Re: Huddersfield : Wed Mar 04, 2020 4:12 pm  

FearTheVee wrote:

As for Smithies - impressive energy and defence but haven't really seen anything else from him at all to suggest he's anywhere near an international squad.
.

What would your thoughts be on Morgan Knowles getting in, if he jumped ship from Wales. Do you think he’s good enough?

Re: Huddersfield : Wed Mar 04, 2020 4:24 pm  

NickyKiss wrote:

What would your thoughts be on Morgan Knowles getting in, if he jumped ship from Wales. Do you think he’s good enough?

I think he's a very solid player but short of international class. At that level you need your back rowers to be able to defend AND be damaging / metre making with the ball IMO.

I don't know if this is true or not, but Smithies seems to have a bigger frame - I expect once he fills out he has every chance of being an international back row but I think he currently lacks a bit with the ball. I've seen him dominated pretty badly a couple of times against Saints last year which might be skewing my view (perhaps unfairly given the pack around him and the fact he's had another off season)

Re: Huddersfield : Wed Mar 04, 2020 4:49 pm  

FearTheVee wrote:

I think he's a very solid player but short of international class. At that level you need your back rowers to be able to defend AND be damaging / metre making with the ball IMO.

I don't know if this is true or not, but Smithies seems to have a bigger frame - I expect once he fills out he has every chance of being an international back row but I think he currently lacks a bit with the ball. I've seen him dominated pretty badly a couple of times against Saints last year which might be skewing my view (perhaps unfairly given the pack around him and the fact he's had another off season)

Fair enough, was just interested to get your views on a player who statistically stacks up against Smithies.

My view on Smithies is that he could do a job currently but the World Cup of 2021 is probably the realistic goal for him. He’s doing really well to more than hold his own at 19 years of age, playing in the middle of the field. If we have him a run in the second row, I think he’d find it easier and stand more of a chance of making a play for this years ashes. He’s a different style of Loose Forward to Lockers but like Lockers all those years back, I do think Smithies may take a while to earn every fans respect.

Re: Huddersfield : Wed Mar 04, 2020 4:59 pm  

NickyKiss wrote:

I do think Smithies may take a while to earn every fans respect.

He probably never will with some

Re: Huddersfield : Wed Mar 04, 2020 5:17 pm  

Pie_Eyter wrote:

I have to agree to (most) of that. It's very disingenuous and a little uppity of fans of a successful club mocking the support of a lesser successful one. We should be coming up with ideas of how to get people back to the game. If Huddersfield played in a stadium like Belle Vue the crowds wouldn't look bad at all. We suffer the same problem. Big stadiums, lots of seats, fans smattered here there and everywhere. I did notice in Hudds on Sunday a lot of families walking around in the town centre. Shopping obviously. The club should be aiming at those people. There was ano entertaining game of rugby on around the corner

Agree mate, but some on here preaching to the converted, agree that our marketing methods could be better in some areas, but we are up against Huddersfield Town and very few follow both clubs. They were in the Premier league for 2 seasons and Championship for a few years which hasn`t helped. Also the local rag the Examiner is football mad, pages of it and we are stuck on half a page. And to be fair to Ken Davy, ticket prices are the cheapest in the league. It used to be a good club in the distant past, but with bouncing along around the bottom of SL for a number of years and getting relegated, the fight back takes a lot of years.

Re: Huddersfield : Wed Mar 04, 2020 9:40 pm  

FearTheVee wrote:

He's played two more games than Gildart this season (who is also in the "squad") . . . .

Jon Wilkin has made the most tackles in SL but he won't be playing for England either.

Smithies will hopefully get there, as he grows out he'll add more impact with the ball and might then be an international player.

very good point to be honest

Re: Huddersfield : Wed Mar 04, 2020 11:17 pm  

Giantscorpio wrote:

What a load of crap. First of all it is easy to follow a successful team, although I have noticed occasionally that Wigans crowd did drop below 10000 for some games and they are not pulling the crowds that they used to.
Why do Huddersfield epitomize (did you notice I spelled it correctly) everything that it wrong with RL ?? Some clubs have always to be in the basement or you would have a league of 5 or 6 clubs St.H, Wigan,Warr,Leeds,Cas and Hull which would not work.
And what about Bradford their crowds have gone down like a stone in water, going down a division and losing games, crowds do go down and take a lot of gaining back once they have gone, so get your brain in gear before you spout this claptrap because if Wigan were in Bradford`s situation they would have extremely poor crowds too and bring as you say nothing to SL.

