Interesting.

Would see 2 of the better teams in the league going for a Full Back with a greater attacking impetus than a defensive one.

Smith hasn't a great record in SL.
He was in charge when Hudds were relegated.
They were promoted with Smith, Hudds being the only full time squad in the division as Ken Davy bankrolled them.
He hadn't done anything at Leeds until his appointment as England coach was announced. Leeds fans tell me that if he'd not got the England job no way would his contract have been renewed.
Following the announcment of the Eng job Leeds then won the GF, they then repeated that twice under McLennan.
Wire probably have the most expensive squad and what has he done in SL? They haven't won the hub cap, they haven't won the GF & SL Trophy, so what has he achieved? A squad needs consistancy to win those trophies and Wire up to now haven't had it.
They have won the C Cup twice as those are all one off games, something that Wire are good at. Look at when they beat us, the better team on the night and deserved their win. Then they lose the next two! That's no good!
Look at his time with GB, the worst World Cup performance in the history of the game. England were embarrassing under him.
Sorry but I don't rate Smith one bit!

So he didn't do anything at Leeds before 2007 then? I suggest you go back and look again.

Is it any wonder RL gets treated so badly in the media when people who represent it in the media know so little. Embarrassing.

jesus H. Corbett.

Prerequisite, isn't it (Hadfield apart)?

I agree with you on both these points.

With the Warrington squad you get people saying Smith should have done this and that because he's inherited the best squad but a lot of those Warrington players had been there for ages and nobody was saying they were the best squad when they were fighting for the outside playoff spots under Cullen.

Who would you say were Warrington's best players...?

Briers, Wood - been there over a decade, since the Van de Velde era
Westwood - signed by Plange in the relegation battle 2002
Bridge, Grix, Harrison - were there for most of the Cullen era
Morley, Monaghan, King, Louis Anderson - all part of the later Cullen era, Morley had been with us 2 years and the others 1 year before Tony Smith took over with us bottom of the league.

Also Clarke and Riley who aren't as much part of the team now but were for Smith's first two years, were other long standing players, Clarke since 2001 and Riley (despite only being 23 now) being in the team since 2005.

Since Smith has been here other clubs fans have been saying on messageboards that we have the best squad and it must be over the salary cap and we should easily win the league with our squad....really? Is it really ahead of Leeds, Saints or Wigan? Guys like Westwood, Bridge, Harrison, Louis Anderson who are counted as 'top players' now would certainly not have been seen as top players under the Cullen era....maybe Westwood was starting to get respect but not the others. I remember when we appointed Smith in early 2009 a popular view on these boards (from Warrington fans not just other clubs fans) was 'its not a new coach the Dire needs...its a new team....'

I suppose you can make similar points about McGuire at Wigan, most of the current Wigan squad including its main players were there during the later years of the Brian Noble era when Wigan were a fighting for 4th/5th team, and now they are champions, but McGuire hasn't gone out and signed a load of big name galacticos, Wigan's best players are guys who have been in the team for a few years now.