Harry Smith.

[No straw damn us]

From the clips I saw he was instrumental in a number of key moments in attack.

Yes he also made a few mistakes, but show me a player who hasn't when they are starting off - especially when you have your hands on the ball so much. Even the super hyped prodigy Welsby has shown himself a little suspect at fielding kicks when put under pressure this season.

IF he can cut out the mistakes going forward which is the key area of improvement required in his game, then I think he has the attacking potential to make a good half.

He's working with a new attacking structure, halfback partner and different structure to what we saw under Lam, and coming off the back of disrupted pre-season.

I think give the kid a break and see how he goes after a decent run of games - he has too much potential to throw out now IMO.

I was at the game and honestly apart from the pass in touch that went behind Hardaker I didn't think Smith made many more errors, certainly about the same or less than Farrell and Cust. his kicking game was good

I've watched the full game today on Wigan t.v. and the ones he got called out for by the commentators were debatable to say the least. The 1st one Gigot went for the interception and Wigan should have had the ball for that knock on.

In the 2nd one Smith had spotted a three on two out to the left and sent the short pass to Farrell who for some reason appeared to take his hands away. If that pass sticks Hardaker and Marshall are clear. Under the new coaching regime the players are encouraged to play what they see. It didn't come off.

Watching it back the defence for those two second half tries was awful, and the basic errors by senior players awful.

It was a great weekend though and one I'd recommend if Toulouse manage to stay up.

[widdenoldboy]

Didn't he sign a new 3 year deal last year? So the likiehood of Wigan helping him find another team and getting a fee is the question.

With Tommy more than likely retiring end of season and the French / Field likely off back to Aus (not that i believe either of them can play as a regular 6 or 7) then I could see Smith taking the number 7 shirt next season but he needs to be playing regularly at a high standard.

Dual Reg at Newcastle would be no good, would Lam take him at Leigh or we're looking at a loan deal to another SL club.

I can see him staying here for the season working with Tommy / Briers and Cust but he needs regular game time in order not to stand still or knock his confidence even more.

Decent points all, maybe Field is worth a go at 6 but I take your point that he will likely get an NRL place and leave anyway. The reserves looks like a decent comp so Smith can learn for a few months there but then where? Agree that Championship is not the answer but an SL loan is not obvious who could take him.