England’s Morgan Smithies has settled well into life at NRL’s Canberra Raiders and recently made his debut for the side against Newcastle Knights.
The former Wigan Warriors star, in which he helped Wigan to win the 2023 League Leaders’ Shield and Super League Grand Final, racked up a total of 46 tackles when the Raiders travelled to the Knights for their season opener – and continued to impress on debut as Canberra emerged as 28-12 victors.
And although he may be on the other side of the world with a major time difference, Smithies admits he has still be keeping up with Super League and Rugby League in the Northern Hemisphere.
At just 23 years old, the best could be yet to come for Smithies, who is enjoying every minute of his new chapter so far and commented on his debut:
“It’s even more than I expected. Since being here in Canberra, I’ve loved every minute of it. I’ve settled in really well, and all of the lads are class.”
“I was buzzing. I wanted to get picked in that 17 so I knew I would need to have a big pre-season and try and impress. I was made up to be in the starting line-up, especially with my Mum and Dad being over here – it was good to make my family proud.
“I’ll be taking each game as it comes. I know I’ve still got improvements to make, and I feel like Canberra will be good at getting this out of me.
“There’s some good coaches and players over here, so it’ll just be about picking their brains as well. With still being young, I feel that this will only benefit me moving forward.”
His NRL debut was also significant for another reason, for Smithies came up against England and former Wigan team-mate Kai Pearce Paul last week when the two sides went head-to-head.
And he could be set for another reunion in Round 2 with experienced England man and former Wigan team-mate John Bateman, when Canberra play hosts to West Tigers.
“To go against Kai last week was pretty good – I still speak to him quite a lot and we’re close mates,” Smithies said. “He’s having the same experience as me at the minute, and we’ve kept in touch.
“I speak to John [Bateman] too – I spoke to him when I was on about coming over here. I’m looking forward to going against him this week – I’ve looked up to him for quite a while.”
Looking back on his England debut, where he featured for his country in the mid-season international game against France last year, Smithies explained it was a memorable moment for a number of reasons:
“It was a pretty special moment – for me and because I was playing with quite a few of the Wigan lads and ex-Siddal lads as well – there was myself, Tyler Dupree, Matty Nicholson, and Tom Holroyd who all played at Siddal, so that was massive for Siddal as a club.
“I loved every minute of it - to put on that England jersey meant a lot. It was something I’d always wanted to do as a kid, and I was lucky enough to be able to do that.”
He was then called-up by England head coach Shaun Wane to one of the training camps for the three-test series against Tonga in 2023, which he admits was also a fantastic experience:
“Training with a full strength England squad was great – for me being still young, it was good to be around the players. It was good to have some training with Victor Radley as well. I really enjoyed it, it was class!”
On being selected for England and the possibility of playing on international stages in the future, Smithies said:
“Every player wants to get picked for their country 100%.
"For me, my focus is to keep playing well for the Raiders and if I have a good season with some good performances, then hopefully stuff like that will come off the back of it.”
