2021.

Pretty sure BJB said on a recent BBC podcast that he couldn't get seen by the NHS for his illness because of the corona and had to pay to go private.

Rocky couldn't be seen by NHS as it wasn't classed as emergency. He was given exercises to do but the injury was getting worse, once the 1st lockdown was lifted he went to a specialist to find out the injury had been treated incorrectly, which had made it worse. Any how I just feel that it's unfair to knock any player this season. Its been a crazy year for every one and us as fans don't get to see the full impact of the rules and regulations have on the team.

I may be wrong but aren’t players covered by insurance for injuries?

They probably are but this illness does not appear to be an injury suffered in sport more a health condition

With BJB I would have thought that was outside of the club’s insurance but surely if Rocky was carrying an injury this would be managed within club control or did furlough mean he couldn’t access that at the time?

I like Hampshire he's a Wakey type of player with a good attitude but he does pose an ongoing conundrum; in an attacking sense for me he seems to flourish most at FB using his pace and running ability to exploit gaps. The problem is I'm not sure he's quite good enough defensively and is relatively short so is liable to be exploited in the air (to be fair to him he probably hasn't had a long run in any one position to try and nail it down, there has been a lot of moving around). There is also the Jowitt at full back factor to consider. As has been said - if we do end up with a Finn/Brough type no.7 maybe he can utilise those same attacking attributes better as a 6, but then there is Miller to consider. It all adds up to him falling foul of not having an established position. Either way he's good to have in the squad and will likely play a decent number of games whatever happens.