Raiders sign Morgan Smithies on three year deal from 2024

[Raider47]

Morgan Smithies set for NRL move as Wigan Warriors forward heads down under







Morgan Smithies, 22, looks set to be an NRL player next season, with Wigan Warriors' Grand Final-winning loose forward closing in on a move Canberra Raiders. The England international is on the verge of finalising a move to go down under in a deal which will see the Warriors receive a substantial transfer fee.

One of the best defenders in the competition, Halifax-born Smithies played the full eighty minutes at Old Trafford on Saturday, topping the tackle count for the match with 55.

Read more: https://www.examinerlive.co.uk/sport/ru ... s-27918714

PROFILE

In 2019 Morgan Smithies made his Super League debut for Wigan against the Catalans Dragons. He played in the 2020 Super League Grand Final which Wigan lost 8-4 against St Helens. Smithies also played for Wigan in their 2022 Challenge Cup Final victory over Huddersfield. He has just been part of Wigan's 2023 Super League Grand Final victory over the Catalans Dragons.

In 2019 he was selected for the England Knights against Jamaica. He made his full England debut in April 2023 in the 64-0 victory over France.

Morgan Smithies
Born: 7 November 2000 (age 22)
Halifax, West Yorkshire, England
Height: 185cms
Weight: 106 kgs
Position: Lock, Second-row
2018–present Wigan Warriors 110 games

[magoo]

Does anyone know if he's any good?

[Coastalraider]

Tackle machine.

[deanoman]

He’s good. You’d want him in your super coach team.

[NoMan]

He played well in the superleague grand final. Reminded me of a quicker Horse.

He distributes the ball well and gives a really nice clean ball from first receiver which is what they need if he is coming across as a lock. I do wonder what it means for Puru.

If they are willing to pay transfer fees hopefully theres some more poms to
come.

[greeneyed]

Reason to be excited.

[Crank]

Hopefully it gives Jack a reason to smile

[PNGRaider37]

We managed to sign a back rower? As i live and breath

[Timbo]

My god we’ve signed an experienced rep player for next year.

I’ll just check outside to see if the world has ended.

[FROG]

Feels like a very astute signing. Thoughts on whether he'll play middle or edge?

[Matt]

Looks like a lot of lock forward in those highlights.
A lot of hit ups and basic tackles too.
Looks a bit meh TBH

[-PJ-]

Oh come on.

Set to sign, no ramp !

Done deal, toughest preseason ever.

[Botman]

I assume he’s coming here to play edge as adding another middle would be just so insane right now that it would make no sense

Know nothing of him but seems like a good player. Good stuff

[LimeGreenMachine]

Tipping our toes back into Pommy land. It's worked so well for us in the past .

[NoMan]

Looks like a specialist lock to me. He has played a dozen games as a backrower though so maybe he can convert full time.

Bit of a dice role to sign him as one though.

[FROG]

No denying we are short a quality edge, however our middle defence this year was deplorable at times. I get the feeling he'd improve us in both departments. I kind of hope he is being brought on as a middle and that we have someone else like curran also in our sights

[Northern Raider]

Hopefully emulates Elliott Whitehead more than Harry Rushton.

[SeeBee101]

Hmm could Ricky put Smithies at 13 and horse in the 2nd row permanently?

[LimeGreenMachine]

Horse is more a front rower .
Ata , Taps , Horse and Paps. Should be our 4 front row options

[julian87]

I assume he’s coming here to play edge as adding another middle would be just so insane right now that it would make no sense

Know nothing of him but seems like a good player. Good stuff

Nah a genuine lock. Which Canberra need pretty badly (give the neglect of Puru) to get props the **** out of that position.

[Raidernation]

He has played most of his career as a 13 but every chance of starting at 12 and moving into 13 after 20 or vice versa. He could definitely be something but admittedly his attacking ability from what I have seen is limited.

[GreenMachine]

Great, another prop...

[Timbo]

Club: Loses tonnes of first grade experience, signs noone.

Fans on GH: Wahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, why haven't we signed anyone! We need some experience!

Club: Signs player with 100+ games of experience, Grand Final winner, English test player.

Fans on GH: Wahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, that's not the player I wanted.

**** hell you lot.

[Raiders_Pat]

He has played most of his career as a 13 but every chance of starting at 12 and moving into 13 after 20 or vice versa. He could definitely be something but admittedly his attacking ability from what I have seen is limited.

With Puru's ability to play hooker we could run something like this with Smithies starting at 12, Puru at 13, Horsburgh at 10 and Whitehead to play 50-60 off the bench. Then we'd have Papalii and Mariota as the interchange props and Mooney or a utility back to fill the final spot depending on which way we wanted to go.

