As you say time will tell. I think you are right about his confidence though. I have noticed that one error tends to lead to another pretty quickly as his head does seem to go down. I wonder if he has the mentality to go along with his skills?

The full back position has exposed his weakness under the high ball. Now, he isn't the first full back to suffer from this, and they all drop them, but he needs to be able to put it behind him quickly. Dixon at Hull KR the other week for example finished with a hat trick after having what can only be described as a mare (I forget the opponents). Hampshire hasn't been able to do that.

Wigan struggled early season by not replacing Green with a seasoned pro like Campese. And I was one who criticised Wigan for that. However I was wrong. Wane has persisted with Williams who is showing how good he is. But surely it would be folly to have two rookies in the halves at the same time? So Hampshire misses out.

I can see another Bobbie Goulding situation here. I remember him making a Lions tour when he was understudy both at GB and at Wigan to Andy Gregory & Shaun Edwards. Ultimately he moved on because he was too good to play second fiddle.

And limited though Matty is, he is the best kicker we've had since Trent Barrett (way better than Hampshire).'"

Eh?

Isn't it obvious that I wasn't referring to place kicking by the fact that I omitted Pat Richards?

Matty Smith's all round kicking game was largely responsible for us winning the double after the vastly superior (in all parts of the game bar kicking) Leuluai and Finch had won us nothing the year before.

Did I need to spell that out?

He'll be singing a different tune if that sniff of Saints signing him disappears!

The lad is blatantly not a full back.

I don't think Smith brings enough to the team to warrant keeping his place over Hampshire - not if the alternative is Hampshire leaving at the end of the season.

Didn't leu lieu win it in 2010?

Now Pie don't get upset. We are only trying to help you overcome these little deficiencies in style.

does anyone still think he's the next great half back then?

i've seen him a few times now, and just don't see what he offers (apart from wearing cherry & white) i can't see anything that marks him out as any better than any other half back/hooker in the competition.

He's a scrum half to me, he should be playing 7 instead of Smith.

He's got the brain for it and with more experience he can deliver. My only concern for his development is that the current set of forwards at Wigan really aren't helping. If they don't get quick PTBs and get on a roll the team is on the back foot in attack. I mean, in terms of his brain that pass he attempted on Thursday, when he delayed the pass only to put out a bad pass. Sure the pass was awful but to have the nous to even attempt it is something that no other British half back in the game has (maybe Chase would see it but I doubt it). Another season or two and that pass is floated out and we're all talking about how brilliant it was. Without those forwards though he's up against it.

Very true. Our pack is ruining the start of his career. I'd love to see him play behind Leeds' pack, Hampshire also.

We're heaping a whole lot on a 20 year old kid, who seems to be expected to lead Wigan around the park as well as scoring & creating tries. While his international HB team mate has less tries, less assists, a fraction of the tackle busts, metres made, breaks, offloads or carries. At least Smith has an undoubted edge in errors made - you can always guarantee a couple from the sloth. Smith's kicking from hand & ground is mediocre, don't let a couple of decent kicks on Thursday disguise that. Smith is a poor man's Deacon & Deacon was extremely limited himself.

did his coach put too much on him at the start of the season?

like i said, he's a good player, but apart from the fact he plays for wigan he just hasn't impressed me and looks no more an international player than countless other young players who aren't really that good

One thing is very obvious. There are no British half backs playing at the top level in this country who are international standard.
What a disgraceful state the development is in, but hey don't worry the clubs will buy what they need. It's easier.

apart from the obvious one who was a different class to anyone else again today.

but other than that,leaguefan, you're right!

Leaguefan - Britain hasn't regularly produced great halfbacks in over 30 years. We're no worse off now than we were a decade ago IMO. Its been a problem position for a long time, and certainly a huge weakness compared to Australia.

Oddly enough I'd say Tomkins is the most natural halfback in Britain. The only question is whether he and whatever coaches ever recognise this and play him there.

I'd also say that when we're looking for stand offs, I'm a bit with Phil Gould, who used to prefer his stand offs to be a bit bigger. That's why despite many Leeds fans talking about Sutcliffe as a 13, I'd really like to see him given an extended run at 6.

So if you are coaching in Super League and you play your local lad at 6 but you end up bottom, you get the sack. If you get offered Terry Campese or Todd Carney or Travis Burns you take them because these guys can keep you in a job.

I'm afraid that no coach anywhere in any competition in any sport thinks of the national team ahead of his own team. In any case a pairing of Tomkins and Widdop is as good as anything we've had since any two out of Gregory/Edwards/Schofield IMO.

Also, see NSW last night. There's a lack of genuine quality halfbacks across the game as a whole at the moment. NSW haven't had one for a decade - certainly not a pairing. Queensland have but Cronk/Thurston are getting old and DCE is not at their level. NZ have Johnson, but behind him there's daylight as well.

Agreed. This is no more a golden period for the NRL than it is Superleague. Really, of current players, it seems to me only Thurston could really stand with the greats of the past. Cronk, for all his Origin records, is a good player, but not a great one. Slater has redefined full-back play, but he's rapidly coming to the end, too.

And of course NSW should have stuck with Maloney to partner Pearce!

Newcastle have 2 young halves as good as anything that anyone has produced in 20 years, apparently.

thunder or knights??

great if it was a couple of Stanley's 'prodigees' about to make a mark on the game

Sorry but they are massively over rated if you are talking about Cogger & Lamb.

It's having a rugby brain which sets him apart from the others bud. To use an old example, when Nigel Wright came through there was genuine excitement that here's a guy with playmaking ability. It's something we have difficulty in producing so when one comes through it's easy to see why they stand out. Kevin Brown had some semblance of it but nowhere near the level that Williams have shown. Of course we're talking potential and I hope that he can avoid the confidence issues that Brown faced and struggled with when he was at Wigan (think Millward and whoever was above him back then has to take some of the blame for that).

There's every possibility that he doesn't fulfill his potential but I'm having difficulty thinking of the last British half back who had that kind of RL brain. Seriously thinking that Nigel Wright may well be the last one, which is shameful really. Tommy Martyn is a personal favourite but when I think about that attempted pass, it's nothing something I go "Martyn would have done that" because I don't think he would.

Young player of the year. Fully deserved.

He's made the England squad now and like many think he has a big future in the game.