Tony Smith is no good at bringing different camps together, see World Cup '08

If thats the problem at Wire he wont solve it, if its just motivation needed I think Wire might actually do something this year

Smith is a disciplinarian - this is what Warrington need IMO. He's not afraid to drop big name players or fan favourites if they aren't pulling their weight - witness Thackray in 2007. Many on here were calling for Smith's head going into the play-offs without our 'best' prop but Smith was proven right in the end.



I wouldn't be surprised if someone like Lee Briers is given his marching orders by Smith at Warrington. Smith needs to show who is boss and may need to upset some of the old guard who have sat through successive seasons of failure.

Tony Smith had already shown at Huddersfield that he could make a team perform better than the sum of it parts would suggest.

In my view had we not taken Smith he would have gone to Wigan with who knows waht impact on them.

I think that Hetherington has to be applauded for:

First, establishing a vision (stands by for flak from some on here) for the club based on local talent,

Secondly, sound financial and business planning.

He then supplemented that by appointing Smith at a time when the other foundations were in place having recognised that Powell lacked the tactical nous and coaching experience to take us to the next level.

So to answer the original question in my usual long-winded way, your management needs to recognise that success won't come overnight or if it does it will evaporate as has happened with the Bulls and Wigan in the absence of proper effective management planning in the broadest sense.

TS will bring better coaching skills than Lowes currently possesses, it will be interesting to see if he (JL) understands, accepts this and i9s prepared to stay & learn.

As everyone else has said It’s all down to the quality of players that Warrington have coming through that will determine how successful Tony Smiths time at the club will be.



There is no doubt that he will get the current squad playing much much better rugby than they currently have but I do feel that any success he has with the current players will be short lived due to the age of the team, I wouldn’t be surprised to see them win the CC or make the GF if Smith gets them playing well but he certainly isn’t as lucky as he was at Leeds with the number of quality youngsters he had.

didnt he get them relegated twice?

If I recall it they were relegated in his 1st year in charge with someone else's squad, they then went unbeaten to gain promotion back to Superleague. On their return they performed way above you'd expect the players thay had available would do. They had structure and a game plan presumably all laid down by Smith.

On that basis alone I was delighted that GH recruited him to be our coach.

I stand by my original point that had we not appointed him to replace Powell he could well have gone to Wigan, definitely to our detriment and their benefit.

Going back to the whole development thing, I dont think people give enough credit to Dean Bell. He put the structures in place that most clubs have adopted now and I dont think its any coincidence that both Leeds and Wigans academies were the best 2 at developing players after he had been there.

The Tony Smith is champion.



But not as many times as me.



Fantastic.

Tony Smith is an excellent coach and he i believe in the long term will turn the wire round. He has a difficult job they have a lot of over paided so called super stars who may just be here for their pensions. Without him we would have won nothing, under Powell the team were going no where. He brought a sense of purpose to the club and brought well. Yes he did not bring success in the World Cup but i wonder who could. The one thing he does so well is get a time that will grind out results and in the future i would welcome him back to Leeds anyday. The best coach we have had in the Super League era.

I'd go further back than even that and look at the stuff Dougie Laughton did .... One thing Leeds didn't have before then was a youth policy.

Your memory must be playing tricks, all Laughton did was spend the clubs money on players past their sell buy dates and nearly get the club relegated. The only reason Dean Bell developed the youth policy as he did was because we could no longer buy players. Laughton was the worst coach we every had.

For me Smith is an enigma - his methods were relatively unknown when he came to Leeds. At Leeds he inherited a squad on the up that contained a lot of youngsters on the verge of something very good.



Smith should be given credit for winning the championship in 2004 and for the whole of that season that was something very special - only two losses in year is some achievement.



However 2004 was the zenith and the team failed to improve under his leadership which hit a real low in 2006 - 2007 it could be argued and has been argued was a result of Smith announcing his departure and the greater freedom the players experienced when the balance of power swung in their favour.



Smith is a draconian control freak - players at Leeds had to agree with him if they wanted to take their wife out for dinner? His uncomprimising attitude is thought by many to have had a detremental effect on the England team in the WC - a complete alcohol ban just one of the measures?



His hardline attitude had seen a players unrest and as a result Smith was not going to have his contract renewed at Leeds - that says much.



Technically he is reputed to be a superb coach - whether is man management style is as good is open to question - that could be a problem in what appears to be a fairly loose culture at Warrington. I can see a fairly big turn around in key personnel in the off season. Smith likes players to play to his pattern - individualism/deviation from his pattern is likely to result in a spell in the reserves.



Interesting times ahead - Warrington with be a better side in the short term