Wow.....

My biggest concern is that Smith is just plainly not good enough to lead the team around the park and dictate play.
Last night he got too much of the ball at the expense of Wiiliams and he was found wanting. No pace no flair and unable to unpick any defence that is organised.
He works hard and his kicking game can be good but often indifferent.
Just not good enough.
Hampshire may well also fall into the not good enough camp but it seems unlikely that we find out if that is the case at Wigan.
In terms of tackling there are several candidates already ahead of Hampshire who have a distinct lack of ability in that area.

If I was Wane I would be more concerned about MM Tomkins and Gelling on last nights performance. My favourite player is MM however, this season he is at best average and if we had a half decent replacement I would drop him unceremoniously to bring back to reality which seems to left his world since signing his contract extension.
As for Tomkins I would be calling Koukash to see if he will open his wallet to take him off our hands. Tomkins has done nothing this season absolutely nothing. He should be embarrassed to be in the same team as Bateman who was fantastic for us last night.
Gelling is well Gelling. Mad as a March hare lovely lad but unfortunately not a centre.

The only highlights from a players perspective this year has been Bateman, Williams, Clubb and thankfully the return of Ben Fowers playing something like.
They should be the only players who aren't on SWs white board on Monday morning ie the rest should be seeing SW for their one to one's and I suggest MM and Tomkins are at the top of the list!
Fair play to Hull last night I thought they were going to sneak it at the end and if they had it would probably have been justice to their great team effort.

Hopefully our guys have now had a drop of reality ie beating an awful Warrington team and a Catalan team playing away from home isn't GF form but almost expected and severL others teams could accomplish the same results.
Last night was a reminder that we haven't got a good defence unlike the views of some and that we don't really have sufficient pace to really hurt the top team. On the subject of pace what a great effort by Bateman last in trying to catch the Hull winger.
Hopefully in a strange way last may just have been what we need before the semi finals ie a good shake up and IL opening the chequebook to beef up the squad for next season.

Smith was very ordinary indeed last night. Surely he can't be our 7 next season?

Two or three more Batemans and our worries would be over! What a player the guy is.

Based on that game there are more concerns about Smith's defence than Hampshire's. It was like Tim Smith had filled in for the night, except Tim Smith could throw a good pass. In the build up to at least two tries Smith was guily of tackle attempts that were embarrassing for anyone, never mind someone who has represented his country at international level. I hope he's fired up and keen to make an impact against Saints because last night Smith was terrible.
Hampshire made some mistakes at times, but it's hard for him having had no consistency. Smith has been below par all year and gets away with it. The only way Hampshire will improve defensively is by playing and learning from mistakes.

You won't get any defence of Matty Smith from me. Having met the lad, I like him a lot, but I don't think he's Wigan standard. I know that's an oft-used and oft-mocked phrase, but for me he's a journeyman. I'd like to see Ryan Hampshire and George Williams providing our halfback partnership in the next few years, but it would be a brave coach who'd take that risk when they're both 20.

Williams has done fine with not too much support from Smith this year. It's hard to see that he'd be any worse with Rocky alongside him.