Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Sat Nov 30, 2019 1:33 pm  

apollosghost wrote:

Who knows, he might take to first team rugby like a duck to water just like ST but I'd be loathe to be relying on him to be our starting half.
I'd sooner ease him in, if he gets half a dozen games next year then brilliant.

yep - its a loooong season, so IF he is good enough, he needs to build up and be fit and ready for post season. if he starts, then he needs regular spells on the sidelines

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Sat Nov 30, 2019 2:07 pm  

apollosghost wrote:

Who knows, he might take to first team rugby like a duck to water just like ST but I'd be loathe to be relying on him to be our starting half.
I'd sooner ease him in, if he gets half a dozen games next year then brilliant.

No way he should be our starting half but he needs some minutes. I hope he has a standout pre season and we can look to use him from the bench in the early part of the year. My plan would be to use Tommy in the halves for the first 50/55 mins and then spell him or Powell for Smith or Amir Bourouh.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Sun Dec 01, 2019 4:50 pm  

NickyKiss wrote:

I’d start him at fullback

Me too, NK. On the not unreasonable grounds that full-back is his best position, and we've seen nothing thus far (admittedly only in cameos) to suggest that he is a half-back. Could he be made into a half, like many full-backs before him? Maybe, but surely start him at full-back.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Sun Dec 01, 2019 5:14 pm  

apollosghost wrote:

Who knows, he might take to first team rugby like a duck to water just like ST but I'd be loathe to be relying on him to be our starting half.
I'd sooner ease him in, if he gets half a dozen games next year then brilliant.

Ease him in definitely (I’ve changed my stance on this) and he’s there to step in should one of our halves get injured

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Sun Dec 01, 2019 8:10 pm  

moto748 wrote:

Me too, NK. On the not unreasonable grounds that full-back is his best position, and we've seen nothing thus far (admittedly only in cameos) to suggest that he is a half-back. Could he be made into a half, like many full-backs before him? Maybe, but surely start him at full-back.

Yeah it’s a fair leap to go from NRL winger and reserve grade fullback to starting stand off. I recall when we signed him there being some talk that he’d been playing stand off for the Parra feeder team but I flicked through their social media page and he’d been playing fullback 95% of the time. A move to stand off may be a goer over time but I’d give him that freedom from fullback early doors. Tommy isn’t somebody I’d like to see in the halves all season but early season on heavy pitches, where the games can be tight, I’d have nothing against him starting there. He’s a rock in defence and French and Hastings should bring plenty of threat around him.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Thu Dec 05, 2019 1:33 pm  

Matty Smith is available, released by Les Cats.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Thu Dec 05, 2019 1:37 pm  

apollosghost wrote:

Matty Smith is available, released by Les Cats.

I’d rather Dennis Moran back, Smith wasn’t exactly Jonathon Thurston at Wigan but his decline since leaving us is dreadful

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Thu Dec 05, 2019 3:54 pm  

apollosghost wrote:

Matty Smith is available, released by Les Cats.

Released by Wigan, released by Saints, released by Catalan and now not retained at Warrington. Surely a worse option the Sammut, Woods etc and definitely not good enough for Superleague.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Thu Dec 05, 2019 4:07 pm  

Bigredwarrior wrote:

Released by Wigan, released by Saints, released by Catalan and now not retained at Warrington. Surely a worse option the Sammut, Woods etc and definitely not good enough for Superleague.

Agreed. I don't know why Matty Smiths name would even pop up. However... I can imagine Lachlan Lam coming over. We heard Wigan tried to pursue him for 2019; perhaps now with more room on the cap a loan or signing agreement can be made for Lachlan.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Thu Dec 05, 2019 4:27 pm  

I didn’t mind Matty Smith when he was here. He was solid enough and led us around the park quite well.

As for coming back? No. His decline since leaving is alarming and quite sad to see really. I think his next move will be the Championship.