The enterprising try in response from Kyle Flanagan mattered little. Not when Smith’s first act in returning from the bin was to stop, dummy and nip back against the grain.

Not when the diminutive pivot was then able to dink a grubber, not just on the run, but in the midst of being tackled, for James Tedesco to join him on the scoresheet.

It was the highlight play in a day full of them for the young five-eighth, who has been highlighted as the playmaker with the most to lose if Daly Cherry-Evans arrives at Bondi Junction next season.

“His positioning was in the right spot, and you can see he has got really great vision,” Trent Robinson said, dubbing this the best of Smith’s 36 NRL games.

“When he plays like that, he sees a lot. To handle 10 minutes [in the sin bin] and then come back on and continue that was really nice.”

By the 20-minute mark, the Roosters had enjoyed more than 80 per cent of possession, forcing the Dragons to make three tackles for every one the Roosters were asked to attempt.

The Tricolours’ young halves, Smith and Hugo Savala, impressed with such a dominant platform to work from.

Most notably because they refused to back away after a blunder. Savala, in his sixth game of first grade was hammered early by Valentine Holmes. Sione Finau latched onto the loose ball and raced away for the Dragons first try.

Savala’s next play was to force a line dropout from a similar position in attack. He finished with a deserved first NRL try with a minute to go.

Smith played from a similar hymn sheet – kicking too long with one attacking punt that delivered the Dragons a seven-tackle set, but then grubbering successfully into their in-goal with his next.

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For Shane Flanagan and his side, the less remembered of this one the better. They were thoroughly outplayed while the Roosters yo-yoing season continues.

“There was a couple of errors on tackle one, errors with the football not getting to kicks,” Shane Flanagan lamented. “That’s self-inflicted a lot of it. Some of it’s well done to the Roosters, but some of it’s definitely us.”

Star halfback Sam Walker is due to return in six weeks or so and who knows what happens then. For now though, this is a day his deputy Smith won’t forget.

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