Feels like something has to give with the Saints loose forward role. Him, Bell and Knowles are all natural loose forwards but fitting them all in means one playing prop, second row etc. I wonder if Leigh might throw good money at him? Just reading Asiata is likely to leave at the end of the season, to head back to the NRL. That is one hell of a blow for them.

Nothing against Lees, or Knowles either for that matter, but I've said many times they are both just good grafters. Neither has outstanding skill, they just (for the most part) work hard and with good intensity. There's nothing wrong with that. All teams need grafters. All teams need solid "7 or 8 out of 10 every week" players too. What gets my goat is how the Redvee lot elevate them beyond what they are whilst,at the same time, tagging players like Ellis as less than they are for fulfilling a similar role. Lees isn't a world-beater. He never will be. That's fine. Knowles isn't much better than Smithies (if indeed he has been better this season which I don't think he has). Neither will ever be Brad Fittler, Paul Sculthorpe or Ellery Hanley. That's fine too

Ellis is a quality player and a good addition to our team and culture and guess what? That's fine as well.

I have held back on saying this for a while, to just give him a bit more time to cement it in my mind but I now think Smithies has gone past Knowles. He’s outperformed him for a season and two thirds now and is adding things to his game. At the same time, I think Knowles has dropped off a little and has struggled to get his form going due to constantly missing games. Overall there isn’t much in it but there is no way I’d swap them.

Whilst I can't claim to have seen every Saints game, in the ones I have seen Knowles has been way off previous year's form. In fact he's been largely anonymous for the most part. One of our Saints posters would be able to comment with more authority than myself but, factoring in what I've seen Saints fans themselves saying; that he shouldn't be their loose forward any more and that it's time for Bell to step up, I would surmise that he hasn't been breaking any pots. They wouldn't suggest moving their self proclaimed "best player in the comp" from his favoured position if he was doing the business there.

With all that in mind I would say Smithies has comfortably overtaken him this season. Even last, several journalists had him over Knowles in their end of season Dream Teams and the statistics supported that view. If he's better (and as I say, my personal view is he hasn't been this season or for large parts of last) it's, at best, marginal. Given their respective ages, I wouldn't swap them either. The problem is, unlike Knowles, I think Smithies is casting his eyes at the NRL.

Until Knowles was mentioned I thought he had retired.
Smithies is a better player now.