He's a magician, that Tony Smith. Half a season with the comp's perennial underachievers and he's won a trophy.

Post it somewhere else - he's not rated by most of the rugby league geniuses on here!

They did get lucky in the 1/4's though

A fine example of a tailored gameplan. Everyone expected Warrington to major on a forward battle led by Morley and Carvell, so he chose to get the ball wide, kick early, get the most out of Briers etc. A cunning genius to vary tactics according to the opposition and occasion.

Of course. Drawing substandard competition in the last 8 is always a bonus.

But still lost there last 6 league games i believe

Suppose thats what happens when you concentrate on a comp with only 4 qualifying rounds

Agreed it was expertly achieved.

I don't remember him winning it with Huddersfield mind ? And it's a pity his game plan was less effective when he coached England against Aus and NZ recently. Maybe this was because neither Hudds nor England had players that were as good as the opposition.

He is a good coach for sure but with Briers/Monaghan/Morley/Carvell and alike Wire should be winning things. What is does prove is that James Lowes and to an extent Paul Cullen are not as good at coaching as Smith.

Despite those taunts and abuse when Carvell left he at least got one thing right when he stated he was leaving to win silverware.

I hope he loses his medal.

Never a chance he would sign for Rovers then.

This comment about tactical genius is TIC. Smith is a far better coach now than in his days at Huddersfield and as you say has better resources at his disposal at Warrington.

Point being that he gets the most out of what he's got, and he's not had much control over that so far apart from bringing in Carney who's been injured and shipping out Gleeson. Smith had put together a plan to wrongfoot Huddersfield, used his resources perfectly and got the team mentally in the right area - pumped up but not overwrought - so they could implement the gameplan. The contrast with Agar is that obviously through injuries and whatever he doesn't have the same resources, but as an example, we have a class winger who'll chase lost causes all day and we never put in raking kicks to him and a gameplan that amounts to "If you see it, play it."

Can't say I'm pleased that Warrington won for a number of reasons, but well done to their board for stepping in to get Smith who is an experienced coach with some tactical nous.

and would we honestly care if we'd lost our last 6, but just won the cup...no!

3 of the last 4 winers have had to beat Hull KR on the way to winning

prooves your still not good enough then

Would they be the ones that think Briers and Westwood are c--p as well.

I agree with you. If Smith is a better coach now than when at Hudds then credit to Leeds for employing an up and coming coach when they did, and one who by your argument may not have been the best tactician at the time. He is a good coach because he has improved the below par performances of Wire for sure. But when his players are not as good as the opposition he will not win on a consistent basis through his tactical awareness. His players will be beaten by better players in the opposition.

Really I'm just in a bit of a sulk that Warrington won and we're so hopeless. Smith's preparation and gameplan just served as a reminder that we don't do this very well, if at all.

but surely as the salary cap makes SL more and more competitive, having a top class coach becomes even more important.

4 of our wins this season have come against the bottom 2 Salford and Celtic, I doubt they are not going to be as a poor in their 2nd season in SL (look at how Catalan improved after their debut season)

Of course having a top class coach is important - I am in no way defending our coach with this I haven't even referred to him. As I said earlier Smith has proven to be a better coach than Lowes or Cullen by what he has done this year with what is a talented squad with a big pack and excellent halves and hooker. His team was diabolical in the World cup because man for man his players weren't as good as the opposition.

I wanted Hudds as well just to p1ss Carvell off. I suspect our preparation and tactics need serious improvement as you say. Having better players will help improve their execution I am sure. Whether we like it or not he will be in charge next season and for how long will depend entirely on whether the weaknesses you allude to are fixed.

Yeah, I'm sulking about that as well.