Wigan Warriors have signed half-back Matty Smith from the Salford City Reds for an undisclosed fee.
Half-back moves to DW Stadium for an undisclosed fee
Wigan Warriors have signed half-back Matty Smith from the Salford City Reds for an undisclosed fee.
Smith was out of contract with the Reds at the end of the season and had been expected to join Wigan for the start of the 2013 campaign.
But with Wigan half-back Thomas Leuluai on the sidelines with a broken leg the club have moved to bring in Smith immediately on a three-and-a-half-year deal.
The former St Helens man said he was delighted to be making an immediate switch after Salford had accepted a 'substantial' fee for him.
"This is a fantastic move for me and a wonderful opportunity," Smith told Wigan's
official website.
"Wigan are a great club with some excellent players and I am looking forward to hopefully playing my part in bringing more success in the months and years to come."
Debut
Smith goes straight into Wigan's squad to play Wakefield at the Rapid Solicitors Stadium on Sunday and coach Shaun Wane has been a fan for some time.
"I have been a big admirer of Matty for a while," commented Wane. "We are delighted to have secured his services and he is an excellent addition to our squad.
"From my early discussions with him, I knew that my coaching team could do things with him. He is very vocal and plays very directly and he will fit into our system with ease."
Reds' director of football Steve Simms insisted Wigan's offer could not be rejected entering the closing stages of the campaign.
"With just eight games of the season to go we received an offer we couldn't turn down from Wigan," remarked Simms.
"We have some terrific options at half-back at Salford and Matty moving on will allow somebody else to step forward and shine.
"We have a very important game on Sunday at Hull KR and (coach) Phil Veivers will now pick his best line-up to try and pick up two more points that will bring us to the fringes of the play-off spots."
