So is Tony Smith coaching Jimmy Lowes?

Yep, I'm actually looking forward to the match on Sunday now, even though I acknowledge that not much may change by then.

The fans of the club have been depressed for the past few months, and even the usually optimistic fans like me have not been ar$ed about going. I suddenly feel a whole lot more optimistic!

This will ultimately turn out to be as significant as the day Bill Shankly took over at Anfield.

Well I wouldn't go that far, but we have the potential to build the next big Super League dynasty here at Warrington. Tony Smith in charge, John Bastian bringing the young players through, Simon Moran providing financial backing.

One of the Super League's few A-grade licenses, its now time to see this club reach its potential on the field.

You'd be surprised what it can do in the short term. Remember when Saints appointed Daniel Anderson? We'd just got hammered to Hull and were in a bit of turmoil after the Millward fiasco. Along came Mr. Anderson and we suddenly went on a good run with some superb victories early on. Coincidentally his first game was against Leeds too!

Totally agree with you. It's the best appointment we've made in decades, and furthermore it's a an appointment that fits with what all feel has been the 'image' of the club since probably 2005. I've never felt so positive about the future of our club as I do right now.

He gives youth a chance, he plays open, attacking rugby, he seems to according to people (like Stevo) not be afraid to weedle out bad apples. He's basically ticking all the boxes of what you'd want, and I just think as fans, we should just enjoy the journey for the next two & a half years as I think there's only one way we're going.

I'm not to worried about what happens this year, 2010, with alot of the squad having come off contract in 2009, with his recruitment, and all of our 'kids' a year further developed. I know it's borderline laughable now to keep churning this out, but you'd have to be pretty confident of having a big 2010.

My expectations for this year now, finish the season stronger & stronger as it goes on, his methods get accepted etc, say finish 5th with a good cup run.

5th is not a bad position to finish this year. With the new playoffs don't they play 8th in the first week. Better than finishing 4th and having to travel to top or have I got it completely wrong?

With the links to staff that were already here (Bastian and Lowes) makes me wonder how long has this been on the cards and how much influence has Smith had on the appointment of Lowes last July and the recruitment / retention and releasing of some of the playing staff.

I know the Smith rumours were being thrown about last season but how much truth was in them back then?

I dont suppose it matters now but makes me wonder if Lowes knew that the cavalry was on its way and was his last post match interview a bit of a mickey take as in "i know I am doing a holding role until TS turns up"

I'd like to see Smith get a bunch of youngsters and work closely with them as he did at Leeds ala Smith, Burgess, Tansey etc weve just bought some pre season acadamy kids along with the acadamy we have now, if we nurture them in the right way we could be a team looking forward

Smith had it lucky at Leeds. They have the cream of the crop in this country and a much bigger catchment area than Warrington. I wouldn't expect results like that.

Crumbs.....
Sally overjoyed? I'm gobsmakcked!!
Backed up by JWP and others.......

I guess I'm in the minority but.........
........ still can't get my hopes up.

I really do hope my negativity is proved to be totally wrong.

Wire have flattered to decieve for 20+ years and (another) new coach doesn't lead me to set my sights too high.

I really hope I'm wrong and am forced to eat my words.

C'mon, cheer up!!!

Things look better now than they did this time last week, surely you can see that?

Yes - things definately do look better and I'm confident we can now get back to where I thought we would be at the beginning of the season - which is mid table.

I just don't want people going overboard on this as I don't think it's a recipe for guarrentteed trophies.
You know what some are like on this forum - how long before the Smith- knockers start? My guess is Sunday 5pm (or possibly earlier) which is again totally ridiculous.

I think this is on a higher notch than past news coming out of the club.

This is a whole different level to what we have before and in my opinion the missing link. We've had the players, the money, the ground and the fans for years now, but no coach who can handle things that big.

As for the Smith knockers, you can only judge them on it. If they want immediate change and success, they'll be disappointed. Lowes was a quick fix because we had no other options and look what happened.

