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Hampton blowing up at Roberts (who in my opinion had every right to let the ball go through to Hampton) for a pass that any first grade player should collect ten times out of ten is piss poor to be honest. Pull your head in, Ben.

Inglis#3 wrote:Hampton blowing up at Roberts (who in my opinion had every right to let the ball go through to Hampton) for a pass that any first grade player should collect ten times out of ten is piss poor to be honest. Pull your head in, Ben.

I have to agree with this. It's not so much about the fact that he dropped the ball but despite the fact that it bounced right into his lap he still had an unnecessary reaction. As someone said it shows that he's really feeling the pressure.

Let's not forget the fact that he has been part of the first grade squad since 2012. I'm all for giving him time to prove himself but he really should be doing better by now.

2 try assists in 9 NRL games? Its worse then i thought, I dont care how young or inexperienced a player is, when a half handles the ball that much and his key role is creating attacking threats, that seriously is not up to scratch. So he can't kick, can't catch, misses tackles, sets up a try every 4.5 games, and has major discipline issues, not to mention the way Mark Minnichello steamrolled him last night was downright embarassing, I'm afraid its time to cut the kid loose, some just dont have what it takes to play NRL week to week. Seeing that the storm havn't yet offered him a new deal yet when off contract this year and have brought in Green for 2015 it seems they have decided to make the right call and let Ben go.

We might be losing Roberts next year anyway peeps. A friend from work told me last week that Mortimer was going and I didn't believe him as he stated he was happy at roosters and now he going to titans effective imediately. He also mentioned that the roosters are targeting Roberts for 2015 and also apparently going to throw all their SBW Money at folau! He finds this stuff out through his cousin who is on the roosters board of directors.. So come on Hampton, step up!!

This thread is ridiculous. The kid is a good fullback being forced to be turned into a five-eighth. Its his first full year, and the team around him haven't exactly been playing awesome.

I think many supporters across the league have to have realistic expectations of what its like to unearth a young footballer in a changing environment. We have seen stories of players like Izzy, GI, Hayne, DCE, Whiddop, Barba etc... These arent guaranteed to happen each year. God forbid it takes Hampton more than a season to get a handle over the team, thatll put him half way to his mid 20s! gosh.

Inglis#3 wrote:Hampton's poor performances have nothing to do with the players around him. He's committing fundamental mistakes, missing tackles which any genuine first-grade players should be making and is conceding crucial penalties. Not to mention his kicking game is putrid.

This pretty much sums up my thoughts on Hampton. Excusing his poor attack, kicking, and defense due to missing or underperforming players around him is a bit of a cop out - every player is responsible/accountable for their own individual performances.

If fullback is where he should be playing and 5/8 was an experiment, it has failed. Put the poor kid out of his misery and send him back to reserves where he can excel and get some confidence back while waiting for an opportunity to step up in his preferred position.

The criticism is certainly not personal - there are others that are consistently underperforming and should be dropped as well, and they too are called out frequently on here. But I'm sure no genuine, passionate Storm fan likes throwing criticism at any of our players (I certainly don't!), and I'm sure we all would love for Hampton to be lighting it up in first grade, but unfortunately he just isn't.

If what is being said about our 2nd tier salary cap situation is true though, particularly in regards to our eligible halves, then I guess we don't have much of a choice now anyway, and all of this is a moot.

While I agree that Hampton has not played as well as we had hoped it is a bit harsh to say we shouldn't re-sign him. Perhaps we have too high expectations for our young players. It is only early in his career. Hampton has also not been helped by the fact that the following players have either been named at or played at 6 or 7: Roberts, Cronk, Hampton, Smith, Harris, Romelo. Plus Walker was set to make his debut before injuring his hammy.

Roberts had been solid this year. He has been important in at least two wins v Dragons and Titans. One criticism I have of him is he didn't take enough control of game v Cowboys when he was the only half. We got caught too much on last tackle without kicking.

As for whoever said Fonua should never play again. Yes he had 3 missed tackles but the only one that really stood out was the one where Roberts scored. This was similar to one of Will's tries where he broke Tighe's tackle. Fonua gains heaps of metres in attack and his defence is definitely his weakness I don't think it is bad enough to banish him forever.

I think we're being really unfair. Like some have mentioned already, he's a fullback playing five eight. Give him time. Atm Roberts is probably the better option but long term Hampton is our guy imo.

I'm a bit confused as to why people saying Hampton is our long-term option when we've just bought Blake Green and we haven't re-signed Hampton.

Inglis#3 wrote:I'm a bit confused as to why people saying Hampton is our long-term option when we haven't re-signed Hampton.

I agree with this part. But signing Green has nothing to do with our long term option, no matter who it could be.