I was being sarcastic Brimmer. I actually agree with your last comment Whitty, but I don't see its relevance to the Raiders. So Carney isn't in the league of Johns? Who cares, nobody is! Most halfbacks (not just Matt Orford) require their forwards to dominate the ruck area before they can do anything half decent.
Something we talked a lot about last season on the forums, and we've barely touched on it this year, is the idea that a halfback doesn't play in a vaccum - he needs his forward pack to dominate, make yards, etc. You can say that a superstar halfback makes those around him look better, but usually it's the other way around - a top team, especially a dominating forward pack, can make a cruddy halfback look special. I think it's fair to say that Tim Smith has a much much better pack of forwards to play with, and his hole runners in Morrison, Widders, Ben Smith etc. sh*t all over ours.
Carney's already playing pretty well at the moment, behind a pretty weak team - if the forwards improve and the outside backs get some flair (unlikely, I know), I think we'll see his game improve as well. For all the talk of how much of a genius Jason Smith is, I really don't think there's been much between him and Carney the last few weeks.