I really feel for Rocky at the moment. Whenever he is given a chance by Wane it is at full back which is clearly not his position. I don't accept that he has been given a chance at 6, an outing with 5 minutes notice doesn't count in my book.

For some reason Wane seems to have some kind of problem with giving Rocky the chance that other players have been given. What makes matters worse is that Rocky is getting no game time whatsoever due to the lack of a reserve grade coupled with the fact that he isn't being allowed to play at Workington.

Rocky may not fulfil his potential but how will we know if he isn't given the opportunity. My fear is that he will turn out to be the player that most think he will, just not in Cherry & White. If this happens then it will be down to p**s poor management.

I remember reading similar rants when Sam Tomkins was moved to fullback...

The fact is, whether FB is Rocky's preferred position or not, he is still capable of doing a job there. No 20 year old in the country can make demands about where they should or shouldn't be playing, and I hope any rumours of that being the case are wide of the mark tbh. Hampshire did very well tonight in the situations he has struggled the most with, dealing with the high ball. If our attack was stuctured with any depth there would be no issue with Hampshire at fullback as he would be perfectly suited in the deep-lying 2nd phase playmaker role (a la Sam). The issue is Wigan's attack is so pathetically flat and laboured it's painful to watch.

Bottom line, I don't buy the whole "he's never a FB in a million years" line that many like to churn out on here, but until we sort out our clunky and shambolic attacking structures it wouldn't really matter who we had playing there.

Agree, he was superb last night and along with Charnley my m.o.m. although he was fortunate for Charnleys try as he was about a yard offside from the kick through. There's a good reason why many coaches pick their most dangerous attacking player at fullback. I've said many times that Hampshire can play either at #1 and #6 and be effective for the TEAM. As for the Gregory / Edwards combination, Gregory was an experienced 25 year old when he came to Wigan. For those who can remember a bit further back, look what happened when Wigan tried to go with Holden and Edwards in the haves at such a young age.

The only reason I'd be wary of playing Williams and Hampshire at 6/7 together at the moment is whether they can be vocal enough to organise a team full of more senior players.

I'm hoping next year when Sam returns that will curtail that issue and we may see them together with Sam, O'Loughlin and Micky also on field as vocal/ organising leaders

1. Tomkins
6. Hampsire
7. Williams
9. McLlorum
13. O'Loughlin

The prospect of that spine gets me pretty excited

It's their defence that would worry me. I was watching Hampshire for most of the game last night, he was fairly vocal, and did quite well.

Rogues I remember the failed Holden and Edwards combo but that doesn't mean that Williams and Hampshire would also fail due to age and/or experience.
We probably will never get the chance to see if it could actually work because unless Smith gets injured there is no way that SW will ever drop Smith however ineffective he is.
As I have said previously I hope Hampshire moves on to pastures new to give his undoubted talent a chance to develop because for whatever reason SW obviously just does not fancy Hampshire in the number 6 jersey