I never said that. But I certainly thought it was a position we needed to strengthen and signing a player mid season who was familiar with the system and had played in many big games for the club appeared to tick a lot of boxes.


No, my second point was outlining how desperate we were for a player capable of playing first grade rugby on the wing - Smith was certainly that. We appeared to have few options with the injuries to Watkins and Donald and the people who stood in were no where near good enough. I'd take 3 time Grand Final mediocrity most days of the week over Coady, Bush and Clarkson

Yes he did but not for another 12 months after signing off with a two-try Grand-Final performance.



See above. How soon we forget. It was the correct decision to bring Smith back to the club (albeit a surprising one given the club's history in this regard) with Watkins' long-term absence and Donald's medium-term injury there was a desperate need for another experienced outside back.

Smith's rescue from the dark side, likely as not, will have been the cheapest 'quality' option open to the club or so it will have seemed to the management at the time.

Edit: Sorry for the repitition of some of Andy R's points (multi-tasking) but they are worth making again anyway.

Ah the Infamous Grand Final Appearances Fallacy always the last resort of those determined to view current form through rose tinted glasses, and about as convincing as T Blair's claims on WMD.....

Smiffy is good enough to get a gig with the Wakeys/Bradford/Harlequins of this World, maybe even on a good day with either of the Hulls. He is no longer a top level RL player, and rather than keep him as a bit part player at Headingley, he should be given his chance to claim a regular spot elsewhere.

Why so sure of this? He has, as far as I know, never played a senior game there, even for Fev. He may have played there in his junior days, but that might just have been a case of putting your best player in a pivotal position.

He looks every inch and outside back to me.

Anyone remember the switch of another young winger into the stand-off role (IIRC it may he coincided with him becoming captain)?

A move based on the fact he'd played a chunk of his junior rugby at St John Fisher in the position, although he'd never played there before in his professional career.

I seem to remember it lasting about half a dozen games before coach and player conceded it had been pretty much a disaster and he reverted back to his previous position.

(No doubt tvoc will correct my failing memory on the facts above... )

Out of interest, I wonder what nantwichexile has seen of Hardaker to lead him to believe that he's got either a kicking game, the ability to put runners through gaps or the rugby brain to lead a team around the field?

Hardaker may turn out to be a stand off. He looks to have a rugby brain. But he's not going to start there for Leeds this season or next. Even if that was the 'long-term' plan you'd start by giving him the odd game under low pressure, not fling him the No 6 shirt and watch him (probably) sink without trace.

Nantwich listens to the voices in his head. They're telling him Hardaker is a stand off. He finds a PC and posts it.

Sometimes they tell him to burn things.

Yep. There is a difference between playing in a Grand FInal and having a real influence on the outcome.

2007 he played on the wing while still relatively inexperienced, looked solid and added some gloss with a try.

2008, came in for our injured full back amid much wailing and gnashing of teeth in the media on our behalf and scored once and kicked a vital (if slightly streaky....) 40-20 in a man of the match performance.

2009, two of our 3 tries, including the equaliser and the clincher.

That's a Grand Final record to match almost anyone's to be honest. No Grand Final fallacy here.

I'm pretty sure that someone said Smith has a happy knack of scoring tries in important games...

It would be plain dumb to ditch him now, so I can see our current coach doing just that given some of the other crazy decisions he has made this year.

I've said it for a couple of years. There is no fallacy about it, the lad is a proven match winner, and we don't have many of those about.

Smith hasn't been on the best of form since his switch to union, but at the end of 2009 he was the best back in the competition. Every super league club wanted him, and he chose the money route to union.

Luckily for Smith, unlike a lot of his team mates he is still relatively young, and hopefully can regain that form. He doesn't deserve his spot in the side at the moment based on his form, but I would never write him off. Like I said he is a match winner.