Tommy had his first bad game of 2017 last weekend, but that was playing behind a pack who were soundly bullied for 20 vital minutes, and with a halfback partner who sometimes (regularly, last Friday) goes disastrously off-script. Plus, as others have said, we have lots of firepower missing.

I quite liked Matty, but he's gone. I don't think Tommy is a bad replacement.

Agreed, he isn't a bad replacement, but as I've said above, we won those tight games last year. This year we have drawn one and lost one. I'm not blaming Tommy as you have rightly pointed out the pack was poor. But the point is - this happened loads last year, but we managed to win games just like the Hull game and the Huddersfield one too.

Tommy was supposed to be so good that we wouldn't miss Matty's kicking, but that hasn't been the case. Tommy has assisted in just one try all season, despite playing every minute. And while we are at it Morgan is currently kicking at 60%, some way below Matty's rate. Though he wasn't a reliable kicker either, being average was good enough. People were happy to welcome Tommy back because he was seen as a superior half back to Matty. But in terms of results on the pitch - it isn't happening.

Happy to be proved wrong by the way.

You do realise we lost games with Smith in the team as well last year? May just be me but I think I've seen more entertainment in general play these last half dozen games than we did for the majority of last season. You mention poor kicking but his place kicking was mostly abysmal last year (how many times did we groan at when the kicks went straight down the throat of the opposition full back)? His conversions are no better than Escare's, however he can knock over a decent drop goal.

I don't just want one point wins, with some more players back lets get back to playing good attacking rugby with options all over the field (moving away from the five years old planned move).

I'd agree that we are looking better. I put that down to Williams, Farrell, Gildart and Burgess on the left edge. We look no different on the right edge.

Every kicker in the league hoofs it straight to the full back when they are kicking from 20 or 30 yards out. Matty is no different in that respect, but he is better when we are going forward, much better than Tommy.

I've been delighted by Escare, But his goal kicks are not as accurate. He has missed 12 out of 30 that's 60% success. Quite comfortably worse that Smith last season, who kicked 83 out of 110 that's 75%. Sometimes the figures (reality) tell a different story from what you've 'seen'.

Just out of interest I looked up Pat Richards' rate in 2013 - any guesses? (Yes 75%!!!)

Yes I would think the same. I posted something similar earlier on in the season, after the Widnes game I think, when our kicking was poor. However, it is becoming apparent to me that this is now a problem. I hope it doesn't cost us in the bigger games.

Bigger Games.......? World Club Challenge not big enough for you

No elephant in the room at all. With so many first teamers missing there's as big a chance Smith would have gone missing also. How can anyone state with certainty that we would have won both games? I don't want to denigrate Smith because he is a model pro but the one thing I am certain of is that Tommy is a superior player. I believe Saints also hold the same opinion given how hard they tried to sign him.

Leuluai and Smith have totally different strengths. There are some things Tommy is doing to a far higher level then Smith could manage but by the same token I think Smith was better in some other areas (clearly kicking out of hand being one and we do miss that from deep).

The time was right for Smith to move on IMO and nothing has changed my mind so far. His confidence was shot at points last year and he never really recovered. His form for us hadn't been great for 3 seasons and it just felt right for both parties.

Wow I can't believe this thread exists.

Is it April 1st?
Last season and to a lesser degree the season before we were truely atrocious to watch and Smith was a major player in our "style".
I'm still unsure what we played but it wasn't rugby league.
We got more entertainment in the second half against Hull than we did for the whole of last season at home.
Where I would agree is that TL kicking out of hand isn't great and personally I would have kicking for position on the majority of occasions.
He may well come back to harm us on GF but TL for Smith was an absolute no brainer for me.

Unbelievable! Matty Smith lacks skill. He never takes the line on, his passing accuracy is awful, he's slower than my Mum, Williams had to do far too much because of Smiths ineffective play.
This season we have been far more fluent in attack because of Tommy. He is dictating all that we do, freeing Williams up to wreak havoc.
Tommy wasn't great on Friday but it was the defence down Gelling's flank that got ripped apart. Not because of Tommy who missed a tackle but regardless is far better than Smith ever was or ever will be!

I agree with this. For me Matty Smith was a 'crap weather' performer, even then I have only seen him put in two superb performances ever! One for Wigan (Hull FC Wembley Final) and England's Test Match vs New Zealand at the DW a couple of years back. Both of these games were played during downpours and the pitches were heavy.

I never saw him break a defensive line, a show & go and hit the gap. Never.

Nevertheless he comes across as a really decent guy, was impressed at the time he spent consoling Wire players at the end of last years Grand Final.