What is the injury Mathers has? And how long is he expected to be out for?

Isn't it a hamstring injury ? Think so.

I rated Mathers when he was at Leeds once he went back from that loan with us, he was solid and also really helped to chip in on attack.

At Wigan his confidence hasn't seemed to be there and he hasn't played well, maybe Smith can bring back the best in him, that Grand Final winning fullback.

If we had 'ruined' Danny Orr then he wouldn't be playing well at Harlequins now. He just didn't adapt to life at Wigan as well as the pressures that go with it.

To sugguest we 'ruined' Nigel Wright and that his injury problems were down Wigan are simply idiotic and plain ignorant. Speak to Nigel himself and tell you how appreciative he is of the club and how much money Wigan spent on him to try and get him right.

Carry on scraping the barrell though.

who's this barrell does he play for the pie?

He knows more than betty swallocks...

Mathers
Hicks
Johnson
Grix
King

VAnderson for Johnson with Harrison at 13?
Johnson interchange on the bench.

I think TS likes what he sees with Harrison.

the lack of a creative centre worries me in that line up. (which I agree with as it is currently all we have to offer)

Also, what happens when Grix and PJ get their usual season ending injury? penny on the wing and King in the centre - that didn't work too well from memory.

A centre signing is a necessity if we can afford it.

still, in Smith we believe

Fingers crossed so far on the eld injury front...

I was told hernia, although hamstring was mentioned too.

just something starting with the letter H though?

Meaning you don't actually know...

I was told henria by somebody at the club but saw hamstring in the press.



...Or was it Hemorrhoids?

You wouldn't know his ETA (Estimated Time of Arrival) from injury would you?

To be fair the point about Orr is that he was poor at Wigan, whilst the terminology maybe wrong, it is clear he wasn;t the player at Wigan that he was at Cas and now is at Quins. With that in mind, it gives hope that Mathers can come and get a fresh start and be a better player at Wire.

I agree the Wright comments were nonsense.

I was told over a week ago when the Gleeson rumour first emerged, so your probably looking at two weeks now....That's if what I was told in regards to the injury/operation being a hernia is true.

You Saints fans never stop with the Farrell bashing do you? He was a better player than Sculthorpe, just get over it.

Orr just wasn't very good. Adrian Lam was and Faz had no problems playing alongside Lammy.

Not in this universe, nor any other was Farrell a better player than Sculthorpe.

In your Opinion!

Sculthorpe was a Very Very Good Player, Farrell was a Great player!
Sculthorpe did the eye catching things as Good if not better than Farrell But Farrell did a lot of the Graft and the Roll Your sleeves up work Far better than Scully.

Mine is only an Opinion just like yours! However to say he wasnt in the same League as Sculthorpe is just ridiculous!

Spot on. Faz carried an average Wigan side for years.

Unfortunately Saints fans are unable to talk about Sculthorpe without getting over excited. A prime example of this is the Badwanger quote in my sig. Its quite sad really. They even get confused about his relative merits compared with other Saints players - I've seen many of them argue on this board that he was a better player than KFC, which is ridiculous.

Mind you I've seen Saints fans try to argue that Gidley is better than Meninga was

.

Saints have had a lot of success in recent years but the quality of their team on the pitch isn't often matched by the quality of their fans' opinions!

In time I reckon he will definately be our number one fullback. One reason Smith likes him, and why he was signed by an NRL team, is that he is one of the few English fullbacks that can play as an additional playmaker in the attacking line, like so many in the NRL do.

Brent Webb used to do this, which was IMO one of the main reasons Tony Smith signed him for Leeds. Think of the likes of Slater, Bowen, Hunt, Stewart. They often chime into the line not always as ball runners, but as extra stand-offs moving the ball quickly along the attacking three-quarter line. This tactic doesn't seem to be used as much in the Super League, but maybe Smith thinks its something we can employ.

Thoughts?

Whilst Mathers was playing in the reserves at Wigan, he was also used at Stand Off. He played much better at 5/8th than he did at fullback.

Of course Wiganers wouldn't be guilty of such things.

Feka anyone, the best prop in the world.

Which Wiganers said that?