There is no denying that the NRL is the better comp and I suppose having 17 teams (potentially rising) dilutes the quality a little but some people make out each NRL team has 17 supermen playing each week and our best players are comparible with their worst. For me that’s not the case, I honestly think more Wigan players would get spots in the NRL than wouldn’t, same with Saints. I know it’s early doors but loads of opposition Superleague fans said Smithies and KPP would be back in no time without making the grade, both have gone straight into the 13 and both are doing well, Pryce who couldn’t hold down a spot at Huddersfield is getting good reviews from the reserve grade and fans are calling for him to get in the 17 at Newcastle.
French I have no doubt would get a contract for a club as a half in the NRL, the level of halves in the NRL isn’t great at the moment but his game is better suited to Superleague and Wigan will be paying him a big marquee wage and have given him a 4 year deal, NRL clubs would likely be offering him less money and a much shorter contract, maybe you could say he’s not backed himself but rugby is a short career and it’s about making as much money as possible really, if French went to Oz next year on a 2 year deal for less money he would be 31 by the time his next contact started and the likelihood of him getting a big deal at 31 to make it worthwhile financially would be quite slim imo plus he’s got a better chance to extend his career even further over here.

It's not a question we'll need to answer anyway. Even if Smithies decides to come back to the UK in 2 or 3 years time, you'd imagine we'd then look to fit both him and Thompson in and by that point we may be able to do it if there have been some exits. They're both fabulous players and we've dropped on that we've been able to bring in a top class English player, at a time when one was leaving the club.

I look at Saints for 2025 and if Makinson is going to Catalans, they will much much the same if they get Tom Davies but if they don't, well, where do you go? You'll need to sign a much inferior English player to Makinson or free up another quota spot to go down under. I got told yesterday that HKR are sniffing around Alex Walmsley as well. That would be major problems if that came off. Again, if you want an English replacement, where do you go? and to go overseas another quota spot would need opening. It's a couple of great examples of how lucky we've been with the Smithies/Thompson timing.

Smithies has a higher celling imo. His development over the last few years has been phenomenal. We all know about his tackling and work rate etc, but he started to ball play more too.

Thompson, during that exceptional period he had, also benefitted from having a quality pack around him. I don't think Smithies ever really had that.

I'm not talking Thompson down here by the way. I'm talking Smithies up. I think he's that good.

I'd love to know if you're like this across the rest of your life? Do you just accept everything you're told, or do you ever form your own opinion?

You do realise that nothing is back and white and everything carries some kind of bias. Experts for the most part, just look at their area of expertise and don't factor in the wider picture, or wider impacts. There are also different schools of thought between experts too.

Going off on a tangent on this topic, I admire KR for his ability to make decisions, but he's wrong in his assertion that if everyone had access to the info he did, we'd all make the same decisions. I'd say it's a shockingly naive way of thinking too. I can guarantee you that, if you put the same info and resources in front of 100 people, you'll get more than one plan of action.

For the most part, I'm happy with the direction the club is going in. That however doesn't mean they aren't open for criticism, or that differing opinions aren't valid.

I didn't think this was a question of picking one or the other. I would have Smithies at 13 to replace Ellis and Thompson would still be my starting prop.

The thread got turned into which one you would rather have and although different positions (although Thompson can play 13) Thompson wouldn’t be here without Smithies leaving, I just my opinion to why fans would have preferred Smtihies to stay.