I would go with the following 17 :-



1) Wilshere

2) White/ Fitzpatrick

3) Henry

4) Talau

5) McGilvary

6) Ratchford

7) Myler



Stapleton

9) Turner

10) Cashmere

11) Adamson

12) Swain

13) Alker



14) Paul

15) Littler

16) Leuluai

17) Parker

there are over 5000 Smiths in the Sydney phone book we must have got the wrong number.

he needs to start showing some sort of class seems to be just another body around the park, saw a little what he can do if he can be d he has a bit of pace he just needs a slap to get him intrested.

Difference is, Dorn was and still is a class player and we made him look shi[size=9.[/sizete.

I thought Smith was better last night. Set up both tries.



Needs a kicking game though!

Far be it from me to defend Smith in any way but as with Dorn in 2007 he's quickly becoming a scapegoat for the rest of our team's shortcomings. It's very hard for a stand-off to impose himself on a game in which his pack is getting beaten. That has been the case so far in every game except Celtic. In that match, behind a domiant set of forwards, we saw Smith run the show & look every inch a quality half-back.



If, and it's a very big if, our pack can get on top in a game & we still don't see anything from Smith then without doubt everyone will have been proved right. However, for the time being at least I'll reserve judgement.

Yorkshire-red - spot on - at the start of the season I was actually optimistic that our forwards looked capable of competing and creating space for the backs to work in - against Wigan esp. 2nd half we spent most of the time in our own half - of the forwards can't drive the ball upfield then you're never going to se the best from the backs.

You have to be joking. If you think that he ran that game, you haven't got a clue about RL. Even for the 20 minutes we were dominant, Smith was hardly involved. IIRC, Alker was MOM, closely followed by Stapo, Myler and Cashmere.

Alker was immense that game but Smith made two triesfor Myler and the clincher for Sibbett.He also made our two tries on Friday.IMO Smith is the least of our worries at the moment

I didn't say he had a stinker, but there's a bloody big difference between [i'running the show' [/iand simply being involved now and again.



I agree with both you and Yorkshire Red in that Smith ain't the problem. As far as I can tell, most of the problems appear to stem from a distinct inability to tackle.......simple as.



If we were able to keep teams out for a sustained period, we would end up with better field position ourselves, and therefore have a better platform for our attacking players. You cant win RL games when you're constantly on the back foot.



The tackling is a major worry. We've conceded 39 tries so far, which is truly awful, and something I don't think many fans expected.

Ok, you've had me questioning my own recollection of the game myself so I looked back a month and dug up the poll for the ST man of the match. Indeed Alker polled more than half of the votes, in 2nd place for that game was Smith; Stapo & Cashmere followed closely behind while Myler didn't get a vote, so clearly I'm not alone in not having a clue about RL.

ok, I offer my apologies, as I was wrong to include Myler. However, I didn't look back and check the stats.

I'm aware that you know your stuff YR, but I'm still baffled as to why you said Smith ran the game that night.

I've seen plenty of halfbacks run games, and to me, he certainly didn't blow me away in that particular game.



Like I said, it's all down to lack of tackling at the moment, and as the backs are in disarray at present, with injuries and people playing out of position, it's going to be really difficult to stop teams wading thru our defensive line.