Wakefield Trinity: Coach Chester more than happy to try out Hampshire at half-back

Hampshire, who will turn 23 on Friday, joined his hometown club from Leigh Centurions last week and has also played in Betfred Super League for Wigan Warriors and Castleford Tigers.

He made his first appearance for Trinity in the 17-10 Boxing Day defeat by Leeds Rhinos and set his stall out with an impressive performance despite only limited preparation.

Hampshire will provide competition for full-backs Scott Grix and Max Jowitt, as well as halves Jacob Miller and Liam Finn.

“He wants to play half,” Chester said. “He has got to genuinely put pressure on Finny and Milky [Miller] as well.

“I am going to give him the best opportunity by playing him at half-back over the next few weeks.

“I will try him at full-back as well, because he’s quick out of the back and runs some good lines, but I want to be fair to the kid and give him an opportunity at half-back, because that’s his primary position.”

Of Hampshire’s performance against Leeds, Chester said: “I thought he did some really good stuff, especially in the second half.

“He took the line on when he needed to and came up with a couple of nice passes, especially for Joe Arundel on the try.

“I was happy with Rocky, it was a good little debut for him.”