This post Doesn't warrant a response considering we nearly didnt have a team 10 Days ago but here goes.....

From clubs we pick players who we think are cheap
For Kear to work wonders with & rewards he will reap
time needs to be given to cases like these
So they can then flourish & wobble our knees!

Smith was poor, but should improve with time. I reckon after 6/7 games then we can judge him. He isnt an ex-NZ and NZ Maori international because he is crap. Personally, I thought Lee had a decent game. Even though he wasnt perfect, his kicking was okay, and he took his try well.

The distribution from the halves was far too slow and the number of passes with big red crosses on them were alarming. Neither Lee or Smith seem to be blessed with pace, so aren't going to go through a gap themselves - I know Jeffries gets bagged for being inconsistenet, but at least when hes on his game he can cause the opposition defence problems.

Kicking game didn't really cause any problems either. We got some good field position but decided to kick early in the tackle count - and the majority were nothing kicks.

However, having said that I think we have to accept that until we can add some more grunt to the pack, we are going to struggle to give the halves a platform to work from. If we can get a couple of props in and have Johnson in the 2nd row that would make a big difference.

He's always been my scapegoat has NGBC, he makes the rest of us look good.

Has to be a record for the earliest scapegoat of the season.

Sorry guys but it is easy to spot a poor decision after the fact. I don't think we can bag Kear so much for this. There were plenty of reasons why he might have been good in this game, even if not completely fit.
Harvey isn't proven yet so it isn't so easy to say he should have played.
He has the choice of experienced half back with point to prove against old club who might not be 100% fir or young kid with potential but unproven and hasn't really trained with team mates.
I can see why he gave Smith a go.......it just didn't work on the day but as Clan said above, he isn't the only one. Salford were better than they had been and we caught them on a rebound.

It's not like playing any of the other halfbacks in the club would have guarenteed a win

I think that's a fair assessment; I would have liked to see Harvey given a go, particularly in light of the praise heaped on him by JK at the Q&A last week, but Smith got his visa, had trained with the team and had a point to prove against Salford. I've been critical of him as a signing, but he'e here now and was worth a go.