IT'S often said in football circles that players tend to find it harder to shine in their second season than they did in their first.

That would appear to apply in the case of Wayne Rooney, who's not exactly set the world alight at Everton during the last six months.

From the moment Rooney scored his first Premiership goal as a 16-year-old with a dipping 25-yard shot against Arsenal on October 19 2002, the hype surrounding English football's brightest hottest talent has gone through the roof.

Pundits fell over themselves to compare the teenager to a 'young' Alan Shearer, myself included.

With that kind of expectation heaped on the shoulders of a player so young, I suppose a levelling off period was always inevitable and that's what we've seen this season.

Nevertheless, Wayne will have learnt a great deal during the last 12 months and I'm sure he'll emerge from the whole experience all the stronger for it.

So far, David Moyes has been sensible in the way he's handled Rooney's development.

The modern game is so demanding that it's asking too much to expect a young player to play week in, week out.

That's why you need a manager who is sympathetic to a young player's needs and Moyes has served England well so far by protecting his greatest asset from burn-out.

Despite that kid glove treatment, Rooney has still scored nine goals for Everton this season and he's sure to pose the biggest threat to Rovers' hopes tomorrow.

He's the one player in the Everton side who offers that bit of craft and guile and if Rovers can find a way of stopping him then they stand a great chance of getting something from their trip to Goodison.

A third successive victory would all but guarantee Rovers' place in the Premiership for a further 12 months with three games of the season still to remaining.

That's more than any of us could have hoped for two weeks ago following the Leeds debacle.

However, a defeat at Goodison, coupled with wins for Leeds and Manchester City, would throw the battle to avoid relegation wide open again.

As for Rooney, I can see him being a major weapon for England this summer at the European Championships.

Because he's new to the scene, he's still something of an unknown quantity as far as the rest of Europe are concerned.

And, as he's already shown in the two qualifiers against Turkey, the bigger the game is, the more he seems to rise to the occasion.

In Premiership terms, it might be next season before we really start to see the best of him.