Did Hooper and Pryce not play in the same team? I seem to remember Hooper getting number 16 and playing in the back row/loose forward.

Overall I think that's pretty fair, although Pryce was by far a better stand off than Hooper, who was an excellent loose forward. It's worth noting also that Long was pretty poor in his last couple of seasons at Saints, once Scully was out of the picture he was left with all of the organisational responsibility.

I heard Smith was offered a deal at saints at the start of this season, he was all for signing it and then Wigan offered £12k more a year. Saints refused to match it and the rest is history. I'm not sure Smith is the answer and long term, I think we as a club need a better organiser, but most fans would give their right arm for any recognised 7 given the current situation.

It amazes me that a lot of our fans continue to underestimate Matty Smith

It gets a bit Muddy with Hooper.

I think the plan was Scully to 6, but with Scully's injuries (from memory) Hooper ended up doing quite a few turns at halfback. There was also the odd guest appearance from Lyon at half.

But if you take it as a trio

Long, Martyn, Scully
Long, Scully, Hooper
Long, Pryce, Hooper (scully doing guest apperances)
Long, Pryce, Flannery (At this point I think we can say the 3rd pivot was lost from Saints and we proceeded with only 2, although I'd argue Pryce was more a 13 than a 6, but that's by the by. Flannery was not a pivot)

Long + Pryce alone was not enough for the GF.

Then it all gets messy with injuries again but we get several combo's

Long Pryce
Long Smith
Smith Pryce
Eastmond Pryce
Eastmond Lomax
Lomax + random
Wilkin Wellens

It's the curse of seeing great players. Next to them everyone else looks distinctly average. But Smith would have given us 3 years of organisation and Eastmond could have run his pony show next to him. Then Lomax could have played off him. It may not have been in the same class as Leeds, but we would certainly have been more effective against the top 2.

Looking at what we have, can't we get that Random person back, it would be an improvement

I think you are missing the point. Underestimating him would be saying that he's not SL standard, which Im not.

Would I prefer to have Smith than Wilkin, Hohaia or Wello at 7, absolutely. Do I think Smith is a better organiser than Dobson, No. Do I think he has a better running or kicking game than Danny Brough, definately not. He would come in and do a job for us, but he isn't my long term preferred choice. It's clear that Saints don't think he is either.

The goons think differently.

im surprised smith is getting some credit here, as when wigan signed him alot of people thought it was hilarious. not a dig, just curious.

Because he's not as good as long in his prime, playing with players like Scully and Kieron and tommy Martyn .
I fear Matty will repay us in the same way longtime did to Wigan

I think I said at the time that Smith would do better than expected at Wigan because of their structure.

I think most players with the basic skill set to play #7 would do a good job for Wigan. The emphasis at Wigan is on the runners rather than the HBs, it's all about getting the ball to Tomkins or using a second-rower on the short ball. Smith/Green do this well as they have a decent passing game and have a solid kicking game. This sort of structure is perfect for any HB.

At Saints it's a bit different. We don't seem to have that 'robotic' structure that Wigan have - it's not a dig, it's anything but that as it's highly effective. Put Smith into our team and I think he struggles.

Wigan have set the bench-mark for the way they play their offence, and I think when we use Lomax more at FB we will start to see a different structure to our play with ball: look how good Wilkin looked vs Wire when he was playing off Lomax...compare that with the game vs Hull KR where he looked like a second-rower playing at #7.

I don't think we have properly seen Wigan play a run of games without Tomkins and I think that is such a positive for them as he is integral. Is it a coincidence that they rarely win without him? Clarke talked about it on the stats show and I think I can remember them playing 8 games or so without him and only winning a couple. We will see how good Wigan [ireally[/i are when he goes to the NRL or Union.

Lomax will be that player for Saints in the coming seasons and it will be about keeping him fit.