Re: Matty Smith : Sat Sep 11, 2010 2:09 pm  

Billinge_Lump wrote:

He's a Steady Eddie that will always give 100%, last night was no exception and proved his professionalism. However he'll never have the unpredictability that Eastmond gives us and won't hit the heights Eastmond will.

And what a difference a 'steady Eddie' can make to a team, don't you think? It's all well and good having unpredictability but, as I've said on here before when Smith has been discussed, we need someone who is solid also; someone who can steady the ship, organise, kick well (and hey, why not have two good kickers as halfbacks?), etc. I think Smith and Eastmond working together or Smith, Eastmond and Lomax as a threesome (loose, 7 and 6) would have been really, really good. Alas. Not to be.

Re: Matty Smith : Sat Sep 11, 2010 5:23 pm  

I,d tend to agree with Billinge_Lump, the short term future is probably going to be Eastmond/Lomax/Pyrce. Impressed with Matty's professional attitude though, he said it was an honour to play in the Red Vee Shirt whatever the circumstances.

Re: Matty Smith : Sat Sep 11, 2010 6:54 pm  

I do not think eastmond would work with smith as eastmond would want to be the centre of attention.

Re: Matty Smith : Sat Sep 11, 2010 7:01 pm  

Billinge_Lump wrote:

Let's not go overboard here, he had an exceptional game but looked like he always has done, a younger version of Paul Deacon.

He's a Steady Eddie that will always give 100%, last night was no exception and proved his professionalism. However he'll never have the unpredictability that Eastmond gives us and won't hit the heights Eastmond will.

To those who say that Eastmond can't organise the team, were you not watching us before the last 6 weeks? He's got a better kicking and passing game than Long ever had, never mind at the same stage of his career.

Sadly some people just cant grasp the fact that we cant keep everybody. Matty Smith is a good player but as we can only play 2 halfbacks and we have Leon Pryce as a cert thats leaves 1 spot. The club and coaching staff obviously believe Eastmond is a brighter propect and it's in the best long term interest of the club and the player that Smith move on and get the first team Rugby he needs and we can develop more young players with the extra cap money/squad space (players like Ellis and Gaskell)

Matty had a top game for us and personally with Pryce out and Kyle unlikey to be 100% fit I hope he keeps his spot in the team and picks up a grand final winners medal but all the people bleating about keeping him should just take a breath, look at the squad and answer the following easy question , If we were injury free with the squad we have would Matty Smith be in the 17 ? In my opinion the answer is no and by the fact that he was loaned out all year I guess Mick Potter would agree.

Re: Matty Smith : Sat Sep 11, 2010 7:03 pm  

joe d saint wrote:

I do not think eastmond would work with smith as eastmond would want to be the centre of attention.

I think thats nonsense. I'm not sure they would be the best combo but if Eastmond is fit then a I would expect Eastmond to pick up the Leon Pryce type of role and play as a 6 and Smith to play 7 for the rest of the playoffs.

Re: Matty Smith : Sat Sep 11, 2010 8:20 pm  

LoyalFan wrote:

... and based on how Saints treated him... I'd say maybe not

Where does this come from that he was somehow treated shoddily by Saints?

He understandably wanted more 1st team experience, we felt we couldn't offer him that because he was behind better players in the pecking order.

That's sport, and the simple fact is that he wouldn't have been considered had our halves and back-up halves not been decimated.

That's not to detract from Matty, all credit to him for the professional way he answered the Saints' call, he was superb last night and let nobody down. He's given Potter a selection problem if Eastmond and/or Lomax are fit in a fortnight.

Re: Matty Smith : Sat Sep 11, 2010 8:26 pm  

No1 Saint wrote:

Sadly some people just cant grasp the fact that we cant keep everybody.

I think you need to get off your high horse.

People are perfectly aware we can't keep everybody. The point people are making - on the whole - about Smith is that he provided us last night with two things we struggle to have: a real kicking game and good organisation. Our backs were caught out a couple of times by his kicks, not because they weren't good kicks but because our backs weren't used to responding to that kind of a final play. Wello was alert to the possibilities which is why he was the one to get to that first grubber and had it not been raining he might well have taken it in. But there were other occasions when, had our backs been used to a good kicking game, we might have scored had we been more alert to those sorts of possibilities. It was a joy to watch us actually being able to put the other team on the back foot by some seriously good kicking: tactical kicking, kicking that shows independence of thought.

On top of that, of course, most Saints fans thought we would struggle to win last night because we were without our halfbacks so to watch someone do what Matty did under those circumstances was simply fantastic.

Re: Matty Smith : Sat Sep 11, 2010 8:29 pm  

Cragganmore Kid wrote:

Where does this come from that he was somehow treated shoddily by Saints?

Saints didn't contact him while he was at Salford. He was interviewed in the press and he was still waiting to hear from Saints. This was just before he signed with Salford. And now Saints contact him when, as Mick Potter so delightfully put it, we had no-one else. I think it's shoddy to send a guy out on loan and then not talk to him about his future when his contract is coming to an end, especially a guy who has made it consistently clear he wants to play for the club. And I'm not the only fan to think that.

Re: Matty Smith : Sat Sep 11, 2010 8:31 pm  

SaintsFan wrote:

But there were other occasions when, had our backs been used to a good kicking game, we might have scored had we been more alert to those sorts of possibilities. It was a joy to watch us actually being able to put the other team on the back foot by some seriously good kicking: tactical kicking, kicking that shows independence of thought.

Agree with a lot of the post, but this is highly unfair.

Eastmond has a great kicking game.

Re: Matty Smith : Sat Sep 11, 2010 8:33 pm  

SaintsFan wrote:

Saints didn't contact him while he was at Salford. He was interviewed in the press and he was still waiting to hear from Saints. This was just before he signed with Salford. And now Saints contact him when, as Mick Potter so delightfully put it, we had no-one else. I think it's shoddy to send a guy out on loan and then not talk to him about his future when his contract is coming to an end, especially a guy who has made it consistently clear he wants to play for the club. And I'm not the only fan to think that.

His contract ends at the end of the season. Contract negotiations are often carried out late in the season. It's a non story.

The problem always lay in the fact that he wanted to play for the club, but he would have had to have settled for a bit part position given the talent that already sits at half back.