Re: Morgan Smithies : Wed Aug 21, 2019 10:48 pm  

JWarriors wrote:

Greg Burke was labelled the next lockers at one point.

Yep, Connor Farrell and Kyle Shelford were also given similar billings. It's exciting to have a young forward playing well at SL level, but I wouldn't heap expectation on him so soon. I think the second full season as a regular stater tends to be the most telling, once they have had a few knocks, there is more reliance/expectation on them, and the opposition knows about them. That tends to be where they make the leap from 'promising youngster' to 'reliable starter'.

Re: Morgan Smithies : Thu Aug 22, 2019 5:23 am  

As good as Smithies and Oli P are in defence. Carrying the ball they’re both not there yet. Averaging around 5m a game.

This will come though.

Byrne has a great carry but sloppy in defence at times.

Ultra critical as all 3 are way ahead of where they probably should be at there age.

Re: Morgan Smithies : Thu Aug 22, 2019 8:02 am  

I think we (as a country) have a tendency to suggest young players should be considered for internationals far too soon. We do it time and time again, it partly stems from the sky commentary team.

Smithies is a fabulous young player in his breakthrough year. If everyone is fit and firing he still wouldn’t be in my 1st choice 17. Like all kids he needs to be managed sensibly and not over exposed otherwise he will likely burn out.

The second year is always the acid test for kids. At that point they have to cope with the pressure and expectation to perform how they did when they broke through. By then opposition know a bit more about them and the way Smithies in particular gets stuck in will be a target for opposition forwards.

Re: Morgan Smithies : Thu Aug 22, 2019 8:15 am  

He's been solid and doesn't back down, definitely hasn't let anyone down, same with Partington. I'd say nothing more than acceptable form at the moment. This isn't criticism or putting them down, I just want to see them to continue to develop, which they have lots of time to do.

Re: Morgan Smithies : Thu Aug 22, 2019 9:13 am  

Lancastrian wrote:

This is my first post on this board so please be gentle with me !
I'd like to offer my view FWIW on Morgan Smithies and all the current hype surrounding him at the tender age of 18. Dont get me wrong, I think he is a smashing player and has a great future.he has an enormous workrate in both attack and defence. He certainly has a good engine. However he is as yet not a fully rounded player such as to be talked about as a GB player and as a successor to SOL. I maybe wrong but I cannot recall him passing the ball or making a clean break or putting another player into a gap. with the ball his approach is confrontation in true Wane style. I hope he develops some evasion skills. The same applies to the teo ther starlets Partington and Byrne. Still I look forward to seeing him develop into a fully rounded player over the next few years.
Any fews folks?

Think your assessment is spot on. As with others, I wouldn't even be that concerned about trying to make him a SOL replacement. That style of 13 is getting rarer and rarer, and a like-for-like replacement of the right quality and at the right age probably doesn't exist in world rugby. I'm more than happy for Smithies to play the role that we were hoping that Bateman would've held long term.

I think it would do the lad (Partington too probably) to scale down some of the hype just a little bit. They're still babies for forwards, and whilst the way in which they've been competing has been amazing, the worst thing we could do at this point is give them too much responsibility too soon.

Best thing for them would be to have a long off season with no thoughts of representative rugby (don't think that's a realistic prospect anyway) then go into next season behind SOL, Burgess, Flower, Clubb and Clark in the pecking order. There'll still be plenty of opportunities for them.

Re: Morgan Smithies : Thu Aug 22, 2019 10:18 am  

If they play half the number of matches next year as they have this year it'll still be a lot for forwards their ages.
Hopefully they'll all pass the second season syndrome test with flying colours.

Re: Morgan Smithies : Thu Aug 22, 2019 10:52 am  

JWarriors wrote:

Greg Burke was labelled the next lockers at one point.

He still could be. Obviously not on Lockers level but i dont know another front rower with the handling and passing skills like Burke has. A couple of injuries and being overweight since he moved on though but looks in good shape this year.

Re: Morgan Smithies : Thu Aug 22, 2019 5:24 pm  

Trainman wrote:

I think we (as a country) have a tendency to suggest young players should be considered for internationals far too soon. We do it time and time again, it partly stems from the sky commentary team.

Smithies is a fabulous young player in his breakthrough year. If everyone is fit and firing he still wouldn’t be in my 1st choice 17. Like all kids he needs to be managed sensibly and not over exposed otherwise he will likely burn out.

The second year is always the acid test for kids. At that point they have to cope with the pressure and expectation to perform how they did when they broke through. By then opposition know a bit more about them and the way Smithies in particular gets stuck in will be a target for opposition forwards.

Yea let’s hope he side steps “second season” syndrome he does look a class apart,and your point about Sky is bang on too they should temper there manical rankings in regards to young lads as all it does is heap pressure on shoulders too young to start with.

Re: Morgan Smithies : Thu Aug 22, 2019 5:55 pm  

Let’s not forget Smithies hasn’t even had a preseason in the first team. He’ll kick on and mature and he certainly made many a break, pass etc in the U19s. He may be under instruction to play the way he is, we don’t know?
One thing is for sure, he’s a very exciting prospect and one who is very clearly right at home at first team level.

Re: Morgan Smithies : Thu Aug 22, 2019 10:01 pm  

Great potential. Absolutely. Next Lockers? Hard to say.

We identified Lockers potential at a similar age, but we also had him playing as the leagues slowest centre. We did similar with Hansen, Hock etc. Seems nowadays the kids are expected be able to go toe to toe at starting prop from the get go.