Smith to sign 4 year deal with saints Tommy L to replace him

I'd rather stick with Smith to be honest.

It was a shame to lose Tommy but we had our best years out of him. Matty Smith has been the best long ball kicker since Barrett, before that it was Farrell, with TL I thought he was a good short kicker and we have that with Williams, if this rumour is true I hope Williams improves his long kicking game.

Best long ball kicker? I'd suggest that this is one of his weaknesses.
Bar the odd game the majority of his long balls go straight down the throat of the defending winger/full back, his kick offs from half way to restart games are simple to catch and are always aimed as the same player to the left of the posts who catches them with ease, very rarely do any bombs cause issue (compared to those put up by Sinfield or Brough).

I will admit he's pretty neat at drop goals, but I would prefer to Wigan winning by a bigger margin and not seeing any taken.

Let's see how he goes on today, poor weather at the moment (which suits him), let's hope he kicks the balls to space along the floor and puts up a few spiral balls.

This rumour keeps re-appearing. I am led to believe that a deal was close in the off season but it didn't happen for whatever reason. For this rumour to keep cropping up i am 90% sure there must be some substance behind it. Do the Saints scouts actually watch him play or have they just seen highlights because i am not sure they quite know what they are getting.

I would love to see the meltdown on RedVee if this happened, can't see it though.

Why would they have a meltdown? Suppose they must be as fickle as a few of our fans. If they sign Smith they might get a bit of organisation in their side for arguably the first time since Long left.

Because they still think he's inferior and they are such a "big club" they probably think they should be signing Thurston.

I dont believe there is much in it on an offensive front ; however, defensively TL is a rock, and that is Matty's biggest weakness (Matty must be in the top 6 worst tacklers in SL).
Both have decent short kicking games. TL may be a better passer, but Smithy ha a better long game and drop goals.
TL can also cover 9 if needed.
Overall - I think it would be a positive move, but not much in it.

Just speculation on my part but could this maybe have been in the pipeline for a while with the plan being for Leuluai to share the #7 role with Ryan Hampshire, help out at #9 when needed and also on the coaching side? Obviously Wigan would have hoped that Hampshire would have done better for Cas than he has done.

I would love to have Leuluai back as on his day he will still be one of the top players in SL, plus he will provide great leadership skills. The concern is the susceptibility to injuries.

I still think if he signs then another high profile player will leave and I think it could well be Sean O'Loughlin.

Not a good move IMO. Though I think TL is a better player based on his age and recent injury record I don't think it's good business. I know Smith has had his problems and isn't a world beater he is rarely unavailable and also is the best goal kicker we have. Smith's performances have improved significantly since the return of Williams and Tomkins which shows how much pressure he was shouldering while they were out.

Leuluai was only good for us when he moved to 9. I'd be delighted to rotate him and McIllorum there.

Seriously??? Did you miss the 2010 season then?

Tommy Leuluai was excellent for us at 6,7 or 9. He's a fantastic player but his injury record is a concern.

If only we had a rumours thread for these type of things.