I know a lot of people hate him, but Lee Briers for me.

It gets easier to like him the longer he's retired.

Williams does have the burden of the most overrated scrum half in SL playing next to him. So he's not doing badly at all.

He's dropped Williams to the bench twice this season and put Powell in and all the talk from Wane is about Hampshire being a full back so he certainly doesn't seem to think he's a viable option.

I agree though that it's difficult to get him in there without an injury because in the main Williams and Smith have settled down now and they're playing some good stuff. I'd consider putting him on the bench and giving him the odd dart in the halves but I doubt we'll see that anytime soon.

Briers was a scrum half for many years before moving to stand off. So it's a push to call him a "natural".

He works extremely well for us and our style of play.

He'll always get comments like yours thrown at him because he isn't a running halfback but he provides a really nice balance alongside the more explosive Williams.

Well, I just looked at the 2014 SL stats.

Matty Smith was 3rd in the league in Try Assists, 6th in Tackle Busts, 5th in Attacking Kicks, and 2nd in 40/20s. They don't sound too shabby figures for a half-back to me.

I'm extremely happy with Smith at Wigan. As long as he stays clear of the England squad he can remain at Wigan for ever.

I think you mistaken him for Bowen. Matty Smith is only just in the top 20 for Wigan for tackle busts, with 16

Really like Williams and think he's a brilliant talent.

Hampshire will start fulfilling his potential once he's in a Saints or Leeds shirt and gets away from Wane.

I thought it would be too soon for him this year to be starting at 6 and I wanted us to sign an experienced player to replace Green but he's been ing immense! He's still only 20 as well. Nowt better than seeing local lads like him and budgie coming through the ranks.

I think you're right, with Tomkins back next year his game time will be limited at full back as well as in the halves, would be a class signing for saints with bread stick legs Lomax constantly crocked.

If you read my post carefully...

I'm wrong?

Wasn't he a hooker last year?

He played games at both stand off and hooker over the course of the year. He's always been a halfback in the junior sides at Wigan although normally at scrum half rather then stand off.

The reason Hampshire doesn't play in the halves at Wigan is that he can't defend. At the moment he's too small. And for that reason he will be no good for you either.

Hampshire, i'm afraid is one of the most over hyped players in recent memory. Wane has been proved right (yet again) in preferring Williams over Hampshire in the halves. Williams can run, kick and tackle. His passing needs to improve though.

And limited though Matty is, he is the best kicker we've had since Trent Barrett (way better than Hampshire).

Hampshire is an immense talent in my view. You don't pick halves for their defence, it's one of the nonsenses of the modern sport. He'll frighten the life out of defenders from 6 and he has a passing game to go with his outstanding running threat. That stuff is rare.

Wigan are guilty of overhyping him, as they do with everyone really. That doesn't change the reality that Ryan Hampshire is a huge talent that deserves better than what he is presently getting. He's been shoved at 1 because it worked for Tomkins, when he simply isn't suited to it. I don't care how poor he is defensively from 6, his attack will rip teams to pieces. Long was a poor defender, Smith is an absolute turnstile, all halves are targeted but not all have that ability that Hampshire has.

It's common knowledge Saints want Hampshire and have done for a good 18 months or so. If I were Wigan, I'd be wary of another Sean Long scenario; Williams is a big talent, Smith is serviceable but neither have the truly devastating threat that Hampshire possesses with the ball.

Halves don't need to be big. Even in the NRL, there's Sandow, Hunt, Milford, Barba...

I'm afraid that if you can't defend you will struggle in the modern game. Smith isn't a turnstile by any means as his defence has improved immeasurably since coming to Wigan.

Wigan haven't overhyped Hampshire, but the fans on here have - big difference. I'd be interested about where you have spotted this 'truly devastating threat' because he's hardly shown anything in Super League (I only get to see the U19s about twice a season - maybe you've seen more than me).

I think you are in danger of overhyping here.

Nice to know that it's only Wigan fans over hyping him and then going on to criticise others for over hyping him!

Entirely valid points.

Just my view but I rate him and think he's too talented to not come good. My view is that Wigan have decimated his mentality by putting him at 1 where he's far too isolated defensively and his mistakes are impacting his confidence. I think that's poor from Wigan personally. They usually go okay in developing players but I think they've got it wrong with this lad.

As ever, time will tell. I don't expect him to have a future at Wigan and believe he'll end up at either Saints or Leeds. Those two clubs don't fancy him because he's average.

As you say time will tell. I think you are right about his confidence though. I have noticed that one error tends to lead to another pretty quickly as his head does seem to go down. I wonder if he has the mentality to go along with his skills?

The full back position has exposed his weakness under the high ball. Now, he isn't the first full back to suffer from this, and they all drop them, but he needs to be able to put it behind him quickly. Dixon at Hull KR the other week for example finished with a hat trick after having what can only be described as a mare (I forget the opponents). Hampshire hasn't been able to do that.

Wigan struggled early season by not replacing Green with a seasoned pro like Campese. And I was one who criticised Wigan for that. However I was wrong. Wane has persisted with Williams who is showing how good he is. But surely it would be folly to have two rookies in the halves at the same time? So Hampshire misses out.

I can see another Bobbie Goulding situation here. I remember him making a Lions tour when he was understudy both at GB and at Wigan to Andy Gregory & Shaun Edwards. Ultimately he moved on because he was too good to play second fiddle.

And limited though Matty is, he is the best kicker we've had since Trent Barrett (way better than Hampshire).'"

Eh?

Isn't it obvious that I wasn't referring to place kicking by the fact that I omitted Pat Richards?

Matty Smith's all round kicking game was largely responsible for us winning the double after the vastly superior (in all parts of the game bar kicking) Leuluai and Finch had won us nothing the year before.

Did I need to spell that out?