Door still open for Smith despite snub

James Gordon

St Helens half-back Matty Smith could still have a say in how their season ends despite being dropped for the win at Wakefield last time out.

Smith, 30, has made 20 appearances for Saints in 2017 after returning to the club from Wigan, but an eye problem has disrupted his season.

Coach Justin Holbrook said: “The hard thing for Matty is that he’s had a stop start season. He hasn’t been able to get going for one reason or another and his last issue was his eye injury.

“He just needs a few games to get back to his best, but we’ve sort of ran out of time with that, we’ve got to play at our best now.

“It was a tough call leaving him out and he’s still training hard and working hard and he could be back in the future.”

Next up for Saints is a home game with Huddersfield this week, one they must win to keep up their hopes of a top four spot.

One man who has been hitting the headlines is superstar signing Ben Barba, who made his debut against Wigan earlier this month having served a 12-match ban since moving to Super League.

Holbrook added: “It’s early days and unfortunately for us it’s at the end of our season. I said to him after the game it’s only his second game this year and everyone else has played at least 28 plus Challenge Cup.

“He’s improved and if we can win our next couple he’ll just keep getting better and better, and it could be pretty good late in the year.”