Morgan Smithies’ latest England experience has provided extra motivation as he prepares himself for his second season in the NRL. Smithies adapted well to life Down Under with the loose-forward making 24 appearances in the green of Canberra Raiders last season after nailing down a spot in Ricky Stuart’s starting XIII.
It was a season in which he announced himself as one of the brightest young talents in his position and it wasn’t a surprise to see him called up to represent England in a two-Test series against Samoa at the end of the season. However, despite earning a cap under Shaun Wane in 2023, Smithies failed make his way onto the field against the Samoans.
Victor Radley started both games for England, at the Brick Community Stadium and Headingley, while Morgan Knowles was the man chosen to deputise for the Sydney Roosters star off the bench. It meant that despite enjoying an impressive first year with the Raiders, Smithies watched both Tests from the stands.
The 24-year-old insists just being part of the squad was a valuable experience, but he’s keen to make sure of his involvement next year, when Australia travel to England for an Ashes series.
“It was a good experience, it was good to be around the lads and around the international games,” Smithies told reporters Down Under. “Obviously a bit frustrating not playing but I took a lot of positives out of it and it’s made me want to work even harder this pre-season now to have a good season with Canberra and we’ll see what happens at the back end of the year.
“For me my main focus is back here for now so I want to put a big pre-season in and lay the platform into a good season.
“I feel like there’s so much more improvement in my game still so I’ll be working closely with the coaches and alongside some players and improve each week and each game.”
Smithies has been joined at Canberra by former Warrington Wolves and Wigan Warriors man Matty Nicholson, who has made the move from the Halliwell Jones Stadium over the off-season. Smithies and Nicholson played together with Siddal as youngsters and the pair are now living together in the Australian capital.
“I’ve taken him under my wing and he’s living with me so we’re doing a fair bit of cooking at the minute and he’s going through some food,” Smithies laughed. “We grew up in Halifax together and we’ve been close mates for a long time now so to have him over, it’s been good.
“We had a few conversations but not too many. I thought I’d leave it up to him. I gave my feedback of Canberra obviously, it’s a great club, but I just left it to him really.
“He’s got a good engine on him, he’s very fit and he can run a good line and he can play rugby which is the main thing. He’s a very good player and he’ll be pushing to get in the main 17 for round one.”