I reckon a set up like this would spread the minutes in our forward pack better and improve our defence significantly. I think many of our problems in defence last year came from some forwards having to play big minutes and often for several weeks in a row. We usually looked good earlier on and cracked later with fatigue.

[Botman]

obviously he’s a talented player so that’s good

But I can’t pretend it’s not a little disappointing we’ve added yet another body, even if it’s a pretty high quality one, into a middle forward rotation that is already so log jammed that we can’t reliably get Trey Mooney NRL opportunities.

At least it sounds like he’s a legit 13 though so that’s something very positive

[Green_Hammock]

He looks and sounds good, but yeah similar concerns to others that we will need him to play back row, not lock.

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[greeneyed]

Raiders snare Super League star

Canberra will sign another English star with Super League grand final winner Morgan Smithies joining the Raiders next year. Canberra will have to pay a transfer fee to Wigan to ensure the deal is finalised.

Smithies is just 22 and plays in the back row. He was part of Wigan’s grand final victory against Catalans Dragons last weekend. He has already played more than 100 matches and made his international debut earlier this year.

Read more: https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport ... 09b1601db2

Raiders eye Super League champ as Ricky’s halves headache eases after new deal

The Raiders are set to pick up another Englishman in Super League premiership-winner Morgan Smithies.Smithies, a versatile forward that made his international debut this year, is closing in on a deal with Canberra for next season.

Read more: https://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/nrl-pr ... c506ef9635

[Raiders_Pat]

obviously he’s a talented player so that’s good

But I can’t pretend it’s not a little disappointing we’ve added yet another body, even if it’s a pretty high quality one, into a middle forward rotation that is already so log jammed that we can’t reliably get Trey Mooney NRL opportunities.

At least it sounds like he’s a legit 13 though so that’s something very positive

Those were my initial thoughts too but if we're able to move on a prop then I don't mind it at all. We've got Saulo and Hola going into the 1 November market, if one of them are able to find a deal elsewhere then we should be looking at an early release if possible.

[President Clinton]

Pleased we’ve made a signing, but echo the concerns already raised. Looks a good, tough player, but two tries in 110 ESL games doesn’t exactly scream ‘strike backrower.’ Which is what our squad desperately lacks.

Unless CHN returns, we are badly short.

[Botman]

obviously he’s a talented player so that’s good

But I can’t pretend it’s not a little disappointing we’ve added yet another body, even if it’s a pretty high quality one, into a middle forward rotation that is already so log jammed that we can’t reliably get Trey Mooney NRL opportunities.

At least it sounds like he’s a legit 13 though so that’s something very positive

Those were my initial thoughts too but if we're able to move on a prop then I don't mind it at all. We've got Saulo and Hola going into the 1 November market, if one of them are able to find a deal elsewhere then we should be looking at an early release if possible.

Yeah we really aught to be trying to offload a middle forward or two, take on freight if we have to, we have the cap to absorb it.
And look, you cant complain about adding quality talent and this guy seems to be a quality talent so not complaining

but we're overinvested in middles and the edge forward problem HAS to be addressed.

[simo]

Im pretty sure we will see horse play edge next year.

[Botman]

Im pretty sure we will see horse play edge next year.

yeeesh... if that's the plan, I don't know about that.
He was admittedly pretty good when he was forced into that role this year, and better than I thought he'd be, but was barely hanging on out there defensively. If that's the plan, I think its a bad one, but Hors is one of those players who has continually proven me wrong so ill keep an open mind on it

[greeneyed]

Smithies looks like a traditional "middle" style lock forward. But Horsburgh has been evolving into a player with more skills in attack, and fitter. So perhaps he can also cover Whitehead being spelled. They won't be recruiting Smithies from England not to play him in firsts, we can be pretty sure of that. Recruited players (eg Levi and Saulo) seem to come on that promise.

The alternative way to look at Smithies is that he is a high involvement defender, like Whitehead. But Whitehead gets lots of traffic as he misses a lot of tackles (and doesn't do a lot of damage in defence). Smithies doesn't miss a lot of tackles (tackle efficiency over 95 per cent). So there's an improvement likely there if he substitutes for Whitehead. Maybe Stuart hopes to develop his threat in attack. But then again he only made three offloads this year, 77 average running metres and 21 tackle breaks.

[simo]

Yeah im coming around to the idea. Mostly because decades of supporting this team has given me the ability to delusionaly manipulate myself into believing some clearly moronic things have upside.

[GreenMachine]

obviously he’s a talented player so that’s good

But I can’t pretend it’s not a little disappointing we’ve added yet another body, even if it’s a pretty high quality one, into a middle forward rotation that is already so log jammed that we can’t reliably get Trey Mooney NRL opportunities.

At least it sounds like he’s a legit 13 though so that’s something very positive

Exactly.
We need halves / hooker / specialist edge...speed (anywhere in the team)...
And we go away and sign a prop.