I am with you on Powell but if he can develop his kicking game then he will be a shoe in from SW's perspective.
I suppose we wont know until the squad numbers are announced.

He's no where near a stand out. His overall game is way below that of an NRL halfback. At times he shows flashes of brilliance, but that's coupled with often headless chicken moments, wrong option plays etc.

He's totally overrated if you think he's anywhere near NRL. There's young halves coming through over there that are noticeably better.

I disagree. At the start of last season he was tearing teams apart week after week and creating tries for fun. His form dipped when the team around him fell apart with injuries and we had practically a reserve backline around him. It seemed to me he felt like he had to it everything by himself and if anything, he tried too hard.
Williams would cope with NRL rugby very well in my view.

We'll have to agree to disagree. Even at SL he wasn't a stand out for me, a stand out would be how Sam was per-NZW. Even when he came on for England he looked terrible, headless chicken in full-force. Can't see any NRL clubs bashing our doors down to sign him as starting half.

I fail to see any half in the NRL who isn't better than George.

I think GW had 2 problems last year. Firstly the whole team struggled with injuries and some would argue a negative playing style. Secondly and probably more importantly when you sign a new deal and become a ‘marquee’ he suddenly had to deal with the added pressure that comes with it, the pressure of expectation. For me the marquee status came too soon for him, although he started the season very well his decision making at times was poor, something that is not unusual in a player, particularly a half of his age.

I believe once he learns to deal with that pressure and gets back to playing his own game we’ll see a big improvement from the back end of last year. He is still young and has plenty of development in him as he becomes older and wiser.

Agree that he didn't finish on top form by his standards, but I also think the marquee player tag probably had more effect on fans expectations of him than it did on the player himself.

Set up 5 more tries than anyone else in the league, in a team that struggled for big parts of last season. Fair enough, it doesn't tell the whole story, but seems to me that even a George not firing on all cylinders was still doing the business. Could probably say the same about S. Tomkins too come to think of it.

True but if he goes with this it represents the most boring and conservative change he could have made. With both Sam T and Escare on the pitch at least then the opposition can't just basically ignore the scrum half and wait for the ball to be moved wide as they used to when Smith was here. Sticking Powell at 7 means we have lost one of the few flair players we have with Escare out of the team. He was also the goal kicker when he was fit and while I know Wane has still not decided who it's going to be (unbelievably) you would have thought he'd be the one with the best chance of getting the job.

Don't get me wrong I would rather have ST or Escare at half before Powell but you can just see Powell getting the nod.
I think SW believes he got "burned" in 2012 when we played some cracking rugby but failed to win wither the GF or CC despite winning the hub cap and since then we have gone more and more conservative with our attack with each passing year.
To be honest unless the pack steps up drastically I cant see any significant improvement in our overall display irrespective who plays at 6 or 7. ST at half would certainly improve the organisation but unless he has options and forwards running for him even he will be limited as to how he can improve things.

Wasn't this also around the time that he got his new "Marquee" contract?

Define stand out?

If you mean he shows talent that sets him apart from his peers then surely a young player of the year award in 2016 does that. Also in a pretty poor season overall (where I’d agree he wasn’t a stand out performer for over half of it) he managed 11 try’s and a league high of 29 assists. The lads who took all the plaudits in Gale, Kelly and Sneyd managed 13/20, 19/14 and 7/18 respectively. It isn’t all about try’s and assists of course but it’s a major factor and when you add in his superb defence and line breaking ability I think you do have a player that sets himself apart from the majority of superleague halfs.

Is he good enough for the NRL? With the right partner I’d say undoubtedly but everyone is entitled to their own opinion.

Imagine how Williams would’ve gone at Cas last year! Or at Hull alongside Sneyd playing on the back of props who go forward.

Clearly a case of the cherry and white specs here. Stats can be used to slate or praise a player, but lets be honest is he a stand out good enough to play in the halves in the NRL no, no where near. Look at the calibre of players over there. Does Williams stand out against the likes of Kelly, Sneyd,Gale or even Danny Mags? No not at all.

Like I said, he has moments of brilliance, but there are also moments of headless chicken, ineffective play and no control which is expected from a half.

He's not a super league stand out. He's overhyped if anyone thinks he's anything close to being a NRL starting half.

For a 23 year old, he is definitely a stand out. Notable halves of similar age in SL are Dec Patton, Liam Sutcliffe, Jordan Lilley and Danny Richardson. They are fighting to make the 17, whilst he is already the main halfback at a top club, involved with the England set up, and at least comparable to the top halves in the SL. He isn't the finished article, but I still think we have a real talent on our hands, both in terms of what he is already achieving, and what he will achieve in the future.

I'm not referring to his progression as a young man. I'm referring to his current ability as a SL player. And is he a SL stand out, answer is no. And to think he'd be a starting half in the NRL shows how overhyped he is by some on here.