Hampton embracing versatility

Ben Hampton may have a claim on the title of the NRL's most versatile player.

After breaking into the NRL as a five-eighth, Hampton has also spent time at fullback, centre and hooker during his 71-game first-grade career.

Now in his sixth NRL season, the North Queensland Toyota Cowboys utility is still unsure what his ideal position is, not that he is overly concerned about it either.

"I honestly don't even know if I have a preferred position at the moment," Hampton said.

"I haven't played anywhere long enough to get comfortable there or to grow there as a player. At the moment I'm really enjoying centre and I feel like I'm playing some not bad footy there.

"I've just got to keep practising on the things I need to work on and play good footy on the weekends and maybe this year I could stay there all year."

Hampton has been one of the shining lights for the Cowboys in the early stages of 2018.

The Mareeba product has scored four tries in his past five games, while his speed and footwork has injected energy into the North Queensland attack.

His superb play has attracted praise from media and fans alike, although Hampton is far from satisfied.

"Personally I think I've had a couple of good games this year, but I'm not getting carried away. I've been thrown around in a couple of different positions, but that's my job and I'm happy to do what I have to do for the team.

When you're not going well as a team and not winning you don't think about your own personal performance. You just concentrate on getting the team up and going and that's what I've been trying to do.

Ben Hampton

After a tough start to 2018, the Cowboys rebounded with a gutsy 26-20 win over Penrith in Bathurst in Round 9 and Hampton is hoping the victory will help the side turn the corner as they head into the middle third of the season.

"I thought on Friday night we definitely ticked a few things off that we wanted to get done in that game," he said.

"It's been a bit of a tough start to the year for a lot of the boys, but I thought Friday was one of our better games for the year.

"There is still plenty to work on but, they scored a couple of easy tries at the start of the second half, which was disappointing."