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.

I agree that he wouldn't make the NRL just yet.

But I completely disagree with your statement saying he isn't a standout in SL.

Or maybe undervalued by others?

Cool.

I don't think there is a single SL club where he wouldn't start every week, do you?

What's that got to do with

a) Is he a stand out
b) Could he get into A NRL team.

Clearly just arguing for the sake of it.

I've already supported both my points.

Nice to know you're getting sarcastic and y because some people don't agree with you.

I'm not. That's clearly an over the top wrong option, but ok.

I said cool because what else do you what me to say? You disagree with an option I have, as a I do with others on here. For me it's 'cool'. No issue. People are of course entitled to their opinion, which causes debate, which is good for a forum.

So 'cool' is anything but 'y'.

Baby it's cold out side.

I think Williams playing with a decent pack is the best 7 in the competition.
He might not currently be top NRL standard but the club should be working with him on his deficiencies to help him improve his kicking, confidence, fitness, pace and tactical knowhow. It's a long list but I don't think that it is unreasonable for a full time young professional at the stage of his career to acknowledge that he can improve across the piece. He is far from the finished article but the foundations are there.
GW for me is a very good player with bags of potential to kick on and SW and his staff have their part to play in delivering his improvement. I would love him to spend sometime with Shaun Edwards on how determination and never accepting second best could bring his game on considerably.

Agree with a lot of this. Lots of potential. I feel Williams would have enjoyed the 'old fashioned' structure of a 6, playing second receiver off a dominant controlling 7, similar to how Edwards played off Greg. With his running game from 6 he could be effective.

But at the end of last season and in the off season much of the talk from him has been acknowledging the attack was naff and what he was going to do about it. If he goes with the conservative selection he is even ignoring himself!



Part of the attraction of Sam at 6 or 7 is the experience he brings because despite the fact Powell is 25 and has a fair few games under his belt I still class him as inexperienced and not a player able to help Williams or take a load off Williams back. As to the forwards I think they look poor in part due to Wane's tactics. When you watch FPN he goes to ground quickly after contact to try and get quick PTB's so when people say he doesn't look much like a wrecking ball it is, IMO, because he is being told not to be one. There is nothing wrong with going for the quick PTB when the game situation warrants it but our players are like robots and stick to the plan regardless.

I agree with a lot of your comments but I just have a feeling that SW will go with Powell at 7 as this is the "safer" route and ST has stated that he wants to play FB.

All the talk about changes after the 2017 season I just think wont happen. If you watch the interviews on Wigan TV SW believes that a CC final (even though we didn't turn up as a team or supporters) and WCC was successful which to a degree I understand however, the style of play is slowly killing the support so unless IL has given SW the go ahead to entertain then I just see another season of poor "rugby".

I don't rate any of our props with perhaps the exception of Sutton who I think could become a good prop. Even if we do change tactics I just don't think that our props are good enough.

Hopefully I am being grossly pessimistic and we will see ST in the halves & the forwards have under performed rather than it being a lack of ability in the last few seasons and a successful season awaits us.