Quote: sergeant pepper "I'm not arguing with you here, but what makes him great in attack? I like the kid, but if i have to think about highlights from last year the majority of them are defensive. I personally can't think of too many times he carved up the opposition, made a few breaks or slipped a few offloads etc.
Not aimed at you, but I'm massively conscious of extreme our fans seem to be. Everyone is either great (Marshall) or dog turd (Burgess) etc.
I'd be comfortable saying Smithies was great in defence and finding his feet in attack.'"
No I know and you make a fair point, his highlights are in defence I agree but I stand by my ‘great in attack’ statement purely based on the stats;
- 21 appearances
- 1 try
- 1227mtrs from 213 carries (5.76mtrs per carry and 10 per game)
- 23 tackle busts
- 2 clean breaks
- 4 errors
Now for me, for an 18yr old kid in his debut and breakthrough season, they are very good stats. Put them into context v Faz/Lockers and admittedly they aren’t as impressive but as I said in the context of him being 18yrs old and only just made his debut this season, they are very promising.
It’s also worth noting that his natural position is 13 and he played there for academy too.
Is he ready made and ready to replace Lockers? Absolutely not.
Can he develop into that role? Absolutely
Will he ever be as good as Lockers at 13? He has the potential but his style of play is different to Lockers’.
FWIW I agree entirely with fan extremism point.