Harry Smith

[Gerrumonside]

Yes I agree that opening statement is utter rubbish.

We need a stand off to partner Harry and to share the load a little. Also struggling a little in the pack with injuries isn’t helping as has been discussed a lot recently.

[medlocke]

Matt Frawley

[The Pearl1]

Nonsense.

We signed a half from the NRL and he’s crap.

Harry was going fine when the pack was setting him a platform.

[Mauny6]

Is harry Smith the future long term half back if so we're in for a terrible future. Too slow predictable and kicking is getting worse each week. We need to invest in a half back.

[Firestarter]

Harry needs a half back partner and thats that imo….. granted his goal kicking needs work atm

[Fan4Fifty]

Whatever MPE says at the age of 23 and with a couple of years first team experience under his belt, Smith should be giving strong indications of his ability by now. I blow hot and cold as clearly he has talent and he has laid on quite a number of tries with precise attacking kicks (Marshall at Hull KR, Field at Saints to name two recent examples). My issues with Smith are inconsistency and mistakes, a lack of pace, the ability to delay passes to put attackers through gaps and, of course, goal-kicking. But he does need a regular half-back partner and that probably needs to be Cust or Hampshire (neither top-drawer but at least are half-backs) with Bevan having a roaming brief from the wing.

On a more general point I watched a recording of the Saints game at the DW at the end of last season (the one we won 30-10) over the weekend and concluded that Cooper and Bateman are huge losses from that team.

[Wigan_forever1985]

Im not sure re: Harry Smith there is clearly a decent player in him but he is inconsistent

I find the discussions around him interesting most talk about how he lacks pace, yet i keep seeing how much we miss Matty smith who was far slower.

I have noticed a lot on this thread saying he needs a decent partner but i noticed a bit of a pattern with Smith where he doesnt really play that well his partner is injured or changes and he suddenly plays out his skin for 4-5 games but then nose dives in performance he did similar things last year

I also think its funny how Smith is talked about as a youngster and Cust is treated like he should be state of origin quality by now despite there only being months between them and Smith played far more senior grade games

[the pieman]

Im not sure re: Harry Smith there is clearly a decent player in him but he is inconsistent

I find the discussions around him interesting most talk about how he lacks pace, yet i keep seeing how much we miss Matty smith who was far slower.

I have noticed a lot on this thread saying he needs a decent partner but i noticed a bit of a pattern with Smith where he doesnt really play that well his partner is injured or changes and he suddenly plays out his skin for 4-5 games but then nose dives in performance he did similar things last year

I also think its funny how Smith is talked about as a youngster and Cust is treated like he should be state of origin quality by now despite there only being months between them and Smith played far more senior grade games

There is a certain irony re Matty Smith, as quite a few posters didnt rate him or want him at Wigan, but now would have him back . I work with one of his best mates and he was never fast even as a young player, so was never going to suddenly become a Rob Burrow and darting through gaps, but had a different skill set

Re Cust, i think the issue with that is that he is an import, and we generally have high expectations of them irrelevant of age, and he was being talked about as a future half at Manly, so he should be a good un

i do agree with your comment about inconsistency, but i'd go with some mitigation, that he's not had a consistent partner and the pack has been decimated again with injuries. However, the good half back can get a pack going, and turn the game, even when playing on the back foot

[Wigan_forever1985]

I suppose the other question in how do we expect him to develop when he has been around the same set of coaches since youth?

As we stated before there are no fresh outlooks or approaches coming into wigan as they recycle through an existing coach/player set up. George Williams only really looked like his game moved on when he left Wigan

That's not factually stating Wigan cant develop him, but what is anyone going to tell him/show him they haven't already

[pearsy]

An average player playing in a below average team