How Wigan Warriors star has evolved his game this season with fascinating insight given

Eagled-eyed Wigan fans may have noticed Smith running with the ball more in the early rounds of 2025, and it isn’t by chance.

The 25-year-old is known for being a general in the halves, with his excellent kicking game guiding Matt Peet’s side around the park with his organisational skillset playing a major role in Wigan’s success over the last couple of years.

But now he wants to develop his game further, hence why he is running with the ball a lot more, and it is starting to pay off, having scored from a direct running play in Wigan’s win over Hull KR last time out.

“I’ve tried to get a bit more in my running game,” Smith told Wigan Today. “Speaking to Tommy (Leuluai) and Matty (Peet) in the off-season, it was just about adding another string to my bow.

“If you are just passing all the time or kicking all the time, then it can sort of restrict you, so if you get a running game going, it can add more to your game and make defences think more.

“It’s something that I’m pushing and I still need to get a lot better at, but it was a nice sign at the weekend, I managed to score for once, so I’m happy.”

Smith is one of the premier playmakers in Super League, having made the most attacking kicks (45) and kicks in general play (106) in the competition so far after seven rounds.

But his fast-developing running game is another problem for opposition defences to think about, according to his halfback partner Bevan French.

“It’s something that’s working for him,” French said. “Obviously, he is relied upon for his kicking, passing and organisation side of things, but now his running is going to cause more headaches.

“He is good at organising, managing and kicking the ball, so now to add a running game onto that, it’s going to be hard to come up with systems to defend against him. He loves it, he loves the confrontational side of things, I think.”

Developing a high-quality running game isn’t something that happens overnight, though. It’s simply a case of trial and error, learning both from the good and poor executions.

The proof was in the pudding last week, with Smith scoring from a well-timed run to catch the KR defence off guard, but he also ran down the short side and was bundled into touch. But again, it’s all part of the learning process for the England international.

“That wasn’t a good one, I’m blaming Junior (Nsemba) for that,” Smith laughed when asked about being bundled into touch. “Whoever was at dummy half, I said pass it to Junior, and they passed it to me instead, so it wasn’t a good situation for me to run when there were four people there waiting to tackle me!”

“But you are never going to succeed straight away, you’ve got to fail at things to be successful. There are going to be times again this season when I run at the wrong time or make the wrong decision, but we just speak as a team about having each other’s backs and making up for it if a teammate makes a mistake.

“Nobody had a go at me at the time when I ran in touch, it was all about just moving onto the next job and defending well for me in the next set. We all have that mentality, so it’s all about learning, and hopefully you can have more success than failure.”