First of all how is it easier to support a big team? For a lesser side, a successful season would be potentially winning a couple of big games and scraping into the playoffs. There's no disappointment for you. When you support a big side you expect more and ultimately it's always 'what if/what could have been'. We've had SL winning seasons under Wane that many fans would dissect and potentially label as a 6 out of 10 season. I'm sure there's plenty of Saints fans our there smarting at the CC final loss - would Huddersfield fans be doing the same after winning the league in such an emphatic way?

Also Wigan wouldn't ever be in Bradford's position. This is a RL hotbed and even if we dropped out of SL we'd be back in a season - even if we'd have to play our reserves & sign a couple of journeymen. There's a passion for this club in the town.

Also sides like yours better pray that teams like Wigan, Saints or Leeds don't go down as that would be the end of RL in this country. You might not like it, but no one gives a t0ss about Huddersfield Vs Catalan etc, but they do wanna watch the big boys play eachother. Do you think Sky would pay anything like a going rate without any of the big sides? Could the same be said of a SL without Huddersfield? Like I said in my OP - you bring nothing to the table.

Re: Huddersfield : Thu Mar 05, 2020 6:57 am  

Giantscorpio wrote:

What a load of crap. First of all it is easy to follow a successful team, although I have noticed occasionally that Wigans crowd did drop below 10000 for some games and they are not pulling the crowds that they used to.
Why do Huddersfield epitomize (did you notice I spelled it correctly) everything that it wrong with RL ?? Some clubs have always to be in the basement or you would have a league of 5 or 6 clubs St.H, Wigan,Warr,Leeds,Cas and Hull which would not work.
And what about Bradford their crowds have gone down like a stone in water, going down a division and losing games, crowds do go down and take a lot of gaining back once they have gone, so get your brain in gear before you spout this claptrap because if Wigan were in Bradford`s situation they would have extremely poor crowds too and bring as you say nothing to SL.

Correct, like the time in the seventies when our crowds (including me) dropped to as low as under 3,000, winning nothing, being relegated and signing second rate players from clubs like Swinton for a around 2 or 3 thousand.

Then the gang of four took over and the rest is history.

The problem with many supporters of today is that they have only seen the club have good times and never experienced any poor times.

A good comparison is everyday life for many today!

Re: Huddersfield : Thu Mar 05, 2020 7:40 am  

Phuzzy wrote:

That is a strange one given Hill has been something of a liability for a couple of seasons now. I also find the inclusion of Charnley a strange one given he's also way past his best, Wane binned him off in favour of Manfredi at Wigan years ago and he's just seen him do next to nothing against Leeds whilst Marshall took Huddersfield to the cleaners.

A few strange picks in there but I guess it's good that he seems to be trying to put his stamp on it from the off, particularly with the non inclusion of the Aussies. Don't necessarily agree with it myself per se but it shows strong leadership which is what we'll need ultimately.

The selection by Wane has put paid to the nonsense that they did not get on together. You only had to see how they were hugging and catting to each other at the end of the Magic game at Newcastle which was the first time that Charnley had played for Warrington against us.

Charnley was not playing well for us at the time because his head was in the clouds over a move to Rugby Union, so Wane quite rightly dropped him for Marshall.

Re: Huddersfield : Thu Mar 05, 2020 10:52 am  

I with ‘him’ from over the hill re Smithies. He is a good young player with bags of enthusiasm, his work rate particularly in defence is outstanding. To be in international contention he needs to offer more in attack. IMO that will come in time when he fills out his frame but at the moment the knights squad is a good place for him.

It’s an interesting squad, no doubt most of the controversial selections will drop out as the Australian based players come in. I’m surprised at Connor though. I know he’s not started the season well but he’s a big game player and and has shown he can step up to international level.