Re: Hampshire v Williams : Tue Nov 13, 2018 12:59 pm  

Williams patchy for England at 7 but he had a very good year for Wigan after having gone off the boil the previous season. He may well well come good at international level but a) unfairly bagged over Sunday b) does he get a look in if Tomkins and Widdop are both fit? Was unsure on Tomkins initial selection at 7 but proved wrong, should have known better

Myler was a waste of time and if the Knights weren't touring one of the youngsters would have been in. Would rather have played Ratchford at 1 or 6 on Sunday than have Myler in the side against NZ.

Re: Hampshire v Williams : Tue Nov 13, 2018 2:00 pm  

I have been critical of Williams all series, but he's the best available at the present. He has been poor for last 2 seasons but prior to that showed consistent signs he was international class. Whereas Hampshire is lucky to be considered SL class given his erratic career. There is no comparison ATM.

Re: Hampshire v Williams : Tue Nov 13, 2018 2:18 pm  

Williams is an excellent talent, Rocky is better as I believe he is blessed with greater God given talents. Have a look at the England Academy tour highlights from 2012, Rocky was the stand out player on both sides. They both set of on the same path to stardom, Williams got the breaks. For whatever reason Wane, who has proved to be the greatest coach in SL history and a coach who has never been frightened of promoting youth, never gave Rocky a fair crack, he persisted in playing Smith. So Williams and Rocky`s paths went in different directions. My bet is that Rocky ends up a world class RL super star, his path will have been the more difficult but it will I think leave him better prepared to reach world RL superstar status. I also think Chester has a big role to play, Rocky should be a starting 7, Rough should be a back up player to cover 6, 7 and 1 in case of injury.

Re: Hampshire v Williams : Tue Nov 13, 2018 2:23 pm  

bellycouldtackle wrote:

Williams is an excellent talent, Rocky is better as I believe he is blessed with greater God given talents. Have a look at the England Academy tour highlights from 2012, Rocky was the stand out player on both sides. They both set of on the same path to stardom, Williams got the breaks. For whatever reason Wane, who has proved to be the greatest coach in SL history and a coach who has never been frightened of promoting youth, never gave Rocky a fair crack, he persisted in playing Smith. So Williams and Rocky`s paths went in different directions. My bet is that Rocky ends up a world class RL super star, his path will have been the more difficult but it will I think leave him better prepared to reach world RL superstar status. I also think Chester has a big role to play, Rocky should be a starting 7, Rough should be a back up player to cover 6, 7 and 1 in case of injury.

If Hampshire is better than Brough and/or brings more to the team currently then he plays, if not he does not, quite simple for me. Chester does not owe anything to anyone and should be picking what he believes to be his best team.

Re: Hampshire v Williams : Wed Nov 14, 2018 9:05 am  

bellycouldtackle wrote:

Williams is an excellent talent, Rocky is better as I believe he is blessed with greater God given talents.

Apart from quicker pace I am not sure what better talents Hampshire possess. He's certainly kept them well hidden for the last 5 years.

Re: Hampshire v Williams : Wed Nov 14, 2018 9:11 am  

I don't see how it's possible to say that Hampshire is better than Williams, since he's only really started in that position for us recently - whereas Williams has been Wigan's first choice for quite a while; he may well turn out to be, but since he's been held back for various reasons, he's quite some way behind Williams at this stage.

Re: Hampshire v Williams : Wed Nov 14, 2018 11:23 am  

bellycouldtackle wrote:

Williams is an excellent talent, Rocky is better as I believe he is blessed with greater God given talents. Have a look at the England Academy tour highlights from 2012, Rocky was the stand out player on both sides. They both set of on the same path to stardom, Williams got the breaks. For whatever reason Wane, who has proved to be the greatest coach in SL history and a coach who has never been frightened of promoting youth, never gave Rocky a fair crack, he persisted in playing Smith. So Williams and Rocky`s paths went in different directions. My bet is that Rocky ends up a world class RL super star, his path will have been the more difficult but it will I think leave him better prepared to reach world RL superstar status. I also think Chester has a big role to play, Rocky should be a starting 7, Rough should be a back up player to cover 6, 7 and 1 in case of injury.

I'm sorry but Hampshires ability as a junior are now utterly irrelevant - loads of players look great at Academy level but never hack it against the misters.

Re: Hampshire v Williams : Wed Nov 14, 2018 11:33 am  

vastman wrote:

I'm sorry but Hampshires ability as a junior are now utterly irrelevant - loads of players look great at Academy level but never hack it against the misters.

Dare you say Annakin?

Re: Hampshire v Williams : Wed Nov 14, 2018 11:34 am  

bren2k wrote:

I don't see how it's possible to say that Hampshire is better than Williams, since he's only really started in that position for us recently - whereas Williams has been Wigan's first choice for quite a while; he may well turn out to be, but since he's been held back for various reasons, he's quite some way behind Williams at this stage.

That wasn't really my point, it was more why we seem to persist with some players and not with others.

Of course Williams is currently better and so he should be he's been a SL regular for a number of years. However there is the rub and where I disagree with you. Williams is nowhere near as good as he should be at this point in his career as he gets exposed in every international he plays in.

Problem is he's functional which works at club level but he isn't inspirational as required at international level. Name me a single thing he did in any of the three tests? Maybe one try assist. We need so much more than that but we have absolutely no options.

At least Hampshire provides flashes of individual genius, I just never see that in Williams.

Basically I'm just sick of robotic system driven players used at the top levels of the UK game. What I want is far more strong willed, cocky and independent minded individuals.

Re: Hampshire v Williams : Wed Nov 14, 2018 11:34 am  

Wollo-Wollo-Wollo-Wayoo wrote:

Dare you say Annakin?

No I dare not