imwakefieldtillidie wrote:
I actually thought Smith was underrated for much of his first spell, and got a lot of unwarranted stick from fans. It wasn’t until he’d gone we realised what we had. His second spell was nothing special. The difference between the two for me was that whilst Smith had a fantastic rugby brain, he needed the players around him to play their part, whereas Brough could create for himself and win you a game on his own. I’ve always felt that fans have judged our half backs since by his standard, leaving us feeling let down because they’re not at that level.
There is no doubt Smith could play and as you say he had an outstanding RL brain but there was clearly an issue with the players temperament.
Ask yourself this, what was such a talented player doing in SL let alone at its least fashionable club? Imho it’s because he couldn’t handle expectations and the pressure that went with it. Exemplified by his alcoholic fuelled exit from the club.
Brough had his demons and he too could occasionally choke in big games but compared to Smith he was Mr Consistent. He was an all round far better player imo but what I feel is less up for debate is who had the heart and who didn’t.
Truth is imho that if anything Broughy was too headstrong and too gutsy too the point where teams that could really challenge steered clear of a player who would almost certainly clash with other star players. Loved to have seen how he’d have gone at a big club but in truth it probably wouldn’t have worked.
For Smith it definitely didn’t.
