Would that be like us winning the Lazenby Cup then....



I have a box full of dozens of awards and trophies.. all rugby related over a couple of decades at least...

so I must be one of the best most successful coaches in the business.

I can't see that happening tbh. Leeds never let a good talent go especially after this one has shown so much potential.

I believe that Lewsey retires at the end of this season & Voyce is hit & miss.
I hope he doesn't go ...yet. But we have BJB hopefully to develop & replace webb when he calls it a day.
Good luck to the lad, money talks and it's a very short career. I would back Edwards' judgment.

I for one dont believe that RL players translate to the Union game.

Its is only the posts and the grass that are the same IMHO.

But if its just the money he is interested in then fine but that will still be there later on.

Have you got a fascination with capital letters?

I suppose with BJB able to cover the wing and Watkins / Gibson to fight for the centre spot Smith would vacate we would still be ok.

IF Smith left I guess a backline of;

Webb
Donald
Watkins / Gibson
Senior
Hall

With BJB able to cover FB and a wing slot would be ok. It would also leave us more cap space end of the season to bring in a replacement for Senior if he does call it time.

This is, of course, if the rumour is true, which I am still not sure about.

Not in anywhere near the same volume - union pays significantly more than league the salary cap is £4m some 2.5 times that of SL

Even average players in Union earn what the top players in league earn and the top union players earn what average premiership players earn.

If he went he would triple his current salary - it would be sad to see him go but you cannot keep everyone and it is a very short career.

He is a far better player than the current England full back a position that is easily translated from one code to the other.

All those who harp on about loyalty - what would you do if somebody offered you a massive increase?

If he goes he goes. There will still be a club after Lee Smith and he's not irreplaceable.

Like all propoganda David there is a kernel of truth in that statement but it needs to be examined carefully IMHO

Yes maybe half a dozen of their top clubs that my be true but not for the much wider base not by a long chalk.



The first part of the above is just plain propoganda Im afraid and grossly inaccurate IMHO I suppose it depends on your definition of average.

As for the second statement I believe he would have to have a full time international contract for that to be true

Tell me in the past 10 years how many top league players have made a succesful transition and walked straight into a regular international position.



The full back role is fundamentaly different even more so at international RU level and the facets required are almot diametrically opposed to those Smith excudes.

2007/2008

* Guinness Premiership Champions

2006/2007

* Heineken Cup Winners

2005/2006

* Anglo Welsh Powergen Cup Winners

2004/2005

* Zurich Premiership Champions

2003/2004

* Zurich Premiership Champions
* Heineken Cup

2002/2003

* Parker Pen Shield Winners [i(nobody cares about this, but they did win the league the same year)[/i
* Zurich Premiership Champions


I make that 4 championships, 1 domestic cup and 2 European cups in a 6 year span. I doubt any other teams in either code can match that.

who cares what some posh ra ra club has won it dont meat nowt to most of us if he goes he goes ,but i for one couldnt care less about ru and any of its clubs

Are any of them for the top domestic and international club competitons? I don't think you can compare the Heineken Cup and the Lazenby Cup without being insane.

i dont mind discussing lee smith moving over to ru, but as for talking about there comps ,i just couldnt care less .
i watched about 3 minutes of one internatiol ra ra game last weekend and switched off

Lee has turned into a fantastic player and the fact that no one seems to question his attitude or commitment anymore says a lot about how he has turned his career round in the last year or so, if he goes then good luck to him but we have had a good record of keeping hold of our talented youngsters in recent years.

I know very little about RU but in the games I have seem I think the full back roll is a world away from the RL version.

That's fair enough. But that wasn't the question. The question was one of how successful Wasps had been recently, not whether you personally care how successful they are.

Good point well put!

Who is Smith's agent?
This is likely to be a shot across the bows in his contract negotiations.
Rumours are good fun though, they always stimulate debate on here at least.

I'm not sure but david howe's likes to entice players away from leeds!
I.e Calderwood,walker and scruton come to mind.

That's why I asked - hell hath no fury like an agent scorned.
We all know the history between GH and Mr Howes.
Incidentally, I didn't know that Congreve the author of the original quote was born in Bardsey. Isn't wikipaedia excellent?

shhhhhhh



If one club (Wasps) can win so many trophies year on year then the level of opposition must be really crap....or is Uncle Mo in charge there now.



Tried to watch one of those "fantastic" European Cup games once..Yawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwnnnnnnnnnn lasted about 5 minutes.

but if someone paid you the same money that they may offer lee then you may endure the boredom

As opposed to the wide spread of teams that win the major trophies each year in Super League? Since the turn of the century/millennium, 4 teams have won the championship final in RU, which has seen 6 different finalists.

By comparison, Super League has had 3 winners and 5 finalists.

If you don't like the game that's fair enough, you don't have to watch it or take an interest. But if you don't see any of it, or know anything about it, there's not much point in pretending to know all about it is there?

FWIW, I think RU would be a poor move for Lee Smith at this point, certainly from a playing stand point, but I would also argue that it might be risky financially. The likes of Chev Walker may have earned more for the time they were in RU, but I doubt they're now earning as much as they could have been in RL had they stayed put.

fair comment

Possibly so, although Ashton seems to be making a fist of it at Northampton & he was probably at a similar stage in his career. Then again, they weren't a top div side when he signed.

I bet wigan are glad they let Ashton go so they could sign Ritchie Mathers.
Their record of letting players go is absolutely outstanding.
Uncle Mo isn't on the board of any banks as well is he?