Possibly the agenda by club and coach was to recruit British rather than foreign for the long term good of the game, a laudable aim but clearly there is insufficient quality to be competitive. I suspect the next round of recruitment may well show a different emphasis.

I have to agree with all of this. We are as a club are in a total mess.

If Smith was so disillusioned with the game, he should have left months ago when we had a chance to save the season. Clearly it's filtered down into the team.

Board should have seen Smith was disillusioned and made the break with Smith more than two games before end of season.

We've got half the squad leaving at end of season (9?), a part time head coach to replace, all to be done in a short post season, what with the world cup taking place and an inexperienced CEO racing to the bottom with Toronto to sign as many players as possible, to prevent a huge drop in season tickets.

If he thought we were crap last season despite reaching two finals why did we not sign any quality players?

But out of the 9 leaving only 2 will be losses in Hiku and Savellio. The others need to go as they are not good enough.

I think Fitzpatrick might surprise you in recruiting a new coach and new players. We're currently chasing a SOO halfback and we believe we can get him. Lets see what happens.

I said it in another thread, but this attitude from Smith has really irked me. If he would have aid “well I gave it my all, but at the end of the day it was time to part ways”, then it would have been done properly.

But this ‘oh well I was bored years ago, rugby league is on the slide’ attitude he is coming across with absolutely stinks… Not only did Smith not walk away when he realised his interest was on the wane, HE SIGNED A NEW CONTRACT. Many people on here have been saying for years that this side is on the slide and that a change in coach has been needed.. Turns out that section of people were right.

Yes the game has gone backwards in the last 5 years, but its people like Smith that are in the best position to change this. Smith is buying the players, coaching them and putting them out there on the pitch. He is in charge of the SL side with arguably the biggest spending power, the best facilities and with a decent fanbase. He should be setting the standard and leading the way. But what happened? His recruitment was lazy, his tactics non existent and his demeanour sulky and petulant.

The last 3 or 4 years has served up some of the worst rugby we have ever seen.. SO bad that a lot of people have stopped going to watch it (me being one of them)… We have gone from a skillfull swashbuckling side to a team built on scooting from dummy half, devoid of any character and big game mentality… riddled with internal ‘clear the air meetings’ and overpaid, underperforming star signings.

Anyway….. Thanks for the memories Smith…. Well the ones from 2009-2012.. The last 3 to 4 years not so much.

Perhaps, but if they weren't, why did were they here. Lets be fair, 12 months ago these players were twin grand finalists so not as if they were picked up from the home bargain reduction bin. The players we might recruit could very well be though.



Perhaps, we don't seem to be afraid to flash the cash. We believed we could bring in quite a few players over past few months. Some we know names of, some we do not. We've offered to make players the highest paid in super league, only to be turned down. Until we know why, it would be hard to explain what has gone wrong.

Yes often at the risk of being deemed overtly negative and risking membership. The ones who saw it years ago know who they are, as do those who wanted to give him more time, or couldn't fathom who he could be replaced by.

Sims and Gidley did a reasonable job but now need to move on. The others apart from Hiku and Savellio were always fringe players who have never been good enough. Don't get me wrong our recruitment has been shocking under Smith. Hopefully that will change now.

If we can appoint Maguire and with the money we have and the cap space available I think we become an attractive proposition for some NRL players.

We ain't getting maguire though.

Hmm ok. Let's see what happens with this Canterbury job now it's available first.

When will we see Agar's farewell interview? It is incomprehensible if he stays.