Re: Tim Smith.

[butt monkey]

PnB not been on for a while thought he would be back as Wires are on a bit of a roll and Wigan loss of form.

Perhaps he gave up waiting for wire to win something and became a stains fan!

[warrior till i die]

WNAC is the worst for negativity!

We got betts and he moaned, then he asked for millward and we got millward. then he moaned about millward (from day one) and requested that we signed noble, then we got noble and guess what???? he moaned!

he was truly a negative poster!

[DaveO]

Saints hardly beat us with Farrell in the side and the same will go for Smith.

Not sure about that. One of the reasons Saints rarely beat us when Farrell was here is Farrell was a better captain than P Sculthorpe IMO.

Scuthorpe wasn't very good at handling being on the wrong end of a good Wigan performance and tended to lose the plot a little as the games wore on. Instead of leading the troops and rallying them he seemed to get annoyed and tried to do it all himself. I used to watch for this each time we played them and it happened regularly. He became an individual player rather than leader. This never happened with Farrell. At times Farrell was seemingly the only one trying to do anything (especially toward the latter end of his Wigan career) but crucially even when this was the case he never gave up trying to lead the team.

Farrells better leadership compared to Sculthorpe was crucial IMO in many of our victories over Saints.

So unless Smith has been made captain while I have been on my holiday's and unless he has the same temperament as a leader as Farrell I don't think it makes a good comparison.

The only problem we have is the fact the rest of the team need to give him options and angles in attack and to also read his game which we seem to have a problem with regards Barrett last year.This was also a slight problem at Parra where he was 2 steps ahed of his team mates only Riddel,Eric Grothe could understand what he was going to do next at times.

I have seen it written we would be/will be better off without Barrett because he is too good for his team mates. I have never understood this argument as the fault surely lies with the other players. So it will be interesting to see if we get similar comments about Smith.

However good he is I think he is only going to be here for the duration of his current deal which if correct means we still won't have a stable half back pairing like Leeds and Saints have had.

Dave

[Exiled Wiganer]

But the reason we won't have a stable half back pairing next year is because Barrett is going a year early, so we were always in a different boat from those teams.
My hope is that they introduce Tomkins more and more as next year goes on, and we acquire a 6 for next year or the following year.
As we will be able to ditch Leuluai and Bailey at the end of next year, we should have a chance of finding someone...
Smith will remain a risky signing even if we keep him. How will he go during the off season - in cold Wigan or back to the distractions of Australia? That said, he has talent and we are lucky to be able to take a chance on a player of his class at his age.
He is certainly good enough to play 6.
Indeed, we have done ok with Edwards, Paul and Botica at 6 and none of them was a natural league stand off.

[DaveO]

But the reason we won't have a stable half back pairing next year is because Barrett is going a year early, so we were always in a different boat from those teams.

The point I was making was he will also be here short term. Barrett going early is definitely a reason why we have yet another new half back partnership in 2009 but Smiths short contract is yet another reason why we will have yet another new half back partnership in 2010.

I believe a year playing regularly here will be seen as his rehabilitation in the eyes of the NRL clubs and he will have them queuing up to sign him (and I think he will go).

Dave

[medlocke]

But the reason we won't have a stable half back pairing next year is because Barrett is going a year early, so we were always in a different boat from those teams.

The point I was making was he will also be here short term. Barrett going early is definitely a reason why we have yet another new half back partnership in 2009 but Smiths short contract is yet another reason why we will have yet another new half back partnership in 2010.

I believe a year playing regularly here will be seen as his rehabilitation in the eyes of the NRL clubs and he will have them queuing up to sign him (and I think he will go).

Dave

Then again he might love the town and the lack of media attention that is over here unloke what he has had to endure in Sydney and stay for 2 or 3 seasons, even then he will still be young (around 25ish) and still have a good 6 or 7 years in the NRL

[cpwigan]

Just a reminder. Sam Tomkins and Tommy cannot play in the same team. Both are left sided. That is why Sam combined so well with Trent who is right sided

[medlocke]

Tim & Sam sound good to me

[DaveO]

But the reason we won't have a stable half back pairing next year is because Barrett is going a year early, so we were always in a different boat from those teams.

The point I was making was he will also be here short term. Barrett going early is definitely a reason why we have yet another new half back partnership in 2009 but Smiths short contract is yet another reason why we will have yet another new half back partnership in 2010.

I believe a year playing regularly here will be seen as his rehabilitation in the eyes of the NRL clubs and he will have them queuing up to sign him (and I think he will go).

Dave

Then again he might love the town and the lack of media attention that is over here unloke what he has had to endure in Sydney and stay for 2 or 3 seasons, even then he will still be young (around 25ish) and still have a good 6 or 7 years in the NRL

He might but we can't get away from the fact his contract is up at the end of next season and you can bet your house on NRL clubs being interested if he has a good season with us.

I don't think they are bound by any rules about not approaching players by September either. You can virtually guarantee he will receive offers from them, he will be a free agent and add to that the prospect of International football plus state of origin I'd be surprised if he stayed.

Dave

[Matthew]

He's got an option for a third year - his agent said that when he was talking about the NZ Warriors being interested.

Whether he will take up that option is another matter!