I'd agree that it was abit of both.

The good thing about him though was that he looked alot more enthusiastic and more willing to take on the line.

A big problem with him so far as been the fact he's been easy to read by the opposition defences due to him never taking the line on. He doesn't have to take the line on that much to put some doubt in the defenders minds but he does have to do it a little or else they'll do what they were doing earlier in the season and just marking his runners in the knowledge that he won't run it and will therefore run out of ideas.

I said after the game on Sunday that Smith needs runners and to be fair to him he hasn't really had it so far. If he gets players running good lines around him he'll find them and to me thats upto the coach to sort that out.

I'd have Hock moving all around him.

The O'Loughlin try was a perfect example of this. Again - the opposition was crap, so I'm not going to go OTT, but Lockers ran a perfect line, the ball to him was as perfect as it gets, and the timing of the whole move was bang-on. The fact that it all seemed to happen on the hoof rather than as part of some pre-planned move was very heartening. But it's too rare an event at Wigan these days, and we shouldn't get carried away.

Hope Smith himself doesn't get carried away.

He needs to keep improving and keep trying. The nagging doubt is at the back of my mind that it was only Celtic Crusaders and it's upto him to put the doubts of everybody in the bin by playing well against better teams like Wakefield and then Saints.

As everybody knows though the lad must have something about him because you don't win a rookie of the year award in Australia and break the record for assists in a season without it.

I'd imagine that, like so many others in the Wigan backs, you could argue that if a burly set of forwards laid a platform, he'd be much better able to show his skills.

But I wonder for how long we'll keep trotting this partial excuse out. There've been many occasions this season when we've failed to strike from close to the line.

My main concern re. Tim Smith is his obvious personal problem. There is undoubtedly a very skilled player inside, but he freaked out under the public pressure of playing in Sydney, and though we can't really compare with that over here, he's probably come to the next worst place for it - Wigan.

You're right, he has to kick on from here in a big way, but that won't happen if he doesn't get first team selection next weekend, and I'm already partly hoping that he doesn't because his defensive weakness will immediately be exploited. It's a headache for Noble.

It's a make or break spell for Smiths Wigan career imo and possibly his career as a whole.

He'll keep his place against Wakefield imo and he needs to continue his good form and build up a run of good preformences because if he doesn't and gets left out of the side again i don't think he'll get a way back in. If that were to happen he'll struggle to get a new contract anywhere let alone Wigan and that would be sad for such a talented player.

I really hope his teamates and inparticular the centres and second rowers help him out in the next few weeks. He is a guy that needs runners and if those guys like Hock, Hansen, Gleeson etc are willing to make runs for him he'll find them with well timed, accurate passes and that will beneift Smith, them and the whole team.

If they don't he's a dead man walking.

If Tim Smith plays then he needs runners, using the correct angles. He his a superb ball player and has a good short kicking game. He is not a running half back in that he is not going to score from 40 metres out.

Defensively he is poor, but so is Michael Dobson. At Parramatta Smith had the likes of Nathan Hindmarsh to help him.

So IMO it's a trade off, his attacking ability v his defensive frailties.

A difficult decision for Noble I think.

However if you look at other teams, they carry poor defenders, Dobson, Briers and Long spring to mind.

He's trying to wake him up by the looks of it!

I think theres a difference between Smith to Briers Dobson and Long, the 3 we mention are willing to bend their back and help out, some of Smiths efforts have been cowardly. For me the only place to try and keep Smith safe is between Carmont and Richards if hes on the wing and not FB otherwise its a worry having him at the side of Ainscough or Roberts. Too much of a liability IMO.

I noticed on sunday he was defending next to Bailey, which seemed to help.

He seemed to have Bailey on one side and Lockers on the other, which will help him tremendously.

I am more than happy if Tim Smith plays every single week from here on out.

I have been an advocate of his, ever since he joined us, as his vision and ability to get a ball to precisely where it needs to be and more importantly *when* it needs to be is second to none.

The defensive side of his game needs work, but more than anything else right now, it needs *help* from the rest of the team.

I think that we should persist with the Smith/Tommy/Piggy starting triangle, with the Sam/Smith/Tommy triangle at the interchange.

Give the lad a chance, as I want to see more of the Smith -> Gleeson -> Roberts or the Smith -> Carmont -> Ainscough passing movements.

I think he could net us a lot of points with that huge cut-out pass in either direction.

Completely agree with all of the above.

I think having Gleeson in the side could be a huge boon for Smith- if anyone can read the play and provide a runner it will be Gleeson especailly as he has some experience at 6.

But I agree re Hock - if Smith plays then Hock should be the one running outside him as that could be a very productive link.

Just watched the DVD of the game and much of what we did in attack stemed from Smith. His vision and passing is, at times, sublime.

The concern with Smith will always be, if we allow him to become an important part of the team, can we rely on him not to implode.

What on earth for? It is so disruptive with several players changing position just so Riddell can take a breather. It also means we have three half backs in the 17 so restricts the substitute options. Is there another side in SL who change the half backs when the hooker goes off? It's not a clever tactic of Noble's either it's just the only way he can fit them all in the side.

Noble needs to pick his two first choice half backs, his first choice hooker and interchange hooker and leave it at that.

We can argue who those four players might be e.g. Smith, Tomkins, Riddell and TL but it needs doing.

Why are people (and Noble) so afraid of saying to TL, you are interchange hooker because essentially that is what it boils down to?

Dave

I dont suspect they are, because I feel, if Tommy wants a new deal, it may reflect that, because surely to god he won't be retained as a scrum half.

Every halfback needs runners and we have a distinct lack of them which is half our problem.

Totally agree. Seems like some people are forgetting how bad this system was at the start of the season, we are pushing on now discovering Tommy's best position is 9 and Sam is a 6. Let's not step backward. Let's learn from our mistakes and move on.

The thing i'd like to see more of from Hock is him coming back on the inside to take the ball instead of just standing on the outside waiting for it to come to him.

He steps back inside quite alot but i'd like to see him run back on the inside to collect the ball to try and catch the opposition defenders out as they cover across and expect him to get it out towards the centres.

Those types of runs would help Smith out massively.

Watch the Super League highlights of Sunday's game.

It opened my eyes of how good Tim Smith actually was. He was involved a hell of alot and produced some awesome plays.

Yes! As long as he stays off this forum his confidence shouldn't be knocked!

He should be happy with his individual performance on Sunday but I don't think we have seen the best of Smith yet. Give him a few games in the 1st team to build his confidence. Lets just hope he worked on his defence during his break from 1st team play as this wasn't really questioned on Sunday.

I thought Smith deserved the mom award whilst at the game but didn't think he'd get it due to the normal comporate guest mentality of giving to the guy who scores the most trys but they suprised me.

He was excellent Sunday which is why i'm so suprised a few have questioned the award to him. I don't think were good enough to hold grudges against certain players for some early Wigan career poor form.

If they start to produce the goods they deserve the plaudits but they then must keep that level of preformence up.

Smith has a lot of class in his game - he needs to be given an extended run in the team and allowed to make mistakes without scapegoating.

If he can put 7 or 8 games together he'll be a force for you lot, but it's up to your pack to protect him.

Agreed it is also the reason Piggy is not as creative as some of us had hoped, as there are so few options for him to work from the PTB.