Re: Morgan Smithies - 72 tackles - New Super League record? : Sat Sep 21, 2019 12:16 pm  

NickyKiss wrote:

All third man in tackles according to many opposition fans I’ve seen comment on it. He’s a kid from Yorkshire who’s broken a record that’s stood longer than he’s been alive but he plays for Wigan so he’ll get the usual pelters.

That argument really is one of the daftest in rugby league. Do they honestly believe that it takes no effort to be 2nd or 3rd man in or that those tackles aren't just as important in controlling post collision metres or ruck speed? Not that Smithies doesn't do more than his share of 1st up tackles, of course, but you have to be pretty bereft of rugby nous to even put that forward as an argument in the first place. The lad's a machine. End of.

[PopTart]

Re: Morgan Smithies - 72 tackles - New Super League record? : Sat Sep 21, 2019 1:48 pm  

Phuzzy wrote:

That argument really is one of the daftest in rugby league. Do they honestly believe that it takes no effort to be 2nd or 3rd man in or that those tackles aren't just as important in controlling post collision metres or ruck speed? Not that Smithies doesn't do more than his share of 1st up tackles, of course, but you have to be pretty bereft of rugby nous to even put that forward as an argument in the first place. The lad's a machine. End of.

I agree.
And to be honest it's even more stupid when, even if it were easy, which it isn't, no one else gets past 35 normally.
So even if all he was doing was running up and patting the player on the shoulder he'd be fitter than the vast majority.

He also took 14 drives and only missed 2 tackles which puts him at a 97% tackle success. That's pretty good even at 30 tackles

Re: Morgan Smithies - 72 tackles - New Super League record? : Sat Sep 21, 2019 2:46 pm  

Phuzzy wrote:

That argument really is one of the daftest in rugby league. Do they honestly believe that it takes no effort to be 2nd or 3rd man in or that those tackles aren't just as important in controlling post collision metres or ruck speed? Not that Smithies doesn't do more than his share of 1st up tackles, of course, but you have to be pretty bereft of rugby nous to even put that forward as an argument in the first place. The lad's a machine. End of.

We all know where the skepticism is coming from. They're kakking themselves that it might turn out to be Wigan's year again. You only have to look at all these Tweets from St Helens fans calling out the unfairness of having to win a Grand Final to be crowned champs.

Personally, I don't know what they're so worried about. Wigan are a long way from being title material yet.

Re: Morgan Smithies - 72 tackles - New Super League record? : Sat Sep 21, 2019 4:12 pm  

You are all ignoring he only played 62 minutes.

GB Should take him on the tour for the experience

Re: Morgan Smithies - 72 tackles - New Super League record? : Sun Sep 22, 2019 4:49 pm  

Incredible stats but something still bothers me. Against Salford we had no props on the field for part of the game and Smithies was taking hit ups down the middle over and over. Surely he would be more impressive going forward if he was not running against the biggest defenders over and over. His try against Cas saw him hitting the gap on an angle one channel out with Partington providing the pass. I know that we are light in the prop department at the moment and his tackling comes in handy but I cannot help but feel that we could get more from him by not overdoing the straight drive.

Re: Morgan Smithies - 72 tackles - New Super League record? : Sun Sep 22, 2019 7:21 pm  

Levrier wrote:

Incredible stats but something still bothers me. Against Salford we had no props on the field for part of the game and Smithies was taking hit ups down the middle over and over. Surely he would be more impressive going forward if he was not running against the biggest defenders over and over. His try against Cas saw him hitting the gap on an angle one channel out with Partington providing the pass. I know that we are light in the prop department at the moment and his tackling comes in handy but I cannot help but feel that we could get more from him by not overdoing the straight drive.

Agreed, he’s definitely more of a Bateman type than Lockers. He’d be better at second row hitting the gaps and running at an angle, Smithies one weakness is his ability to make metres and he’s probably not big enough at the moment to start busting tackles/making metres after contact.

Re: Morgan Smithies - 72 tackles - New Super League record? : Sun Sep 22, 2019 8:19 pm  

The whole pack struggled for metres on Friday and it’s my big worry for this Friday and beyond. Every forward was well under 100m with Isa and Flower making less than 50m each and Lockers and Byrne less that 30m. We’re playing a side on Friday (and more than likely in the Grand final if we make it) who’ve got two props who’ll guarantee them big metres and a hooker who’ll play on the back of it. If our forwards can’t get those stats up it could be a long nights worth of playing a game in our half. Our kicking game struggled also with Powell being off and Tommy had a real off night with the boot.

Re: Morgan Smithies - 72 tackles - New Super League record? : Mon Sep 23, 2019 10:12 am  

We've not had forwards who make meters for 9 years. What we do have is backs who can all make 100m+. We need Sarge back because he eats up the ground and Farrell will always make 100-150m.

It's sometimes not enough but if you can defend your line and score from deep you can win games.

Re: Morgan Smithies - 72 tackles - New Super League record? : Mon Sep 23, 2019 1:34 pm  

Wigg'n wrote:

We've not had forwards who make meters for 9 years. What we do have is backs who can all make 100m+. We need Sarge back because he eats up the ground and Farrell will always make 100-150m.

It's sometimes not enough but if you can defend your line and score from deep you can win games.

I don’t think we’ve struggled to that degree before with even Faz going under 100m on the night. In last years Grand Final we had Bateman and Greenwood eating up the ground and Faz on the bench. If Greenwood is hardly going to get any playing time then players like Isa and Flower are going to need to produce more then what they did on Friday. We won’t beat Saints camped in our own half.

Re: Morgan Smithies - 72 tackles - New Super League record? : Mon Sep 23, 2019 1:41 pm  

NickyKiss wrote:

I don’t think we’ve struggled to that degree before with even Faz going under 100m on the night. In last years Grand Final we had Bateman and Greenwood eating up the ground and Faz on the bench. If Greenwood is hardly going to get any playing time then players like Isa and Flower are going to need to produce more then what they did on Friday. We won’t beat Saints camped in our own half.

Did Greenwood pick another injury up on Friday ?
Seemed like he was only on the pitch 10mins.