If Tim Smith plays then he needs runners, using the correct angles. He his a superb ball player and has a good short kicking game. He is not a running half back in that he is not going to score from 40 metres out.

Defensively he is poor, but so is Michael Dobson. At Parramatta Smith had the likes of Nathan Hindmarsh to help him.

So IMO it's a trade off, his attacking ability v his defensive frailties.

A difficult decision for Noble I think.

However if you look at other teams, they carry poor defenders, Dobson, Briers and Long spring to mind.

He's trying to wake him up by the looks of it!

I think theres a difference between Smith to Briers Dobson and Long, the 3 we mention are willing to bend their back and help out, some of Smiths efforts have been cowardly. For me the only place to try and keep Smith safe is between Carmont and Richards if hes on the wing and not FB otherwise its a worry having him at the side of Ainscough or Roberts. Too much of a liability IMO.

I noticed on sunday he was defending next to Bailey, which seemed to help.

He seemed to have Bailey on one side and Lockers on the other, which will help him tremendously.

I am more than happy if Tim Smith plays every single week from here on out.

I have been an advocate of his, ever since he joined us, as his vision and ability to get a ball to precisely where it needs to be and more importantly *when* it needs to be is second to none.

The defensive side of his game needs work, but more than anything else right now, it needs *help* from the rest of the team.

I think that we should persist with the Smith/Tommy/Piggy starting triangle, with the Sam/Smith/Tommy triangle at the interchange.

Give the lad a chance, as I want to see more of the Smith -> Gleeson -> Roberts or the Smith -> Carmont -> Ainscough passing movements.

I think he could net us a lot of points with that huge cut-out pass in either direction.

Completely agree with all of the above.

I think having Gleeson in the side could be a huge boon for Smith- if anyone can read the play and provide a runner it will be Gleeson especailly as he has some experience at 6.

But I agree re Hock - if Smith plays then Hock should be the one running outside him as that could be a very productive link.

Just watched the DVD of the game and much of what we did in attack stemed from Smith. His vision and passing is, at times, sublime.

The concern with Smith will always be, if we allow him to become an important part of the team, can we rely on him not to implode.

What on earth for? It is so disruptive with several players changing position just so Riddell can take a breather. It also means we have three half backs in the 17 so restricts the substitute options. Is there another side in SL who change the half backs when the hooker goes off? It's not a clever tactic of Noble's either it's just the only way he can fit them all in the side.

Noble needs to pick his two first choice half backs, his first choice hooker and interchange hooker and leave it at that.

We can argue who those four players might be e.g. Smith, Tomkins, Riddell and TL but it needs doing.

Why are people (and Noble) so afraid of saying to TL, you are interchange hooker because essentially that is what it boils down to?

Dave

I dont suspect they are, because I feel, if Tommy wants a new deal, it may reflect that, because surely to god he won't be retained as a scrum half.

Every halfback needs runners and we have a distinct lack of them which is half our problem.

Totally agree. Seems like some people are forgetting how bad this system was at the start of the season, we are pushing on now discovering Tommy's best position is 9 and Sam is a 6. Let's not step backward. Let's learn from our mistakes and move on.

The thing i'd like to see more of from Hock is him coming back on the inside to take the ball instead of just standing on the outside waiting for it to come to him.

He steps back inside quite alot but i'd like to see him run back on the inside to collect the ball to try and catch the opposition defenders out as they cover across and expect him to get it out towards the centres.

Those types of runs would help Smith out massively.