Quote Matt23="Matt23"Smith is a confidence player, and when you show faith in him he repays you. I don't think he's one of these players that needs a kick up the backside by dropping him, because it just knocks his confidence. There have been times from '06-early '08 where Smith has been dropped whether he's had a good game or not.
He hit a woeful patch at Fullback in 2006, the CC semi at Odsal being one of the worst, but what young player hasn't had a dip in form upon breaking into the side.
Apart from that patch his performances have been on a consistent high standard for us, including scoring some very important tries.
It's not tism (sp?) because I've always rated him and knew that given an extended run in the side, he'd be an excellent player.
A similar situation to you with Jamie Jones G1?'"
You have it spot on. Gareth is talking out of his botty on this subject.
Smith's dip in form came when he was a bit part to the coaches. When he was in and out of the side, and confidence not shown in him. Whenever the lad has had a string of games together he has looked a class act.
Take beginning of last season, as Gareth has brought that example up. Smith looked far superior to Ryan Hall in every facet, but the coach decided he wanted to rotate the players to test them. What happend is Smith's play started to suffer. Then you get the rhinos feckw1ttery fans coming on saying he is not up to it. Once Mclennan was forced into bringing Smith back into the fold due to lack of players and Smith got a string of games together, he finished the season better than his team mates.
This season he has been handed a starting spot with no pressure on him and he is reacting like a lot of people know he can play.
This is not temporary or a fluke. The lad has been doing it since he made his debut. The only time his form dips his when he is made a scapegoat or not backed. You would have to be seriously naive and blinkered not to see that.
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