I like smith, young and english, bags of tallent and isnt afraid of bringing the biff, if he can recover his pre Ru form then I think he will be a good signing for us,

He always looked best in the centre so hopefully that's where he'll play

Welcome to wtw Lee

Still a bit of a kick in the teeth for the younger players on the fringes of first team action. I imagine Walshaw will cover Mellors absence, perhaps Cowling could’ve covered Collis', at the very least for this weekend. Instead we get an out of form bit part player who clear doesn’t give a damn which club he plays for as long as he gets game time slotting in ahead of the younger players who will have been working hard all season to get their opportunity at SL level.

During the first half of the season it was quite apparent that only injury to regulars would likely be their way into the first team, this seems to suggest that Trinity will bring in scraps from other sides U20’s team before Agar will consider them.

I think we have to be realistic.
If anyone had told me just after administration that in just over a year we would have ex England players ie Fox ,Mathers,Lee Smith and Sykes in the team combined with Ali and Tim Smith I would have thought they were having me on.
We cannot expect,yet, to be attracting top tier players , but those players who, for whatever reason are not fitting in at their present club.
Players still young enough and hopefully with something to prove.
Yes I appreciate the argument about bringing in the youngsters, but it has to be gradual.
Agar has , after all given opportunities Walshaw and Trout.
If they are good enough they will come through.

I agree.

Trout is a good example of this. He looked ok when he started but also looked raw and a bit small. Playing him, then dropping him has actually helped him get used to the play without being mashed all the time. I quite like the look of him now and think he is getting better all the time.
I am convinced that if we'd just thrown him in and kept him in he would be battered by now.
Walshaw is the same. He has holes in his play but is getting there. Personally I thought he owuld have been better at centre but clearly Agar sees more of him than I do and has made his decision.
If we'd thrown them in with other kids, reducing their protection and the competitiveness of the team, they would have all been demoralised by now.

I'd like to see more players come through from the academy but only when they are ready and only when the team is ready for them.

My interpretation was he was referring to playing in any position rather than any indifference toward the club.



Given both 1st choice centres are out a sensible move IMO. Welcome Lee.

Yes , I too interpreted Smith meaning that he was not too concerned about the position he played in as long as he was playing.

Smiths been there and done it,this weekend isnt a game to blood youngsters, weve tryed that as a club in the past in situations only for those players thrown in to only vanish soon afterwards. matty wray, mark barlow david white 3 examples from the patched up side that played the bulls all thoses years ago.

Danny Cowling is still injured from the broken finger he suffered a few weeks ago, so wouldnt be elligable for slection yet. Lucas Walshaw is clearly being moulded into a second rower, and given his size who can argue, so again i think he wouldnt be a good choice for centre currently. Aside from them two, who else of our youngsters could play centre? possibly Liam Kay but against the likes of Carmont?! it would be a bit unfair... aside from the fact he is a 6 or 1, not a centre.

seems a good signing given current circumstances

Lee Smith is exactly the type of player we need and RA is to be congratulated on acquiring his services. He's young and done everything- just needs to kick on from here!