I think he's done ok, and has benefitted from having a decent run at 7 alongside Miller. He deserves at least a 1 year deal.....but best player of his generation?! Bit strong, but there you go, each to there own eh, just thinking, If Annakin had played against Hull I reckon we'd have knocked up 100......

A typically grandiloquent Belly statement - but there is an argument that Hampshire has been hiding his light under a bushel, due to some of his own choices, or choices that were made for him, as he started his SL career. Going to Wigan, with so much talent in front of him and with very little chance of playing his favoured position on a consistent basis, has probably held him back and as a result, he's maybe 2 years behind in his development.

If he can play the way he did against Hull on a consistent basis, even against decent opposition, he's got new Danny Brough written all over him; fast, nuggetty, quick thinking and not afraid to play what's in front of him; and rarely for a hb, far from a pushover in defence. To top that off, he's got a terrific boot on him - although kicks in play are perhaps not his greatest strength.

I'd say that if we stick with him and he's our first choice 7 for a couple of seasons, so his craft and experience in that position and at that level can properly mature, he could easily be one of, if not the, best hb in SL - and it wouldn't be a stretch to imagine him pulling on an England jersey in the next 5 years.

A few weeks ago i was on here praising hampshires full back performance ,still thought it was good but his game at scrum half sunday beat that ,the kid was involved in almost every thing good about our performance, link ups support play and smart play to get try scoring moves going ,plus the fact that jowitt not max benifited from shrewd play from both young halfbacks,how there can be any esitaition in keeping these lads together baffles me , and these on here who say he deserves a one year contract have no idea how to produce a team long term ,if we dont give him a decent long term deal somebody will

One thing you will always get from Hampshire is desire for the shirt, because he's a Trinity supporter. We've had good halves with no passion. Give me a half who will grow and get better AND with passion and you've got someone to begin to build a team around.

Interesting comparisons with Brough. At 22, he sparkled in the Challenge Cup Final but struggled to get a game. At 24, in 2007, he was playing in the Championship (Cas). It was only really when he signed for us in 2008, when he was 25, that he really showed what he had consistently.

I’d be more than happy to have Rocky &Miller as our half’s for the foreseeable future ,playing more games together is only going to make them a formidable duo.
What we don’t want at the club is someone who’s going to rock the boat as we seem to have a very settled and happy squad and that can only pay dividends in the long run.

I agree TS. I said the same thing about the full back performance and it swayed me to thinking Finn might be a better option than Max. The Hull game changed that view.
Clearly there is more development for them all and they'll have bad games too, but they've shown they can and we need to give them that chance now.

every team needs depth in the squad!

the reason these fridge players have not got much of a go after the last 3 years is that we have been very very lucky on the injury front - we have not had many out with long term injuries (touch wood)

'Next season could be totally different.

In relation to us trying to find a quality halfback be it from here or in England- I think is a great move from the club and shows we are trying to compete with the top clubs - I think all we are missing to be nearly a top 4 side is a quality 7.

Arona would be the unlucky one with a quota spot but I believe we have the depth to cover him and half back from oz is the way to go.

Pretty much agree with all that BOJO.

I do think that overall, we have been quite fortunate with injuries, since Chris Chester came. I dont think we have ever been in a situation as to where we have had to dip into the loan market too much, or play players out of position. I think we had a short spell in 2016, but that has been about it.

I feel for Arona, but if it is for the balance of the make up of the squad, then so be it.

We have lost so many games this year by say, between 2 and 8 points, that, with better game management, could have won. This could well have been the difference between us making the top 4 and not.

Having said that, I have seen enough from Milky and Rocky, to suggest that these should be our 6 and 7 pairing now.

I think we've got a quality 7 - and I'd be disappointed if we shipped someone in now in front of Hampshire; by all means look for back-up, but I'd be gutted if we import an NRL failure and sideline Rocky again.

Sign him up for a few years - and find an understudy who can cover him in case of injury; as TS has said, that's how you build a team that has longevity - and it removes the quota problem, because I can't for the life of me understand why, if we could, we wouldn't retain Arona - he's super reliable and does a great job.

Hampshire has played well in a stuttering team and can only get better when the team is playing with more confidence.
I know one game doesn't make a season but you only have to see how well the team played against Hull.
I understand what the club is doing but it didn't quite work with Williams last season.

If we still had Williams this year I think we would have won at least 3 or 4 of those close games, the guy was so underrated by most of our fan base.

Then surely that's all the more reason to keep Hampshire, instead of creating a quota spot at the expense of Tinny Arona.

Agree really, I would say with a real top quality half (Gale or even Brough standard) that we would be a team that could challenge for the top 4. However it would be a gamble to sign an unproven Aussie or one with injury problems, particularly when we have a young hungry half who clearly has potential. Personally think the squad would be better if we retained Arona and signed a back up to Miller and Rocky that doesn't take up a quota spot as has been suggested.

On Sam Williams - agree that he had a touch of class and a lot of his good work went unnoticed.

I thought Williams was a good player Alftofts Wildcat, and should have been given more game time to play alongside Miller.

Opposing sides knew he was a threat, as every time he had the ball, they were rushing to close him down.

Those 3 or 4 close games, we could have won, we could be really within touching distance of the top 4, especially when Warrington have beaten us twice by small margins and also Castleford and Hull at Easter.

It’s going to be interesting to see how the Jowitt/Miller/Hampshire combination goes in the upcoming super 8’s.

If you dig down and analyse how we’ve gone when these three have played it could be decent going forward...

We lost the first 3 times they played together...Hull (a) 26-27...Leeds (h) 26-28...and Cas (a) 4-24...another factor through that spell though could have been big Dave missing those games as he’s a huge influence on the way our pack plays...could those two close defeats have been wins if Dave had played, quite possibly so?

Since then they’ve played together 6 times which has brought 4 wins, 1 draw and a 30-32 defeat at home to Warrington...in amongst that period Finn has been brought back in twice for defeats to Huddersfield and Catalans...

I think there’s already enough evidence to say these three could be a success going forward...I imagine the next 7 games will tell us more...

Up to a month a go I reckon a huge percentage of fans were screaming out for us to go get a big money 7...have things changed a bit now though and is the solution already here in Hampshire?

Arona was looking like the casualty of we were to go for a quota player, but if we stick with Hampshire and Miller and we can get Arona to stay on a deal that suits us then that would be fantastic as we know what we get week in week out with Arona and for me that’s massive...

That would just leave us to find some cover but there’s still Grix who could slot in and maybe even Woody if we’re really stretched or Even Finn for the odd game...