jonh wrote:
Whilst there were a few sub par performances today players like Farrell and Smith have clearly earned the right to be considered undroppable.
I expect after today Williams is still in poll position to start the season at stand off but Rocky in my opinion offers us much more not least because of the pace he has. Even without the pace he took control of the game and could be seen clearly bossing the team around the pitch.
I think another performance where he outshines Williams in the friendlies and he could very well play himself into the starting team.
Williams I really am not sure about, he just seems to be missing something for me. When I have seen him in the juniors he looks different class but that is not transferring through to First Team level, where he looks a little out of his depth\lethargic.
As I said earlier I think he is still favourite to start the season at 6 but I hope Hampshire has given Wane something to think about and I would like to see him get some game time in the halves with Smith before the Widnes fixture.
In defence of Williams, he's played 40 minutes of a pre-season friendly. Last year he put in some very good performances which has earned him the number 6 shirt. He's had eye catching performances. He had a few quiet games last year when he looked tired but it's worth remembering that he was a halfback in the U19's making probably around 10 tackles per game against teenagers going on to play hooker at Super League level making anything up to 40 tackles in games facing some pretty tough forwards. That's not an easy thing to do. It will take a lot out of a young player.
It's never a certainty how young players will progress. He's only 20. It's possible that he might have a quiet season this year after his breakthrough year, which is what happens to many young players. It might turn out that it doesn't work for him and he's better off on loan. We have enough options to allow that. 2016 could be his year. We can't place too much pressure on young players to be the finished article so early. He's a phenomenally talented player so he's got a good chance of making it. He might end up spending another season playing at hooker if Hampshire or Powell play well.
Hampshire is a phenomenal talent so it's not surprising for him to play well. He's definitely better in the halves. He's never had a single completely convincing game at fullback at Super League or U19's level. He's best with his hands on the ball as much as possible so hopefully he'll get another chance in the halves. Defence is the only issue but that will get tested more against Saints (as he'll surely be played in the halves again).
There are so many talented young halfbacks at the club at the moment that there's no need to worry too much if a player has a bad game or is inconsistent. It happens to most young players. So many of them will have a quiet season at some point in their early development. The ones that don't are often the ones that become really special talents.
Powell also shouldn't be overlooked. He's only been able to show brief glimpses of what he's capable of but a few good performances could make him the starting stand off and a bit of consistency is all he needed. Injury cost him last year after playing his way into the WCC squad and I don't think he fully recovered from that injury, which will have halted his progress somewhat.
