Great point about the exit strategy.

I am still though concerned that we lost the contact in both attack and defence, however it was just a friendly so no need to panic.

as That mon says, big difference though between 5 young lads bringing it out and our 1st choice backs

I've posted previously that Miski earned his place on merit last year, to that point that the club had to make a decision on French (at 6) and Cust to leave the club, and fair play to the lad. His yards (along with the other mentioned) coming off our own line are invaluable

On Friday, we made very little yardage out of our own half but i thought Thompson & Walters showed glimpses of why we signed them. With Thompson, Bryne, Wardle all playing 1st game back after injury / long term absence, happy for them to get through the game with 20-30 minutes under this belts, and get that rust and cobwebs blown off

Surely brining in big powerful props would see us shying away from us using our backs to get us up field. Maybe explains why our props are now looking leaner and will be used more to cart the ball in the later stages of sets and maybe in the opponents half. Plus making them more mobile in defence as our middle is usually where teams target Wigan.

Harry Smith retains the goal kicking for the season.

Thoughts?

No strong thoughts either way - both Smith and Keighran were kicking well at the end of last year.

He’s showed in the test series he can do it, so no issue at all. If he loses his way with it, then it’s a great option to have Keighran waiting in the wings.

Correct decision. Better goalkicker

He showed In the Test Series AND the last 3-4 months of last season and the whole of 2022 he can do it

Agreed, good thing this season is we have a solid back up kicker if he's having a bad day.

I'd say 3-4 months is pushing it (it seemed to turn for him about 4-6 weeks out from the GF). He got that winning drop goal against Hull FC at home towards the end of the regular season but had a mare before that with his goal kicking. He missed a few against Cas at home (but did go off early) and was generally below 70% on average. It turned around though for him and he was excellent in those last few weeks and then in the test series and as you mention, he was decent in 2022, so there is no issue with ability. I think it was just a concentration thing that maybe turned in to a confidence problem but he looked to be well over it and he deserves to keep it for now IMO.

I’m sure Peet knows best but Keighran was 77% last year and Smith was 63% if my maths is right.

Smith improved but his striking is still inconsistent.

Smith improved dramatically in the final 5/6 games. It would be interesting to see his conversion % for these games.

I'm not sure where that sort of info can be found but realistically it only actually looked to turn in the HKR semi and the Catalans final when I've looked on BBC. He was 100% through those 2 games and going in to the test series but before that I looked on the results section and just going off the trys we scored, to the conversions he made from the start of September, he was 12 from 22 I believe (it's just the Cas game I'm not sure on but I think he got 1 from 5 in the first half and was then taken off for a rest at half time IIRC and Hampshire took over) so around 55% over the month. He had ups and downs in August, including a poor night off the tee against Hull but an excellent night away at Catalans.

I'll go back to my earlier point, he proved he could do it in that test series (and a couple of high pressure games before) and deserves the chance to keep the job but unlike last year, he has proven competition.

Consistent goalkicking would make us an even more dangerous side but it is striking how Smith has nailed the high pressure kicks. Not just the playoff and Grand final but Challenge Cup QF and SF (both had kicks from the touchline).

Correct

And not going to get too much into the Harry Smith thing - because from my personal experience the people who bagged him as a player and said he wasn;t good enough then jumped all over the Goal kicking issue which i admit deffo affected his confidence early season (1st half of year) and made a bit of a problem into a much bigger issue than it was.
He nailed the big kicks when it really mattered and in Big games like Good Friday, and they ignored some of the awful conditions (Like HKR away 1st game of season) when I don't care who you were you weren't kicking 2 or 3 of those from touchline in that Gale!
The same people then refused to not only see his goal gicking improve but actually his performaces first half the season playing wise were very good, and progressed to excellent back end of season

From & including the Saints game when he missed a relatively simple one he kicked at approx 72% in June to July 7th

From July 7th through to end of year he kicked approx 75% (Whcih included the Hull & Cas games were the kicking admittedly wasn't great).

I haven't got Stats to hand but in 2022 he kicked more goals than anyone else, at a higher percentage I think than anyone else with similar numbers of attempts.
That was easily forgotten by some