Phuzzy wrote:
Yeah, I agree it wasn't the best way of putting it. It wasn't meant to disparage him in any way. I just meant no one was speaking about him as being anything special up until the last couple of years and he was more a solid club man. Even now he's only played 1 international for England in what wasn't much more than a friendly fixture. At 25 that doesn't smack of a 'superstar in the making' if you get my drift.
Nothing against Knowles meant by the comment though as he's s fine player.
Yeah I think he did go under the radar for a while in terms of not getting much recognition outside of Saints fans. I don't think he will ever be seen as a "superstar" because that's not his style really. He does all the stuff that coaches and teammates love and he's one of those players whose brilliance is almost more evident when he's not there than when he is, if that makes sense.
He's an extremely consistent, hardworking player though and I wouldn't swap him for another 13 in the league, without a shadow of a doubt. In a similar sense you guys probably wouldn't swap Liam Farrell for anyone. Now for me Farrell is an outstanding player but there are many people outside of Wigan fans who just don't/can't see it. Sometimes certain players don't get hyped enough and I think those two are evidence of that.
The international thing with Knowles is probably down to the fact he played for Wales at first and then Shaun Wane got him to change allegiance to England as soon as took the job.
Back to Smithies, he has similar work rate and aggression that we've seen for years with Knowles, I just think he needs to improve with ball in hand if he is going to stay at 13. I've not personally seem him doing anything really impressive in an attacking sense yet, but at 21 he has bags of time and potential.