Matty Smith relishing new deal at ‘winning Wigan’

Wigan scrum-half Matty Smith is delighted to have signed a new four-year contract with a club where he feels very much at home.

He has also revealed that there was never any doubt about him inking a new deal, with both player and club determined to ensure he stayed on board.

“I’m made up to be at this club for another four years,” he said.

“I agreed it as soon as it got offered to me, to be honest. I took a couple of days to speak to my family, but I’d been talking with the club all year.

“There was no rush about it. It was something that we had to come to an agreement about. We finally reached that a couple of weeks ago.

“I knew all along that I would sign again for Wigan, it was just about getting the deal right for both parties.

“I’m glad we’ve done that now, and when I look at my future and what I’ve done with Wigan over the last couple of years, I’m really excited for the next four.”

One big draw for Smith to stay with the Warriors was the presence of head coach Shaun Wane.

Smith loves playing for a club where the coach helps to inculcate such a strong culture of striving for success.

“That was the reason I signed for the club – the winning mentality that they’ve got, Shaun Wane and all the boys, and all the coaching staff as well,” he added.

“It is a winning club, and I want to win more trophies. I want to be successful, and there’s no club better than Wigan for doing that, for me.

“We work hard in training, and in the last couple of years I’ve seen myself come on as a player. The training we do under Shaun’s coaching has made me a lot better.

“I’ve got a hell of a lot more improvement in me as well. So I’m looking forward to the next four years.

“As a club, we want to win more trophies and I’m sure we can.”

Playing alongside some of Wigan’s talented youngsters was another major draw for Smith. It looks likely that he will be partnered in the halves by one of those youngsters next season, as Wigan look set to trust their own talents rather than look overseas for recruits.

“The young lads – Sam Powell and George Williams – have got the chance and done fantastically well,” he said.

“It’s looking now that Waney’s not going to buy anyone else and give one of them a crack with the number 6 jersey next year.

“So it’s exciting times for them, and exciting times for the club. To have mostly English players in the squad is fantastic.

“These kids come in and do a great job, and a lot of them will be knocking on the door of England in the next couple of years, I’m sure of that.”

One minor regret for Smith may be that now he will never, in all likelihood, test himself in the NRL. The former Everton FC youth player feels that being at home at Wigan is more important to him, however.

“That was probably the only thing in my mind, to be honest,” he admitted.

“I’m settled here and this is the only club I want to play for in Super League.

“But you do start questioning yourself as to what it would be like over there – could I go over there and become a success?

“But I’ll never know that now because I’ve signed a four-year deal. But it was definitely there in the back of my mind, especially after playing over there at the start of the year in the World Club Challenge.

“It’s a great lifestyle out there and you’re testing yourself, but, at the end of the day, I’m home here.

“I live two minutes round the corner and my family’s here, so I couldn’t be happier than signing a four-year deal at Wigan.

“But I can see more English players going out there and testing themselves.”