I don't know Tony Smith personally. What I do know is that he is a highly successful SL coach who has won silverware with 2 separate teams. I am not. He is the professional with the knowledge. I am a fan.

If he has his reasons for the team formation I will accept his judgement as that is for the best, when all is considered.

I think, with respect, you may have missed my point. I wasn't suggesting players be given contract extensions as a "thank you". I just think we could speak of them a little better when it's clear it is time to move on. Seems we treat players who are of diminishing use to us very poorly on here.

I wouldn't mind but in a few years those players will be lauded as "legends" and spoken of in awe.

All I am suggesting is a little balance and perspective between oscillating within 2 seasons of "we have one of the strongest squads in the league" to "we need a mass clearout"

As I said the fickle, cynical nature of it saddens me.

Unfortunately all things considered isn't getting us results in a business that has success based upon them.

Results you say?

TS seemed to get results in 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012 and to the GF in 2012, GF in 2013 and the GF Semi in 2014. Based on results in his 6 year tenure he has done outstandingly. I'll trust his judgement over the long term and not after a bad few months.

Is there another current coach who has won 4 pots and reached semi finals or finals in every year since taking the helm ?

Some people have a very short memory.

Show me a man who never made a mistake, and I will show you a man who never made a decision. Smith should stay and discard Agar and the fitness coach for someone better. Our attacking game is non existent, our defence is lethargic and our fitness looks decidedly dodgy.
Apart form that, where are Penny, Russell, Grix, Evans x 2? Why is Ratchford wasted at FB?
If the fans can see the problems why can't Smith and Simon Moran? I'd love to know Mr Moran's thoughts on this season. After all he wouldn't let Take That get away with sub standard shows.

"[iTo me loyalty and fairness means sticking with people through the good and the bad and giving them a fair chance and reasonable time to remedy the situation. "[/i


Sorry 71 but I was trying (and clearly failing) to point out the irony of being loyal to a coach who in turn has no compunction about moving out a 3 time CC player to Wakey or retiring off a long serving crocked player if he believes they are not good enough for his squad. Whether we agree with it or not, sport is about coming first or coming nowhere and the coach is rewarded or sanctioned primarily for his on-field success. C'est la vie.

Some people mature with time, most peoples form will degrade with age, it's about which category Smith fits.

Is he an Alex Ferguson or is he an Alex Murphy?
I would say that his form fits Murphy.

Don't think the Fergie comparison is valid. Can't think of a single rugby league coach that's brought consistent success at one club over that sort of time period, the game changes so much that you can't really relate it with football managers.

this loyalty thing is a load of cobblers..we all want the same thing (success )whether you go to games or your an arm chair fan (like me )when you see bilge like that at kr your going to get a reaction on here...its simply not good enough from a team that has a top coach with players that are supposed to be more than half decent...just hope we get past leigh or this forum will go into meltdown..

Plenty of coaches in RL have seen success.... plenty of those coaches have then seen those sides fall away after a few years at the top.....but how many have turned around a bad few years to see past glories brought back to a club? i cant think of any

Simon Moran will show loyalty to Tony Smith and rightly so, yet I feel the length of Smiths tenure is in his own hands he has a team not performing as well as it should, he will have to correct that pronto for now, next season will depend on who he brings in and more importantly who he lets leave, he has to decide who's best days have gone and who doesn't fit into his plans.

Simon Moran will back him with a Marquee signing (massive disappointment if not) Tony's future will be down to Tony.

Hes earned the right to try and turn it around next season...if next season there are no improvements then it's time to go...that's if we don't get relegated mind.

I'm happy to give him another season to try and sort this mess out... I'm not sure he will get it if things carry on the way they are though.

At the end of the day we have seen 5 different coaches win the grand final during his reign at Warrington... For a few seasons we had the best squad of players in the league and didn't win it.

This is a big point.

Yes, we had a period of success. Winning three Challenge Cups in four years is an amazing feat but in reality we did underachieve in the period of 2010-2013 as we didn't win the Grand Final or go and compete in the World Club Challenge in any of those years...and as brutal as this is, we should have done.

Having a team as good as we did doesn't come round very often, we did some amazing things but wasted the chance to make a historic era in the game. We hung back as a defensive line and allowed Burrow to get a run on us and get Hall in for a try to allow Leeds back in the game when we were in total control for about an hour in 2011, we looked overly nervous and played within ourselves in 2012 and then blew a big lead against Wigan in 2013.