If Tony Smith could motivate himself for a new project I'd like to see where he could take us

not for me. I think he's yesterday's man

Tony Smith would take us along the same trajectory as Brian McDermott. Brian McDermott was an offspring of the ‘let the players play what’s in front of them philosophy’ which is loosely translated as ‘I need quality players as I don’t have the knowledge to develop structures so I will rely on the likes of Briers, McGuire, Sinfield etc to win games’.

Tony Smith’s Warrington was the same as Brian McDermott’s Leeds, reliant on creative, quality players to win them games.

Demitreu
Furner.
Powell just to see the reaction
Cheap option Chris Chester or Danny Ward
Thanks Brian for some fantastic times. But the writing has been on the cards for some time.
I guess you will end up at Widnes and maybe you could take two or three of your stalwarts with you.

Without going through the rest of the thread Powell has debunked this.

It will be Powell I'm almost certain of it.
There will be a reason Powell has debunked it but unless something changes I think he will be in charge next year.
You can never say 100% after all Ellis had agreed to come to Leeds and that never happened.

Tony Smith on a temporary basis is fine.

Tony Smith permanently is not.

Never forgave him for winning?
Wrt Sutcliffe who was the head Coach who picked him at 6 even without a pre-season or full re-hab jabbed up every week?
Also if we're "recalling" opinions what about yours of slating Sutty for running more on the 6th when the kick dead rule changed to give the opposition a 7 tackle set?
Then praised the idea when Mcguire revealed they'd been instructed to do it by your hero.
I'll tell you what JC you stick to opta spreadsheets & radio coverage i'll stick to forming an opinion on games i watch live

Couple days on and I'm still staggered at the idiocy of this decision

Actually, I'm finding more and more reasons to see it as a good idea. GH knows what's going on in the club as well as anyone. We were asking how come he hadn't made a statement about performances (as in 2016 and in earlier years). He does that, and the very next game, which he identified as the first of a vital 'mini league' we come up with our worst performance amongst some very bad ones over several months. We've seen in the past GH use public statements to send messages, and in this case it would seem that the players sent him one straight back.

The game vs Cas will tell us a lot IMO in terms of whether there's any truth to McDermott having 'lost the dressing room'. I don't think we've much chance of winning regardless of attitude or any team changes, but if we put up a strong showing it speaks volumes as to where the squad is at - as does another abject collapse.

Assuming the timing wasn't planned, problem now is that GH has to balance this year vs the long-term. I really don't envy him that job - put someone in who wants the job long-term and we could end up lumbered with a poor coach for a while, but waiting until the right long-term coach is available risks this season.

Forget this year, go long term. So long as what we have is capable of avoiding the million pound game if it comes to it.

GH has an opportunity to change direction now. The coaching appointment is about the most significant role in the playing side of the organisation, that person can either build the playing squad up to be greater than the sum of it's parts (like Graham Murray did) or can fracture it and fail to fulfill potential (like Dean Lance did).

It's much more important to get this one right for the longer term, rather than the next 3 or 4 months, as it could take years to unpick a wrong decision now.

Completely agree the "New Era" starts now & we need a Coach to put those foundations in place whilst nurturing the current crop of promising youngsters.

Tony Smith will not return to Rugby League until they scrap the video referee.