Really pleased, well done Timmy.

The bloke is a great reader of the game & if the forwards can buy him some room he’ll do the business.

However, some people have alluded to the point that they don’t know which Mr Smith will turn up, unfortunately, IMO neither does he, which is a shame. But if he was on his game every week, he would be playing in the NRL.

I would put Smith as one of the best passes of the ball we have had in a long time.

We have had some great players....
Wally Lewis without question the best long pass in the world
David Solomona the best pass out of the tackle I've seen
Nigel Wright gifted player, always very accurate passer
David Topliss passing at speed was exceptional

Smith is up there for me. Not the top, but up there.
One thing we lack in attack is the ability to take the ball at speed and get the defense on the back foot. What he does is put the ball in the exact place for the player to catch while sprinting. No reaching up no streching forward.
For years you have seen a back line passing where they have to stop themselves to catch the ball and by the time they are back to speed the defense has got them

All we need now is some players who can play with him.

And one of the ones who will in my opinion be able to do this is Lee Smith. He has played with players like that before. The try against Giants showed that. (Unfortunately the mistake showed he has some work to do too!)

Well I think I'll base my opinion on more than one game at Hudds



I know you want a Toppo type player and rightly so as Sykes is clearly not and never will be in that class. However there are few of those about even in the NRL and we certainly won't find one by next season and even if we did it's probably a 10 game learning curve so get to understand the somewhat maverick Smith. Sykes has done that quickly, probably because he will submit to being the straight man - something a Toppo type player would never do.

So for me and it's just my opinion - if it's not broke don't fix it. Sykes will allow Smith to be even better next season and that alone makes him worth his place. I'm all for ambition but lets not run before we can walk - especially as I don't see Smith stopping in the UK for a prolonged period either with us or any other club. I reckon two good seasons in SL will win him a place back in the NRL. If I saw Smith as a 5 year player then yep but we won't build a team around him IMHO.

Dont know if Smith will be here for 5 years it might be that with his past problems when he originally came it was a case of him only wanting a 12 month contract.Has said hes enjoying it here so was easy to sign another contract,again just for 12 month.Might be he is thinking if things go pear shaped in his life he wont have any trouble walking away and wont be letting anyone down.Glad we have him thats for sure and think next season now the other players are used to him we will see even better things more so depending on who sign/bring in.

dont know how he gets in our 17 i would loan him out to South Wales but he would not get a game

Me neither be surprised if he gets in the team tomorrow with the way hes been playing! Hopefully Leeds will realise this!

Re-signing players who were thought not good enough previously is a sign of club lacking in ambition.
If Leeds have any ambitions of becoming a top 4 club, they should stay well clear.
No way would he fit their style of play. Don't be fooled by a couple of OK performances against his former club. I've never even seen him challenge a refereeing decision.
I'd expect a fans' revolution in Leeds if they take Amor back. You have been warned.


... now I think about it, Leeds fans do tend towards the revolting.

Spot on.

I genuinely wasn't trying to have a dig at Smith BTW, and agree that if anything SL halfbacks tend to be able to run around and have no passing or kicking game. My point was that the best halfbacks can run, pass and kick (I find it astonishing that SL hasn't produced a single British player who can do all 3 to a reasonable level).

Smith's problem in the NRL was that without a running game, his passing and kicking tended to be predictable and easy to defend because defenders knew that was all he would do. That was probably why he was so frustrating to watch as he got older, because for most young halfbacks the kicking and passing are harder skills to master, and Smith had the full range of both from the start of his NRL career.