Yes! As long as he stays off this forum his confidence shouldn't be knocked!

He should be happy with his individual performance on Sunday but I don't think we have seen the best of Smith yet. Give him a few games in the 1st team to build his confidence. Lets just hope he worked on his defence during his break from 1st team play as this wasn't really questioned on Sunday.

Too true
IMO of course..........................'"

Only on video

I am not being offensive. It is just my opinion that your suggestions that umpteen players in our sqaud are not good enough for a winning team (Hansen being one) IS rubbish. The salary cap virtually guarantees you will have what you might consider sub standard players.

Players like Hansen are fine. What we are lacking is some truly class players in key positions. Fielden was supposed to be one but isn't. We have a compromise at full back, The new hooker is a disappointment, the half back situation is not sorted out and our 13 is really a 2nd row.

In fact are making compromises or have problems in the key positions of the half backs, full back , loose forward and hooker. And we all know we need at least one top class prop.

In the era of the salary cap it is IMO possible to get those key positions sorted out but Wigan's problem is they have not. But once they are sorted out then you can't expect mega stars elsewhere in the side.

This is where Hansen comes in. With the key positions occupied by class players Hansen would be talked of in the same terms as Mick Cassidy.

It remains to be seen how the younger players will mature but Hansen can hack it on a weekly basis in SL. Last season I am pretty sure he averaged virtually exactly the same tackles per game as Lockers but missed fewer tackles, made fewer errors and gave away fewer penalties in absolute terms never mind average per game than Lockers despite playing 12 more games. He also scored 6 tries to 1 which is virtually double the average of Lockers last season. What does he have to do to prove his worth?

Or is my comparison with Lockers flawed because you don't rate Lockers either?

Dave

I dont want this topic to be all about Hansen when its about Tim Smith. But to take it back to Smith, I believe he is the player that can make Hansen look a far better attacking player than people think.

As has been mentioned earlier Hansen at times runs very clever and very good attacking lines. When Barrett was in the side he utilised this very well and put Hansen through the gap. An example of this is Hansen's try in the 31-30 playoff win at Odsal. Barrett had the quality to do that and since he has left no one really looks to do this, except Tim Smith.

There has been times this season when we have seen what Hansen is capable of in attack and another example of this is Bradford at home.

Whether Hansen wants to get involved more or wants to improve further, is another question but I dont think anyone can question his attitude or commitment. If we worked on this then Hansen could quite easily be like JJB.

I rememeber JJB being a very average player in his early days at Leeds and wondering how the hell he had got a place in their squad but as their team improved so did he to the point that he's become a huge player for them who sets the pace of games for them through his sheer energy and workrate.

The same as alot of Wigan youngsters that come through Hansen would improve playing in a better team with better players around him.

I worry about the development of somebody like Sam Tomkins tbh. If all he ever has to play in is an average team he'll struggle to become what he should be. At u21 level he's a superior player to Eastmond at Saints but i can see a time when Eastmond will leave him behind because he's going to be in a great side with a great pack laying a platform for him and protecting him whereas Sam looks to be on his own at times.