Criminally underrated player.

I don't even think he got the full props he deserved from Wigan or the fans. I know they rated him, but when you hear Rads say we couldn't have got Thompson if Smithies stayed, or see Wane not picking him for England - the obviously don't think he's that good.

Matty Johns on his podcast with Cooper Cronk raised a point on how players who struggle with form or the Nrl.. come over to super league to rediscover their own game and form.. before heading back to the Nrl.. he mentioned the likes of Sezer and Schneider.. on another point he mooted the idea that Nrl should buy super league, and we go back to winter rugby, so the Nrl players can come over and play super league whilst young enough.. and the Nrl can take our top talent in each others closed seasons..

I do agree he was massively underrated in this country. I can’t blame Rads too much for that comment though. I think Smithies wanted out and while we could’ve held him, it’s not every day you get the chance to sign an English replacement like Thompson. You leave it 12 months and you might need to go with an overseas player and use another quota spot or go for an English player who isn’t as good.

In terms of Wane, I think he’s held back on picking too many Wigan players at times to avoid criticism, I really do. The acid test will be if we get any games this season because nobody can tell me Wardle, O’Neill and Thompson aren’t in Englands best side or at least best squad currently. There’s a fair chance come the end of the season that Wigan should have 5 or 6 players in, plus guys like KPP, Smithies, Bateman, Williams etc and then Wane takes a battering, however right the calls will be.

Maybe it was the way I interpreted I, but I took it as Rads seeing Thompson as an upgrade. No disrespect to Thompson, he's been better than I thought he would be, but he's not as good as Smithies.

Wane, for me, has always made some baffling selection decisions. He did it when he was the coach here and he's doing it with England now. As many current/ex Wigan lads he has picked, there are plenty he hasn't too. The treatment of Faz, Knowles over Smithies. Not bringing Marshall in last year etc.

That's deffo not how he meant it
Off camera he talked about fighting his agent for months and months before he left

The comment was more in a "When one door closes another one opens" type, and that with Salary cap you can't have both (of course you can if you lose another top player but you know what I mean).

100% they did not want to lose Smithies
As for people not rating him, like anything else in life there will always be people questioning players, questioning the club, criticising someone or other who havent got 1% of the knowledge or skills of the people they're criticising, but there's no-one at the club who didn't rate Smithies as highly as they could.

Smithies and Thompson habe similarities but offer different qualities in certain areas

I’d have Morgan back in a heartbeat.

I had him as next captain, watching him leading the warmup he just looked a natural leader, he led the defensive efforts and his ball playing was improving. The other impressive improvement was in his discipline, he controlled his aggression and his performance didn’t suffer.

Matty Johns, and the rest of the NRL, can f**k off

Over Thompson? No chance


I rate Smithies highly but the ceilings of both leave Thompson far ahead. The one thing holding Smithies back is his lack of pace and athleticism which Thompson has.

At this current moment Thompson is the better player but the problem is Thompson struggles to stay fit and make the field regularly and is nearly 29 so you’d think is at or past his peak level. Smithies has a good injury record and is 23 and improving massively that’s why I would want Smtihies over Thompson.

It's not a question we'll need to answer anyway. Even if Smithies decides to come back to the UK in 2 or 3 years time, you'd imagine we'd then look to fit both him and Thompson in and by that point we may be able to do it if there have been some exits. They're both fabulous players and we've dropped on that we've been able to bring in a top class English player, at a time when one was leaving the club.

I look at Saints for 2025 and if Makinson is going to Catalans, they will much much the same if they get Tom Davies but if they don't, well, where do you go? You'll need to sign a much inferior English player to Makinson or free up another quota spot to go down under. I got told yesterday that HKR are sniffing around Alex Walmsley as well. That would be major problems if that came off. Again, if you want an English replacement, where do you go? and to go overseas another quota spot would need opening. It's a couple of great examples of how lucky we've been with the Smithies/Thompson timing.

Smithies has a higher celling imo. His development over the last few years has been phenomenal. We all know about his tackling and work rate etc, but he started to ball play more too.

Thompson, during that exceptional period he had, also benefitted from having a quality pack around him. I don't think Smithies ever really had that.

I'm not talking Thompson down here by the way. I'm talking Smithies up. I think he's that good.

I'd love to know if you're like this across the rest of your life? Do you just accept everything you're told, or do you ever form your own opinion?

You do realise that nothing is back and white and everything carries some kind of bias. Experts for the most part, just look at their area of expertise and don't factor in the wider picture, or wider impacts. There are also different schools of thought between experts too.

Going off on a tangent on this topic, I admire KR for his ability to make decisions, but he's wrong in his assertion that if everyone had access to the info he did, we'd all make the same decisions. I'd say it's a shockingly naive way of thinking too. I can guarantee you that, if you put the same info and resources in front of 100 people, you'll get more than one plan of action.

For the most part, I'm happy with the direction the club is going in. That however doesn't mean they aren't open for criticism, or that differing opinions aren't valid.

I didn't think this was a question of picking one or the other. I would have Smithies at 13 to replace Ellis and Thompson would still be my starting prop.

The thread got turned into which one you would rather have and although different positions (although Thompson can play 13) Thompson wouldn’t be here without Smithies leaving, I just my opinion to why fans would have preferred Smtihies to stay.