Smith put all his eggs in one basket, he didn't transistion because he knew the old heads were good enough to win the GF.
He gambled, it almost paid off but in the end it didn't.

Smith has bought himself a lot of time with a lot of fans due to turning us around and winning CC's and LLS's but a lot of happy clappers are blind to some of his bad decisions.

It was Smith that sanctioned signings (Asotasi) it was Smith that persisted in playing him even though he offered NOTHING at all, EVER. WTF did he play him week in week out?

Smith was at fault for the last two years not Agar or Briers or anyone else. Smith chooses the team, Smith makes the decisions, the buck stops with Smith.

Smith is a very good coach, he has taken us to another level BUT don't let that cloud judgement.
Smith chooses his staff, if they are indeed bad, then buck stops with Smith, physios, any coach, Smith is in charge so he takes the rap.
Smith let us down 2014, 2015 don't fool yourself that anyone else is more to blame than him.

This year he needs to make sure we are at least one game from the GF, if he doesn't deliver that or a CC WIN, not final, a win then sorry he goes for me.
Yes my expectations are high but they are high beacause we have the best of almost everything away from the pitch, it needs to be converted to the pitch now.

Was it 2011 when we finished top with the big points total ? That was our best year ,when we had the ability to close games down. Ever since we have had a bad habit of letting so called lesser teams back into the game, but luckily, year on year, the quality around us has also dropped & given the Wire a false appearance of how good the team is.
Superleague contains a lot of mediocrity & it is only the few stand out,probably imported players, that lift the quality of our domestic game. Unfortunately, it is when these players are missing that is noticeable how poor our product can be.Hopefully, the new under 23s will address this issue over the next few years. The abandonment of the Academy system has certainly not done the game any favours.

With the team Smith had at his disposal between 2010 and 2013 we should have at least one GF in the cabinet and possibly 2. Once more, we have the best playing squad in the league on paper this season and if we don't win it this year then questions need to be asked

Blimey. The best post war coach we have had. Not perfect and he makes mistakes but remember what came before. Cullen had 6 years and the last 4 with money to spend and we won 1 game in the playoffs.

I think we remember last year pretty accurately, but 2014 we were better than people seem to remember. I'm pretty sure we were only one score away from both finals, did we even have a close-call video ref decision go against us in that playoff game? We were definitely competing for trophies anyway even after a slow start, and while we finished 5th there were only 3 points between the top 5!

I'm pretty happy with Smith at the moment. Last season shook my faith in him a lot, I wanted to see some significant improvement or else; thankfully that's what we've seen, so another few years sounds good to me.

Plus in 2014 we had to deal with losing Briers unexpectedly. Should have had a replacement lined up and ready to go for 2015.

A good point and maybe Smiths slip is still showing as he hasn't fully addressed the half back position as going forward is concerned, well as Gidley is doing age alone never mind it's not his best position must be looked at as a stopgap, I'm sure he will be having a lot of input in the back room and is very important to Smith, this position more than any I would like to know what the club/Smith have in mind for the future.

Has he signed this new deal yet?....... ANYWAY... i see Catalans are looking ok since Mikey Monaghan was introduced to the coaching staff....

And Widnes since they got Brett Hodgson.

He was always going to make a good head coach.... wont be long before he is in charge of someone.

Agreed, not many people with as much respect in the game as Brett and not many who read the game as well.

Yet Langer, Johns, Fittler and Wally Lewis never became good coaches. ....

i always had the feeling Hodgson was of the coaching variety... and i remember smith saying one of the reasons he was brought in was because of his teaching abilities for the younger lads... Hodgson was doing his coaching work well before he joined warrington. I think he will be a decent shout in the modern game.

saints have pound land jack black FFS and they beat us last week with their worst team in 10 years.

maybe he wont be a good coach..... but he was an intelligent player that knew the game and how to win... much like monaghan.

I have backed Smith and have asked is he now getting it right after the previous poor two years, well after reading his article in the WA Guardian I will answer my own question NO, he's to put in a new training routine? cutting it short he appears to have lost the plot and not in control deep down I believe he thinks that of his players, at this stage of the season all routines should now be fully implemented and it's beyond belief that Gidley and Ratchford are only just trying to get an understanding.

I don't think Smith (or anyone else, for that matter) has known our first choice XIII since 2011. I won't be unfurling any 'SMITH OUT' bedsheets just yet, but I worry about extending his contract based purely on sentiment and the belief that we should be happy with our lot, as we are better than ten years ago.