Matty Smith

[Kittwazzer]

By all accounts, another solid game for our latest signing.

Does anyone else harbour the sneaking feeling that he will 'do a Sean Long' and haunt St Helens?

He will certainly need no motivation when we play em!

[OJ]

Seems to be settling in very well which is great news.

Loved his comment in the article on the Wigantoday site yesterday - sig material if ever there was i.e. Smith is excited about facing the Broncos in the capital this Saturday afternoon and knows the seven-game charge to the play-offs includes home fixtures against his two former employers, Salford and St Helens.

Intriguingly, he revealed Saints – having allowed him to leave to join the Reds – were also keen to take him back next season, but he added: “I’ve no bitterness against Saints or anything like that. Everything happens for a reason – I’m at the biggest club in the league so I should probably thank them.”

http://www.wigantoday.net/sport/wigan-w ... -1-4761498

Incidentally I only listened to the match on the radio today - can anyone tell me who the devil Jack Dearden was talking about when he mentioned the Wigan player Cameron Phelps who was playing for us today. Must be a busy lad !

[Kiwiseddon]

Can someone who was at the game give an analysis on how he played?

[yokozuna]

He didn't do anything special. Kicked quite conservatively in my opinion, and maybe could have looked to be a bit more adventurous. Didn't really do anything wrong, and finished off a good move for his try.

Not really a game to judge him on really, as it was a procession more than a match.

[neilwigan]

Matty played pretty solidly today with barley anything wrong with his performance. His try was well deserved to reward his efforts in an other good performance in the cherry and white shirt.

[ancientnloyal]

Can someone who was at the game give an analysis on how he played?

Raced into a 10 0 lead but Broncos seemed to get their defence sorted after that. We kept making errors and had 2 disallowed and it should have been more.
On the odd occasion london came into wigans half our defence held well. Thornley got blasted by tomkins for their 40-20 kick earlyon, sam was livid but they never threatened even 10m out and on our line we held well.

Smith and finch played well, smiths kicking was good put pressure on the fback and wingers. Oloughlin went off early dont know why. Hock played well and maybe greedy when we could have scored he kept hold instead of a pass.

Typical wigan really we just need to have less errors, teams like wire would have done damage.

Sam is sam. 4 tries, neat little chip for his 4th in front of one of the wigan stands.

[i'm spartacus]

Thornley got blasted by tomkins for their 40-20 kick earlyon, sam was livid

He has some first hand experience on the subject

[Southern Softy]

Can someone who was at the game give an analysis on how he played?

Raced into a 10 0 lead but Broncos seemed to get their defence sorted after that. We kept making errors and had 2 disallowed and it should have been more.
On the odd occasion london came into wigans half our defence held well. Thornley got blasted by tomkins for their 40-20 kick earlyon, sam was livid but they never threatened even 10m out and on our line we held well.

Smith and finch played well, smiths kicking was good put pressure on the fback and wingers. Oloughlin went off early dont know why. Hock played well and maybe greedy when we could have scored he kept hold instead of a pass.

Typical wigan really we just need to have less errors, teams like wire would have done damage.

Sam is sam. 4 tries, neat little chip for his 4th in front of one of the wigan stands.

Spot on analysis. Think Wane used it as a bit of a "training exercise" because Lockers, Hock and George had long spells off the pitch. London were pretty wretched - once held up over the line and their try caught Wigan cold after a long hold-up fot Broncos injury - that was it for attacking. Sam's last try was a copy of the one that people complained about a couple of weeks ago. He was pure gold-dust and Mossop was immense - a better prop in SL? Can't think of one.

Only downside the possible injuries. Goulding injured his knee in a tackle just into second half and really struggled to run it off and Josh also had a knee problem when he seemed to crash into Dixon, the London winger.

Apart from Sam's tries, the highlights were Finch's breaks where he delays a pass and then accelerates through the sliding defence and one moment of high comedy at the end.
Farrell (now playing left centre) picked up a loose pass off the floor, realised he was going into touch and threw the ball back between his legs. No one moved so he grabbed for it - it was fly-hacked by a Broncos player who then hacked it further forward. Thornley seemed to be running in treacle so couldn't catch him and the Broncos player picked it up and headed for the line only for the ball to shoot out of his hands like a bar of soap. Pure comedy.

But best of all, the dazzling blonde behind us who was chatting to a bloke from London.

London man (casually) "I don't really like Rugby League"
Dazzling blonde (seriously) - Don't you? What's the matter with you then?"
London man then spent the rest of the match very much on the defensive.
Congrats to all the Wigan fans who must have accounted for 4,000 of the 4,400 attendance.

[cpwigan]

Smith is looking very good. Did anybody seriously doubt he was not a Wigan class player

[cow yeds]

Personnaly I thought he was ordinary.... looks to lack that yard of pace that Tommy has.
We'll wait and see how he's going in the next couple of games.