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Smith signing shows club is on the up

14/ 8/2008

MALCOLM ALKER COLUMN: "WHEN we were relegated from Super League last year signing New Zealand internationals seemed a world away. But less than 12 months on we have recruited the services of Kiwi Test ace Jeremy Smith.

I have to admit that I don’t know a lot about the half back. But what I do know is that anyone who has played 40-odd games in Australia’s NRL is no mug. And Smith clearly still has his best years ahead of him as he is only 27.

His signing underlines the fact that Salford is a club which is back on the up. And it also seemingly signals the end of my monopoly on the hooking role at Salford.

Now that Smith is signed up, head coach Shaun McRae intends to turn Robbie Paul from an 80-minute half back into an impact hooker. That is a role which will suit Robbie well as he is very quick out of dummy half. And most clubs go with two hookers now due to the speed of the modern game. So I am happy to share the hooking role with Robbie next season as long as the role is balanced out between us correctly.

As a result of Robbie’s impending new role, I’m sure I’ll end up playing a lot more minutes at loose forward next season. That could well end up extending my career as loose forward is nowhere near as demanding a position as hooker.

You can take a breather when you play at loose forward whereas at hooker you are constantly on the go. But hooker will always be my preferred position. I’ve loved every minute of playing at hooker for Salford and I completed my 300th game for the club on Friday. I am very proud to have achieved that milestone. I just wish that we had won a lot more of those 300 games.

But 300 is quite a number when you consider how demanding and dangerous the sport of rugby league is. My body has stood up to the strain of all those games really well and I hope to have a lot more matches left in me yet. The next one is a home match with Batley on Sunday.

We have already finished top of the league on the back of our 58-6 win against Dewsbury on Friday. But we still want to win our last two games so that we can go into the play-offs feeling confident and with some momentum behind us.

The performance against Dewsbury was nothing to write home about. But now that the minor premiership is secured, which was one of our goals at the start of the season, we should be able to play with a lot more freedom in our last two games. The pressure is off and that is often when teams play their best rugby."