Originally Posted by
RV12
I haven't read this thread yet, so do forgive me if I repeat many of the points already made, which I suspect I will.
After coming home from a work on a pretty dreary Wednesday, this wasn't the news I wanted to come home to. In fact, it's terrible news.
I suppose I should post with the caveat of "if this is true". But I have little reason to doubt it. A number of sources have ran this story, and our own head coach recently declared his love for him.
The news in effect confirms the departure of Walsh, which in my opinion is the far bigger news. We a losing an organiser and a man who supplies tries and makes big contributions on a regular basis. If he wants to go home, it's hard to blame the club for this loss. He's stayed longer than we anticipated anyway. Nevertheless, it's still bad news.
What the club can and should be blamed for is signing a player who is totally inadequate.
When looking for a replacement scrum half, I would imagine that you would first have to look for a player who has the core skills of a scrum half. They include, a wide ranging and accurate kicking game, good distribution, an ability to play to a structure and off the cuff when required and goalkicking ability.
Let's start with the kicking game. Matty Smith's kicking game consists of aimless high balls which often go 20 metres too far, which only incompetent full backs would drop, grubber kicks that roll dead, and finally, his speciality, drilled kicks in to touch to "grind" a game out. He can be effective in some situations, for example, the more defensive kick options, but in terms of putting pressure on a full back or winger, he can't do it. No full back or winger in Super League (except for maybe Sam Tomkins) would worry about being under a Matty Smith high kick, in the same way they would as being under a Danny Brough high kick.
But his no-frills, no-risk, "grind" mentality probably is something that matches with KC's philosophy.
His passing is woeful and is getting worse. A number of times in recent weeks he has ruined attacking Wigan moves by throwing the ball at players feet or behind them, leading to knock ons. And this has contributed to them losing big matches.
He has no running game at all. On the rare occasion he will run at a gap, he's that slow the hole has already been filled and he grinds the attack to a halt. He also seems to be very much into the whole Wigan ideology of one attacking, side to side move, that has long had its day. It may work against the likes of Wakefield and Hull KR, but will do nothing against a half-decent side.
We already have better goalkickers, or at the very least goalkickers of equal ability.
Therefore, I cannot fathom why the club want to sign him. I do question whether we would even be looking at him if he wasn't a "St Helens lad". We released him years ago because he wasn't good enough and I cannot see what has changed.
Players very very rarely move directly from St Helens to Wigan. It should be a massive story if they do. But the fact that Wigan are letting him go without even putting up a fight, should be sounding alarm bells at the club.
You can argue that he's an international player, so he must be good. But I don't buy it. Chris Melling and David Hodgson played for Great Britain. Richard Horne and Paul Johnson have been wingers in test matches against Australia. The fact that Smith is considered for England is a reflection on the games failure to produce creative players and our long term falsely held belief (which exists in the junior game and transfers to senior level) that the fastest lad should go at 7, as he's quick enough to get around the big fellas. This means that the skills of a half back aren't really taught.
When signing a player, you should look at who he is replacing. If he's not as good as him, you should ask why you are signing him. You can argue that others aren't available, but Gale was off-contract a few months ago, and Brierley was a free agent. Instead, we seem to have given a 4 year deal to someone past his already limited peak.
We are in a salary capped sport and you have to invest shrewdly. I don't know the salary we have offered to Smith, but I doubt it's value for money. I don't mind spending big wages on a scrum half. They are the heartbeat of the team, you need to spend big on them, but you need to ensure they are a top drawer player. We seem not to have learned from our mistakes after the difficulties we had in replacing Long.
Surely this isn't the signing we will make now, and then say, "roll up and buy your season tickets", because many will say no thanks.
As discussed at length, I'm also uncomfortable with a St Helens lad kissing the Wigan badge, and signing for us the following season. I'm seething that we would consider signing, a player, who is from St Helens, that finds it acceptable to laugh in the faces of our young players, and ruffle their hair when they make a mistake. With his ability, I don't think in he's in a position to laugh at anybody.
But I could overlook all of this, if he had any talent whatsoever. And in my opinion, he does not. And I cannot see what he will add to the team.
I hope he proves me wrong, and to an extent, this scenario isn't his fault. The blame lies at the door of the club. Maybe this time next year, I will say that Matty Smith came back and made me look like a total idiot. You never know, here's hoping that is the case.
But for now, I'm feeling pretty despondent that our attitude towards the key position on the field is that we can get a pound-shop replacement and that no one will mind, and that will win us trophies. If we were to sign a top scrum half, I honestly wouldn't mind if we didn't sign anyone else. Now we have pressurised ourselves to strengthen in other areas.
I hope that we do bring in some other quality recruits now, because signing players such as Matty Smith to be the heartbeat of your team isn't going to win us any trophies.