My nan used to call Michael Reiziger the missing link... the daft racist.

For WWRLFC, Tony Smith is definately what we've been missing, completely agree with all of this post.

Quite right. No excuses left now.

Just like to add my agreement. Although the guy has got to be given plenty of time to sort the mess out.

I'm hoping that under an 'Aussie' coach our Aussie 'stars' will now show what they can do.




Now the Wire..

Replace "Aussie" with "big" and I think you have it

In the current RL climate 'Aussie' and 'big' are the same thing.

Possibly. I just mean that I believe the big players will start to perform under a big coach. I think that may be the problem with King, and even Monaghan.

I may be wrong and may be proven so if King and Monaghan don't improve under Smith, maybe I'm being optimistic that those 2 will improve.

I just thing that our big names, including Briers, King, Monaghan and even Penny and Riley will improve under a big coach.

God I hope so. Like a previous post mentioned- there is no hiding place now!

I agree there are no guarantees of trophies, I hope we win something but I wouldn't say Smith's reign was a disaster if we didn't, as long as we are credible trophy contenders, which we haven't been before.

But I think most of our fans will be fine with that, the knockers don't really start until the wheels start to fall off. When Cullen came in he had near universal support for about eighteen months, the first time I can remember doubts being expressed from Wire fans was at Easter 2004 when we lost to Widnes at home (first defeat at the HJ) and went on a bad couple of months. Most of the fans came back onside in 2005 when we had our best run of form in the SL era, then after 2006 the dissenters started to increase steadily with former ardent Cullen supporters (eg me) dropping off one by one. Even when Lowes took over last year there was a feeling of giving him a chance when we won 6 out of 7, and the anti-Lowes movement only started to pick up momentum as we got deeper into our eight game losing streak.

However with Smith's appointment there will be a silent percentage of our fans who were not keen on the appointment, as can be seen by the reaction when his name was linked in previous discussions, some said Smith is not the man for us. Those fans will be waiting for the first opportunity to lay into Smith and bring up the World Cup. This is likely to be short lived and a minority though, because over the next two and a half years we are going to get a much better product on the field than we are used to, which will buy him a good honeymoon time.

Yeah good points, however in Tony Smith I believe most fans will see that we finally have a coach with a PROVEN track record of winning things, something that IMO always hindered Cullen/Lowes in the eyes of a lot of fans.

We always looked at other coaches and thought "wouldn't it be good if he coached here" now in Smith the dream has become a reality.

<goes off to watch Wire lose 10 straight>

Optimism for the future is bound to have risen with the appointment of a proven coach, but don't let us expect too much too soon, and then start to complain that we haven't won anything.
If we manage to succeed this season, all well and good, but I am looking long term, and just praying that Smith can influence the players into giving their all for 80 minutes - much the same as they did for 50 minutes against Saints.
Much of the criticism of PC and JL stemmed from the impression often given on the field that some players just couldn't be bothered whether they won or lost.
Good attitude on and off the pitch is what fans are looking for, not miracles.
Can't wait for Sunday to see what the Smith effect is on the players and the crowd. Have all the tickets gone yet?

Very pleased with the appointment - and I think the key thing is he will help us build a club rather than just a team. (Although the latter would be a good start!) He seems totally professional and will put in place proper structures and won't stand any shenanagins from the players. He never picked Briers for GB which says alot I think.

I also think he's more of a strategic coach - i.e. I wouldn't be expecting a massive turnaround in form in the short-term but over the next 2 years or so we will see a much more professional squad of players and therefore performances. It's interesting to read what Bastian has to say about picking players as much by their attitude as just their talent - this will eventually feed into the 1st team.

I wouldn't be expecting trophies in 2 years - this is a much bigger job than he had at Leeds. In some respects more like Huddersfield probably.

I liked Cullen and I actually think he is a good coach - but his biggest error I think was in being too pally with the players. Smith certainly won't be doing that and drinking together etc. Also - don't forget that he's a British subject so we can still say we've got a British coach!!!