Good reading your thoughts on Ryan, I only saw him in the flesh once in a pre season game at LSV and he changed that game with great pace and footwork, so I am excited about securing him but again he is not an automatic 1/6/7, the incumbents need shifting and the competition will be good. I hope in a few years we can have a production line half as good as yours.

I only saw the game you mention on Wigan tv but thought he was absolutely tremendous and there and then I thought we had a potential superstar in our midst. His injury aside somewhere along the way he has either been ill advised or maybe there is an underlying attitude issue which hasn't helped his cause. Either way I sincerely hope he turns it around.
He has that one thing you can't learn which is pace. The game now seems to want structure above all else and in the short term players like Hampshire don't fit the profile of defense oriented coaches that currently monopolise RL worldwide.
Personally if I had a choice of a part time TL either off field or playing 7/9 above Hampshire I'd take Hampshire 10 times out of 10 in the halfs.

I don't know who instigated the move to Castleford, but it clearly proved that it wasn't just Shaun Wane keeping young Ryan out of the halfback jersey.

So what happens next? He goes to yet another club where he thinks/hopes he'll get the no. 6 nod without actually having to prove himself first - only this club are SL's new boys and the ones, until they prove otherwise, who must be good candidates for the drop at the end of next season.

And if it doesn't work out there either, where will Ryan go after that?

I do wish he'd been prepared to stay and fight for his shirt. As someone else said earlier, he'd have had half a season in the halves at Wigan if he'd shown just a little more patience.

Doesn't the player have to be in agreement with the loan move? Did he have a choice?

I didn't put that point across very well.

I meant that Hampshire's time at Castleford seems to have proven that Shaun Wane wasn't the only one who didn't think he was ready to play in the halves.

As for who it was who wanted Ryan to go to Cas, I don't know. I presume he does have to be in agreement, and that wouldn't have surprised me given that, from the outset of the Ryan Hampshire saga, he looked to be receiving bad advice from somewhere.

I suspect that Hampshire and Wigan thought that by going to Cas it would help his development in that he would be coached by Powell, Orr and Sheridan who had all played in the halves during their long careers. For whatever reason(s) it didn't work out for them. He's young enough to still make a mark in the game, it's all down to his desire, his ability is unquestionable.

Give over he was a big duffer. Not a clue why we signed him back from the NRL. The fact that he had a clause in his return that we could release him should his shoulder injury reoccur says it all.
Not sure if I saw him break a tackle, time to use that precious cap space cash and use it on players that will actually improve the squad not hinder it.

Did Lewis Tierney just want to be a full back. Sometimes players especially academy ones have to understand until your proven in SL you more than likely will not be playing your preferred position. Rocky was a poor full back so that sent him out of the first team.

If he struggles at Leigh his next destination will be championship.

That is my worry. And I think an impatient talent will be lost to the senior game.

Fair enough



The point remains though.

Harsh. When Madge converted him to Prop from second row in 2011 we were short of props, especially in the WCC when Lima was suspended harshly. Mossop stepped up big style.

My point is, he had the talent but got injured playing for us and has struggled since. He was actually our best prop statistically in the first half of last season. I don't understand why you have such a downer on him. Just thank him for his efforts and wish him well surely?

There are statistics and there is evidence in the front of your eyes. Mossop was poor in the extreme for me. May have the talent but doesn't have the heart and his work rate would embarrass a striking docker.
I don't wish the guy any harm and hope he has good health but he won't be a loss for us on the park.

Tomkins, Tomkins, Tuson, Goudling & Crosby, are there any other players that never reached full potential because of injury? Some have faired better than others, maybe Sam got there but I thought he had much more to give. They have all fallen down the face of the curve, did we play them too much?

The odd coincidence seems to be that many of them left the game and came back - well - crap.

I don't know what the explanation is, but the evidence is pretty damning.

Sam, Joel, Iain Thornley and Lee Mossop are the main offenders at Wigan, but it goes well beyond us. Just off the top of my head, Karl Pryce, Lee Smith, Henry Paul and Iestyn Harris all left the British game and, in relatively short periods, managed to to forget everything they'd ever learned about playing rugby. Even Sam Burgess, after the briefest of stints, is struggling to regain his former status.

Now, you can't just explain that by saying they spent too long in the overpaid Disney World that is RU. Some of them went to the promised land that is the NRL and still came back rubbish. And that's not new either. Both Andy Platt and Denis Betts allegedly disappointed Down Under, and made no impact at all when they came home again.

There's no doubt that some have suffered injuries, but injuries are not unusual in RL - lots of players get hurt and bounce back in due course.

I've no clue what the explanation is behind these defectors' inability to rediscover the form that once made them famous. Anyone knows the answer to that, perhaps they can send it on a postcard to Wigan RL - they must be as bamboozled as we are (more so, given that they're signing the cheques).

Neither are good enough to play for Wigan. Do we have better players in the same positions? Of course. Offload them and make cap space for players good enough.

Never known such a 'love-in' by some on here for who is an under-par player (Hampshire).

It was about potential. Those who watched Hampshire through the academy age groups and playing for England saw a player who looked like a future superstar, so people had high hopes. I think people were just waiting for him to make a name for himself in Super League and it never really happened. In his last year/year and a half in the academy he was quickly surpassed by Williams and didn't really impress to the same extent in his first team opportunities.

There's always a chance that he'll fulfil his potential and is just a later bloomer than Williams but it's no surprise that he's left.

To be fair, he wouldn't be the first schoolboy sensation who never made it, but I don't think his decision-making has helped his cause one bit.

I agree that he won't be a loss for us, but I don't agree about his heart and effort. He put his body on the line week after week.

It's just one of them things which is a pretty regular occurrence. Young lad looks like a future world beater at academy level, then fails to produce anything at senior. Wigan tried him predominately in 2 different positions (both of which he was average to below par) same again at Castleford who even gain him the opportunity to play on the wing, (which also didn't work)

We have Williams who is developing very well and now considered an international. Tommy an international with NRL experience and Shorrocks who looks already a better player than Rocky.

So is he good enough for Wigan? Sadly not. Will be one day? We can't deal in hypotheticals. Only reality.

Two words: Chris Hesketh.

Also Stuart Wright, Eddie Cunningham, Sean Long, etc.

But there's no guarantee these promising youngsters will become major talents later on.

Look at the excitement surrounding Shaun Ainscough, Nicky Stanton, Iain Thornley and the like. And we've not exactly missed them.

It's always a gamble, but Rocky has made it less so in his case, becasue if nothing else Wigan know they are losing a source of discontent from the squad.

It's a shame about Rocky as some good judges on here really rated him. Personally, I never understood the hype so I am not surprised he has gone. I would reckon that Shaun Wane and Darryl Powell are probably pretty good judges when it comes to choosing what is best for their teams and they didn't fancy him at Stand Off.

I hope he has a good season at Leigh and proves us wrong. I do feel that if he had insisted on staying last season he may have got some of Shorrocks game time. I'm not convinced by Shorrocks just yet, so Rocky's lack of patience hasn't done him any favours. It must be difficult seeing his erstwhile partner in Williams doing so well, all the same.

From what I've seen Shorrocks is twice the player Hampshire is.

For the next three months Shorrocks needs to kick, kick and kick again to make himself indispensable.