Smith says stats don't give full picture on Wicks
BY ROBERT DILLON
KNIGHTS coach Brian Smith admitted last night that Danny Wicks needed to lift his game but said statistics alone should not be used to judge the beefy front-rower.
Wicks has been below his best in recent weeks and, even after injuries to fellow props Ben Cross and Jesse Royal, the former St George Illawarra forward was not recalled to Newcastle's starting line-up for Friday night's clash with Penrith at CUA Stadium.
Smith has instead left Wicks, who has made four of 15 appearances this season as a starting prop, on the bench.
Dan Tolar and inexperienced Mark Taufua were named as run-on front-rowers for the early exchanges with Penrith heavyweights Petero Civoniceva and Tony Puletua.
It will be only the fourth NRL game of Taufua's career and his first in more than 12 months.
Smith said he felt that Wicks and Richard Fa'aoso would be better value for Newcastle off the bench, although he acknowledged that neither had been as effective recently as they were in the early rounds of the season.
He said part of the reason for that was because the team, as a whole, had not been functioning as well as it could.
But he also said 22-year-old Wicks needed to start producing more on-field input.
"Wicksy is never going to be a stats player," Smith said.
"Some players are work-rate players, and everybody's got to have something reasonable in that regard.
"Not everyone needs to have volume. Some players provide quality and have a big impact in the game.
"That's what we're looking for."
The coach said Wicks had been "underneath his minimum" recently and that his six missed tackles in last week's 24-16 loss to the Dragons was "not good enough".
"What's definitely disturbing for him, and for a few others, was missing tackles that led to breaks and tries," Smith said.
"If you're not making many, you can't afford to miss any."
Part of the problem, Smith felt, was that Newcastle's playmakers were not distributing the ball to Wicks, and also Fa'aoso, as efficiently as they did in the early rounds.
"Our halves and our hookers, in particular, need to give them the ball at the appropriate times," he said.
"We saw earlier in the season what they're both capable of, but we need to get that to happen at the appropriate times to let them create the havoc that they can.
"But, in the end, a bit of that comes down to the player himself, getting in the right position so that he gets the ball when he wants it."
Wicks admitted after last week's loss to his former club that "you can never be happy with how you're going, because you always want to improve".
Asked whether he was keen on a starting role, in the absence of Cross and Royal, he said: "Whatever's best for the team."
Smith said containing the in-form Penrith pack would require all hands on deck.
"We are down some numbers in terms of front-rowers, so Wicksy is part of the crew there and they all need to step up," he said.
"But he's a member of the team, and one of the pack, so it's not all falling on him."
Smith was counting on Taufua, who two years ago was playing local rugby union for The Waratahs, giving Newcastle a physical presence in the opening minutes.
"The thinking there is Mark is probably best to get into it early and not sit around getting nervous about it," Smith said.
"The other thing is that Richie and Wicksy are accustomed to coming off the bench, which a lot of blokes struggle to do.
"Rather than change their role, it seemed like a good idea to get Mark out for the first bit."
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