Going a bit off the subject here but its just popped into my head



Anyone remember in the final few minutes of the game, Ganson was just about to blow for a Wigan penalty, Celtic gathered the ball and he waved play on



He had his arm out and everything just about to blow whistle then changed his mind. If this was a call from the TJ then I think that is the first one I've seen this season.

Gleeson has certainly improved defence on Smith's side, but even Gleeson can only do so much. The guy has has had a couple of good games where he's thrown some fantastic passes, and before this weekend people were talking about signing him on a longer contract, well I'm of the opinon that he has to go. We cant get into one of these situations where by he has to create more tries than he concedes or we'll get no where

Basically it shows how much we missed Locky.

Bailey usually does a good job of "minding" Tim however I imagine with Locky out he probably had to work overtime in defence which left Tim Smith exposed.

Tim Smiths an easy target...hes only here for the one year hes an aussie and hes got a host of other issues not related to what he does on the pitch to pick at.

One thing though whether like him or hate him you cannot deny that when he is playing well we play some of nicest expansive attacking rugby we have done for some years.

It's all been said before about Tim Smith, as a number of blindingly obvious basic problems with our side that get ignored week in, week out.

What tickles me is someone stood behind me at the game tried to justify Tim Smith, saying all half backs had his faults.

You shouldn't have been hanging out of a window.

Exactly. Works a treat when used correctly. Usually a second row forward.

I'd like to see the Tomkins/Smith combo used more. We have an organising passing 7 in Smith and a running second receiver in Sam

Nobby to show some spuds and drop either Tommy/Riddell/McC leaving two of the three to work the interchange at 9.

Roberts
Pryce/Ainscough
Gleeson
Carmont
Richards

Phelps
Sam

Fielden
McIllorum
Coley

Hock
Bailey
O'Loughlin

Bench:
Tommy
Feka
Joel/Hansen
Prescott/O'Carroll

No Smith or Riddell.

Why Riddell? He was probably our best player on Sat.

Have you been watching the reserves? Pryce is so hit and miss. Not worth a punt.

I haven't, but he or Ainscough are the obvious choices for the wing spot.



Tommy is a better player and McIllorum, for his rawness brings fire to the team.

Riddell bar the odd glimpse has done nowt.

I wasn't there on Saturday so I can't comment. but I posted on another thread about Riddell that he gets more criticism than most. I think it's because he isn't living up to peoples unrealistic expectations of him. Hardly anyone on here watches NRL regularly enough to form a conclusive and accurate opinion of any player over there yet most assumed, me included, that we were signing a great player. In reality we've signed a hooker who's never played for Aus, never played State of Origin and only made 2 appearances in City v Country. If we become realistic with our expectations, then he's looking to be a good player for us.

Look at the stats on the SL site compared to McIllorum and you'll see that Piggy is a lot better player in every department yet people are keen to praise McIllorum and slag off "[iThe Fat Waster[/i"

McIllorum brings effort to the team and abit of fire. My decision isn't based on Riddell being anything, merely that Tommy is a better player.

Lets be honest, it aint working currently, lets shake things up a little.

This is the bare bones of it. It isn't working (evidently) so chances have to be made.

But surely those changes have to include keeping our best players in their best positions. For me that means Riddell and Tommy at hooker.

I'd be tempted to give Ainscough a game on the right and see what he can do with the 2 passes a game that Roberts gets.

Probably turn out to be the top try scorer in SL. Oh yeah he already did that after playing fewer games.

Fickle!!!

It was Tim Smith for Australia after his masterclas vs Salford!

Don't talk cack.

That is the point I have been trying to make for ages. Riddell was probably our best player on Saturday, yes he did make the mistake when he kicked the ball out on the full, but our kicking game was generally poor.

I think it was Jukesays that made the point that 5 ino 4 doesn't go. So we have Sam. Tommy, Tim, Piggy and Mickey Mac.

I'm a big fan of Mickey Mac but he would be the one to miss out IMO.
However watching Smith defending on Saturday I could easily see it being him.

Riddell has played 4 more Super League games that McIlorum and started the majority of them rather than off the bench so he is bound to out-stat him.

The real question is are we getting our money's worth and on that score I'm disappointed to say the least. But I generally am in fairness of most NRL imports whether at Wigan or elsewhere. We have far too many and most aren't better than what we have.

For example Liam Colbon scored 10 in 31 games last year. Roberts has 5 in 19 so far. But I bet he's on a lot more cash than Colbon was. So what's the point?

Too be fair it was only 1 idiot.

Smith should miss out.

Its already been said about getting someone to cover him. There are a lot of half backs who stay out wide in defence or have a player covering him in defence to help him out. As said before Bailey and Gleeson have been doing this, but with O'Loughlin missing on saturday Bailey was doing more work in midfield than over to the sides. And since Gleeson's come and tightened up the right defence Smith has looked a better player because people haven't been picking up on his defensive errors as much, and the focus has been on his attacking skills.

What gets me is that everyone jumps on his back as soon as a mistake is made down the our right side of defence. On saturday Roberts missed a tackle which led to 1 of their tries and someone at the side of me was turning red he was that angry shouting "Smith go home" Then later on the ball got spread from celtics left over to their right for another of their tries and Smith again gets blamed this time for not tackling as soon as the ball was played!

I know he's not great in defence, but there are other players on the team especially on Saturday that are making mistakes and missing way too many tackles. You can't pin the blame solely on Smith.

People go on about Smiths passes.
He's made six telling passes in all.
Thats six times more passes than yards he's run since we signed him.
Can,t lick sams boots.

I had one red arm when we got to Cardiff