After yesterday's performance I think Lee Smith is beginning to look the part at centre. He seems to have adapted physically in the past 2 seasons (after taking some bashing in 2005), and also seems to have regained a bit of his pace. Can also play any other outside back position very well.

Surely he has to be the number one priority for retention. With Senior signed on for another year and Watkins (and to a lesser extent Gibson) developing I don't really see the need for another centre signing provided Smith re-signs and continues to make progress.

Totally agree with your comments, really looking the business

Thought he looked really good - its whats been missing this year - trouble is - will he be staying or is he going to do the stupid thing & defect to the dark side - surely the news about him must be due

Looked pretty good yesterday didnt he.

We all know he has the footwork and although he is not the tallest in centre in SL he has a good strong handoff that gives him the oppotunity to hold off the man and send Scotty on his way.

Looked very good, great to see.

Although for England's sake I wish he was playing fullback, though I like the thought of him and Shenton in the centres too.

We need to get him signed up NOW.

Smith at this point still plays for himself, which is understandable given his inexperience in the role.

The first pass I recall Donald receiving from a centre last night was from Senior.

What you will always get from Lee Smith is a genuine 100% effort.

If he can be left there to develope (and not get dragged away to cover full back, wing) then he has a good chance of filling a problem position at Leeds.

When in the game was the better option to pass to Donald rather than take the tackle (I can't recall any), we know you don't rate Smith and wanted a new shiny centre in the off season but you are looking for negatives that are not there, maybe Smith should of tried some impossible Senior type offloads that end up in the stands.

Lee Smith is a very good player...he is however by no means the finished article as a centre. As I have said elsewhere Hull really made us look good yesterday so I am not getting too carried away with the performance good though it was.

If we can keep hold him (Smith) he may well end up being the answer to the problem centre position. I hope so because I see no signs of us being active in the transfer market at the moment.

Thats not fair.

I have never got the opinion that Tvoc does not rate Smith, far from it. Not like some posters on here who will now proclaim him a star despiting critisizing him in earlier years.

Yes Tvoc had called for a centre signing, but you have took his comments out of context on that score.

I doubt (DISA aside) that there is a poster on here who has supported what Lee Smith brings to the Leeds squad more than I have. If you doubt that, perhaps you should find evidence of me being critical of any of his performances?

I wanted a replacement for Clinton Toopi and still do. That player could turn out to be Lee Smith. Leeds' number one priority should be to sort a deal out that allows Smith to stay regardless of whether he ends up as the Leeds right centre.

Good point.

Once again he didn't put Donald away.

At Murrayfield the only pass he gave him (not including the fumble that went through his legs which but Donald away only to be disallows) he was put into touch in the 2nd half.

The art of becoming a class centre is the ability to feed your winger.

BUT

They are a new partnership, with Smith playing a new position. It will come, it just needs more time and familiarity.

Donald had his best games in a while, with a trade mark break, so confidence is building on that side. More to come from these two, work in progress.

Probably because:

1) The right hand side sees significantly less quality ball than the left in general, and

2) With Lauitiiti as the second row inside him favouring to take the contact and look to offload, he was never going to get any early ball in space

But look how Senior CREATES the room.

Look at Hall's try, there was hardly much space until he created some.

Centres need to make things happen for themself, but, if he was given more ball in more space, that would increase obviously.

But in Donald and Smiths last two full games together (Frogs + Cods) should Donald have seen more ball?? In two big wins? Definitley.

Maybe I was a bit harsh saying you don't rate Smith but you certainly were not prepared to give him the chance to make it his own Since he was given the position.

Smith at centre is an experiment that will need time, but I can't see what attributes of a good centre Lee Smith doesn't have. Drawing defenders in to create space for your winger is an art that will take some perfecting and very few centres actually do it all that well. Senior is very good at it, but he took a long time to develop the art, something he more than compensated for with his running game in earlier days in his career. Gidley is a real master of it. It's something I can easily see Lee Smith, with his reading of the game and his skills, being able to do, given time.

Do you have a link to where I expressed any of those thoughts to save any confusion?

Ablett (not a centre), Gibson (not top end SL standard since his injuries) and Watkins (18 months away from being ready) I have expressed doubts over in the position. Smith, I've said, could be the answer if he is left to develope in the role and isn't dragged away to cover other back positions.

Most of Leeds structured plays are set up to go left, as that is where our single biggest ball-carrying threat is - Senior. It's also the naturally most comfortable direction for a right handed player to pass in.

That threat pulls wingers in to try and help their centres and prevent them being left one on one with Keith, meaning if the ball is quick enough Senior can put his winger away.

Smith doesn't offer the same threat - Raynor was quite happy last night to let Yeaman deal with him and stay out on Donald instead. He also has a tendency to stand a little flat (a legacy of being a winger?) which gives him less space before he hits the defensive line.

i think yeaman did well against you defensivly.

Which is good to see. He's been a bit stalled development-wise by injuries over the past couple of years, but hopefully he can get a good run of games in. There's definitely a top class cnetre in there somewhere I think.

I think Smith has been decent when I have seen him at Centre, I think we need to not get carried away. Its still early days

I said something similar after the game last night. He looked good, but that was in a game where we were, in the main, on the front foot. I'd like to reserve judgement until he's had a few more games in the position and has also had to put in a bigger defensive stint.

Attacking wise I think he'll always be fine, due to his involvement in other positions, but I do still have a worry about his positioning, etc in defense. It's something that I think should be coachable, but let's wait and see.

its simple for me! leeds look at better team with lee smith in the side.

I don't do bookmarks like some on here and I could be mistaken but I thought it was you who was not happy that we missed out when saints signed Soliola?



IMO Smith should be given a fair crack at No3 and It hasn't been the best start for him with covering for webb, injuries and the poor form of the team.

I think Smith was missing for the Bradford, Quinns & Salford games?