It would appear so.

just asking the question mate. should he not get stick for the cc final?
was it sensible to play senior and have no prop on the bench?

So basically, every coach there's ever been is hugely over-rated because at some point one of their teams has failed to perform in a big game.

Fair enough, that's the terms of reference defined anyway...

Who has the best ratio for championships won

Wayne Bennett at Brisbane or Tony Smith at Leeds








That Wayne bloke must be sh17e

He did what coaches are paid to do and made a decision.

Marcus Bai doesn't play silly sods in his own in-goal and this whole debate drifts into the winds of time as a non-event.

i would agree andy, my point is it was a bloody stupid decision

Daniel Anderson is a great coach because he wins trophies on a regular basis, not one ever three years- compare his record to Smith's did Smith ever win all trophies in one season? - end of!!

Andy what I am saying is to just take the two GF wins and say Smith is a great coach is to overlook lots of dross and poor stuff in the intervening years - so to say because he won two big games as an example of how good he was is equally contrite.

Finally all this about Smith being great because he is the only Leeds coach since Francis to win two championships is more a reflection of his predecessors rather than his quality as an uber-coach?

Hands up anyone who hasn't made one, either at work or otherwise...

He based his selection partly on the dreadful performance by Mcdermott the previous week.

sits and waits for gareth to say his hand is up!

i'm not disputing that. i'm just redressing the arguements that smith was a golden bollox.
read my posts on this and i think it's a well balanced arguement.
smith did a great job at times but i honestly think he should have done better at times.
the final in question is one such point

he had a mare danny, but so did the other 16.

He made the wrong decision - even you can accept that?

And if Calderwood hadn't scored the try he did and Ward and Sinfield were so tired from having to play with 16 men all game perhaps Cooke would not have been able run past them so easily?

If and buts?

I agree but you cant get it right all the time.

He made mistakes like anyone else and his unwillingness to admit mistakes peed me off at times.

Smith is one of if not the most successful coach in our history so I'm happy to dwell on the positives rather than the negatives.