Quote: NSW "He’s played backrow for Leigh and been decent so maybe he slots in there.
If he plays though I’d predict he’ll be in on the bench and come on for Smithies.
He’s got the best passing game of all our “middles” so could help our clunky attack and get the ball to the edges quicker.'"
I agree that his most likely position in the squad will be the bench, if at all. We may have brought him back solely for the reason that it stops Leigh from playing him.
His passing game is the reason that i want him in at loose working as an extra pivot, i did notice that leigh have been playing him as a second row after starting loose forward in the first game, i took this as playing him to fit the teams needs as opposed to where they see him best since he was getting praise for the first game. I could be wrong on that though.
Not trying to bag on Smithies in any way as he had a great season last time around at loose, but i don't think he is what we need in that role at the moment and would serve us just as well, if not better slotting into the right second row position. Whether it is Shorrocks or Powell to give us what we need at loose i don't know, but at this stage i think both are more interesting options that we should be exploring then Smithies.