For the last few weeks the age old question has raised its head, should we be exposing young player to the intensity of S/L, this has been mentioned a few times on the Wigan board today with regards to Powell, Williams and Hampshire..
No doubt the game these days is far more intense and faster than 50 /60 years ago, but in a way it was just as tough then.

The reason I am saying this is because TV coverage misses nothing, and any attacks on young players off the ball is almost always found out.

Fans say that todays forwards are 16/17 stone super fit players and young lads should not be exposed to this physicality, but scrum halves and standoffs are often said to be 13 stones.

This is why I have raised this point, in the 5os especially (when I started watching Wigan) there used to be some very tiny halfbacks, one in particular was Jeff Stevenson from Leeds.
He was 5ft 5inches and weighed 9st 10lbs and he played for GB 19 times , if you touched him the Leeds pack would sort the offender out.
One instance with Wigan sticks in my mind was a match in the 50s against Saints at Central Park when the young Wigan scrum half Tommy Parr was flattened by Dougie Greenhall ( a very tough centre), but there was always someone tougher.
Wigan's Harry Street a very hard Yorkshire born loose forward spent the whole of the second half going after Greenhall and he caught up with him at the end.
The most famous was Alex Murphy, the finest halfback in my opinion to have played the game, but what made him so good at such a young age (debut for Saints at 17,Australian tourist at 1icon_cool.gif?. His enforcer was Vinty Karalius which meant if you touched Murph you had Vinty to reckon with.

To sum up 60 years ago when the game may have been slower the refs had no TV to fall back on it was a known thing that if you touched a young player you could expect retribution and the ref turned blind eye until it was sorted.

Going back to the conjecture about Hampshire, Powell and Williams, here are my thoughts.
Hampshire is injured at the moment so we do not know how much he would have progressed if he had had a run.
Powell he reminds me of a Smith type player ( as has been mentioned) or a back up hooker.
Williams is the one for me who shows to me flashes of someone special, he is very well built and he shows he will not be intimidated, when he scored that try on Thursday he showed the composure of a class halfback. Joel Tomkins was backing up on his left when that avenue was blocked off he immediately went towards Charnley and was blocked off again so he cut back and went the rest of the way on his own.
He just reminded me of a young Andy Gregory, a bold statement I know but by never panicking that's the impression he gave me.

We need to protect young players but we shouldn't hold them back either. We need to strike the right balance.

That was always the job of the loose forward to look after the scrum half.

Regarding Murphy, when he played for GB it was our very own Brian McTigue who looked after 'Murf'.
Check Murphys (auto) biography from quite a few years back. where he wrote "he thanked Christ that 'Mac' was close by after he had 'wound- up' the Ozzie pack."

Wigan will have a big, tough pack next year with the introduction of Tomkins and then Tautai so that will buy these young halves some extra space and our aggression always buys them that bit of protection.

I'm fine going with the three young lads alongside Smith. They're all doing a fine job when called up on and have the potential to be top class. I'd be worried throwing one of them in if they were the only option we had but with us having three it allows us to rest and rotate them to keep them fresh.

If we are talking about size, what about Kevin OLoughlin he was a utility player didn't have the skill of Kieron but he was a tough nut, I think he's been the only player to have played in every position 1to 13 in the Wigan team, of course I stand corrected if anyone knows different.

Wane has done a great job integrating numerous youngsters over the last few seasons, whether he has been forced too due to injuries, or has used the current league format, and gambled when a win has not been a necessity.
With the amount, and talent of our back room staff there is not a chance of these players not being physically ready to face opponents no matter how big or small they are.
The only issue I have when too many play at the same time is there isn't enough leaders on the pitch.

=roundpeg>it takes me back a bit talking about half backs being looked after by the loose FWD s your spot on when you say murphy was the best and the saying IF YOUR GOOD ENOUGH YOUR OLD ENOUGH it certainly applied to him. It was tough around the scrum in those days feeding the ball up into the face of the opposing hooker and getting a boot in the mush for good measure speed around the scrum base getting the standoff away and the loose forward keeping an eye on the scrumhalf and following the play. The game isn't as quick as today but the scrimmaging was skilful.

I think the 'if you're good enough, you're old enough' used to be true. These days the physical conditioning of players means they are far stronger, fitter and faster than before. At 18 a boy is still growing and is limited to the amount of bulk he can put on without causing himself long term harm. For that reason I think we have to be more careful with youngsters, particularly forwards these days. There will be many 18 year olds with the ability to play first team but if their bodies can stand up to it we need to be patient.