As you say time will tell. I think you are right about his confidence though. I have noticed that one error tends to lead to another pretty quickly as his head does seem to go down. I wonder if he has the mentality to go along with his skills?

The full back position has exposed his weakness under the high ball. Now, he isn't the first full back to suffer from this, and they all drop them, but he needs to be able to put it behind him quickly. Dixon at Hull KR the other week for example finished with a hat trick after having what can only be described as a mare (I forget the opponents). Hampshire hasn't been able to do that.

Wigan struggled early season by not replacing Green with a seasoned pro like Campese. And I was one who criticised Wigan for that. However I was wrong. Wane has persisted with Williams who is showing how good he is. But surely it would be folly to have two rookies in the halves at the same time? So Hampshire misses out.

I can see another Bobbie Goulding situation here. I remember him making a Lions tour when he was understudy both at GB and at Wigan to Andy Gregory & Shaun Edwards. Ultimately he moved on because he was too good to play second fiddle.

And limited though Matty is, he is the best kicker we've had since Trent Barrett (way better than Hampshire).'"

Eh?

Isn't it obvious that I wasn't referring to place kicking by the fact that I omitted Pat Richards?

Matty Smith's all round kicking game was largely responsible for us winning the double after the vastly superior (in all parts of the game bar kicking) Leuluai and Finch had won us nothing the year before.

Did I need to spell that out?

He'll be singing a different tune if that sniff of Saints signing him disappears!

The lad is blatantly not a full back.

I don't think Smith brings enough to the team to warrant keeping his place over Hampshire - not if the alternative is Hampshire leaving at the end of the season.

Didn't leu lieu win it in 2010?

Now Pie don't get upset. We are only trying to help you overcome these little deficiencies in style.

does anyone still think he's the next great half back then?

i've seen him a few times now, and just don't see what he offers (apart from wearing cherry & white) i can't see anything that marks him out as any better than any other half back/hooker in the competition.

He's a scrum half to me, he should be playing 7 instead of Smith.

He's got the brain for it and with more experience he can deliver. My only concern for his development is that the current set of forwards at Wigan really aren't helping. If they don't get quick PTBs and get on a roll the team is on the back foot in attack. I mean, in terms of his brain that pass he attempted on Thursday, when he delayed the pass only to put out a bad pass. Sure the pass was awful but to have the nous to even attempt it is something that no other British half back in the game has (maybe Chase would see it but I doubt it). Another season or two and that pass is floated out and we're all talking about how brilliant it was. Without those forwards though he's up against it.

Very true. Our pack is ruining the start of his career. I'd love to see him play behind Leeds' pack, Hampshire also.

We're heaping a whole lot on a 20 year old kid, who seems to be expected to lead Wigan around the park as well as scoring & creating tries. While his international HB team mate has less tries, less assists, a fraction of the tackle busts, metres made, breaks, offloads or carries. At least Smith has an undoubted edge in errors made - you can always guarantee a couple from the sloth. Smith's kicking from hand & ground is mediocre, don't let a couple of decent kicks on Thursday disguise that. Smith is a poor man's Deacon & Deacon was extremely limited himself.