I was just gonna ask about this actually, as we are playing you on Friday I was wondereing how your halves were going as I havent seen much of you this year.
I didnt think you would go too well this year as I didnt see either Williams or Leuluai (or Tomkins) as dominant halves who could run a game or get you around the field.
So I was surprised when you started so well, especially beating Cronulla.

Who has been doing the job of a dominant half and running the games for you? Williams or Leuluai?

I wouldn't describe either as dominant to be honest. Tommy is taking responsibility for guiding us round the park more and freeing Williams up to play more freely and off the cuff more. He's playing outstandingly well and wreaking havoc at times.

You think youll win Friday?
Im not sure myself but if we play well and rip in I think we could win by 8

Tommy, frees williams up to go play off the cuff rugby when it suits

Have to say i admired Smith for everything in particular he did last season and i cant help but think Saints will be a threat with him over there

I'd say it's quite unfair to be branding Tommy as unorganised but saying we're playing better because of George. The only reason George has the freedom to play is because Tommy is taking control, doing the basics and giving George the opportunity to play like he can.

I also think it's quite unfair to judge Escare's kicking against Matty's based on a few games. Not sure of the statistics but I'm sure Smith didn't start out with a great rate, but he improved... like Escare hopefully will.

Saying that, Matty was great for Wigan and it wasn't good to see him go.

We started the season well with just Sam Tomkins, McIllorum and Manfridi out. We looked slick and well organised. 6 weeks in and v Hull we were missing Tomkins, Manfredi, Gildart, Burgess, Tierney, McIllorum, Sutton, Barmteman, Farrell and O'Loughlin and clearly we weren't as good as previous weeks. That said, it's no excuse and we're we're very close to beating a strong Hull FC.
Will we win on Friday? Not sure to be honest. Leeds hitting some form and won 3 on the bounce. They were always going to be much improved on last year but we may have Farrell, Sutton and Gildart back which will certainly help. I suspect your back line may just give you the edge but I reckon it'll be a very close game.

Exactly my point so is why I said cant really compare stats for assists between Smith / Tommy / Williams

We have always been better attacking from right to left its how Pat Richards scored so many tries. George assists this year have been kicks because at present it seems he kicks behind the line or attacks line himself.

Yes, I'd agree with almost everything you say mate. I have always liked Tommy as a player, but I think that the people who bagged Matty last year are blind to Tommy's deficiencies.

I think Matty's place kicking was average at best. I do think that the love-in for Morgan is partly down to the fact that he has exceeded expectations wildly. However his kicking from the tee is poor, not even average which was all that Matty was. Definitely room for improvement, which I hope he does, because it looks like he will be getting a lot of practice.

I agree although I have no issue comparing position for position. Tommy and Matty are both scrum half playing in basically the same structure. I was one of those happy to see Smith go and be replaced by Tommy. Smith tried hard but beyond that lacked ability. He's slow, has poor passing accuracy, never takes the line on, he's predictable, got dragged in defensively, and the majority of his long licks went straight to a winger or full back.
Tommy is different player altogether. He passes better, he's quicker, runs better, takes the line on and he's really guiding us around the park. His defence is far superior to Smith's and it's no coincidence our attack is much slicker this season. Tommy is controlling games and freeing up Williams to play what he sees and cause havoc.
I wouldn't swap Tommy for Smith even in my worst nightmare!

Not really true when Josh was scoring tries for fun out on the right in 2011-2013.

Your right, didn't realise the amount of tries Josh scored until I just checked the records.

Be interesting to check though because Josh moved to left side last year for Manfredi to play right centre with Gelling.

we still always go left more all clubs do, passing left is easier to most right handers and thats where most people prefer to pass.

That doesn't seem right, I'd imagine top Rugby League players are equally adept at passing left or right. Even I can pass decent on both sides and my highest level was Hindley under 15's.

it is right, people always have a preferred side to pass.

I'm with purple cheese on this. Whilst they'll have a preferred side it doesn't mean they can't pass both ways.

Personally I have a feeling TL will be slowly phased out into a hooking role behind Powell for a Sam Tomkins "re birth" (if you will) at HB. I wouldn't be surprised to see Micky Mac moved on at the end of the season.

I like Smith, seems a decent lad and well respected by his team mates.

Trying to compare him with TL though is laughable.

When he joined us he impressed me but each and every season his firm decreased. He stopped taking on the line, then his passing accuracy went South then he became almost anonymous.

Tonight is a great example of Smith. They lose a half and Smith is nowhere to be seen stepping up.

Yes he had his moments for us in his last couple of years but generally they were few and far between.

Ok he had a better long kicking game, although if you look back on this forum this too was often very anonymous but other than that TL in my opinion is superior in every department.

I think the Elephant has bolted out of the room and back to Africa after watching Matty Smiths display tonight!

Ordinary didn't do it justice.

You're not wrong. We've not heard from the Giraffe for months and now it's the Elephants turn.

Anyone seriously think Wigan are a poorer team with Smith gone this season?

I don't miss those totally under hit grubbers that he seems to have perfected! The amount of times there was acres of space in behind the opposition winger last year and we had numbers on them only for him to dab it straight in the hands of that winger wasn't funny.

He nailed a couple of them again last night. They aren't as frustrating now though funnily enough. He seems a true gent and he never gave anything less then his best for Wigan so I shouldn't Will him to fail but I have found it amusing the billing the Sky boys have given him whilst he's been injured. Even I started believing they were getting a cloned version of Wally Lewis crossed with Jonathan Thurston back.

Smith looked the same last night for Saints as he has for the last 2 years at Wigan. There was no real threat with ball in hand, no real risk of an incisive pass to put someone through a gap and his short kicking game was poor. On a couple of occasions there was plenty of space to stab the ball into behind the winger and the kick was poor and only found a defender.

People will always say that we'd have won this game or that game if we had Smith, and yes he was a very valuable player in close games but then you also have to ask how many games did we lose where we might have had a better chance of winning if we'd had a player who could create a bit more? The answer could be none. It could be that Smith's value in close games outweighs his poor performances in many others, but I'd hope that isn't the case.

The jury is out so far on whether Leuluai can be a greater creative influence than Smith. He's definitely more direct so has more variation to his game, and he has linked incredibly well with Sean O'Loughlin already this year in attacking plays which might not have given him an assist but have led to tries.

When you replace any player with another it's always going to be a risk. I've been very critical of Smith but he can provide an excellent kicking game and is a very vocal organiser of the team and I did worry that bringing in Leuluai might see us lose those positives. Not that Leuluai has been kicking badly. He's put in some excellent kicks in recent games that have been weighted to perfection, but he's not as consistent as Smith is when on form and doesn't have the same range for long kicks.

We'll see over the next few games whether Leulaui provides the attacking threat we've hoped. The problem is that every season provides different scenarios and different personnel and different challenges so it can be hard to compare a player from last season with a different player from this season. If Leuluai plays as well as we know he can then he should make a considerable difference despite the weaker kicking game, but I do worry that we might be found wanting in close games. The Huddersfield game was reminiscent of Widnes last year. I have no doubts that Smith would have done far better in organising and calling for a drop goal.