Was very impressed with Smiths comments about the long term approach. Now that we have Simon and Anakin in the match day 17 I think that we will start to have some go forward back up for England. Got to say both Walker and Yates went well on Saturday, good to have pressure on places Scruton ( who I thought was our best forward last season ), Anderson and Kirmond perhaps making way for the younger guns, its the natural way of things.

I know that it's very early days Bren but, I hope that he can stay longer.
A bloke of his calibre and experience can put good things in place for the long term future of the club.
There are very few people around, especially those that would come to Wakefield, that have the ability that Smith has
to get us on the right track and keep us there.
This guy understands the big picture.

The change in cultures does take time, and like he says, we can't flick a switch.

It has been said that he changed the culture around at Bradford.

He was their during the 1996 season, and they got to Wembley, and in 1998, they got to the grand final, albeit with a different coach during 1998, and they were then a powerful force for around 8 further seasons beyond that

Just watched the highlights. There certainly seems to be a good sense of togetherness and support within the team which bodes well. There were some bloody good bits of rugby as well!

An inch extra on the Lyne no try and the Johnstone now try could have made the scoreline look a lot nicer.
And to be honest, if they hadn't crowded out whoever was to get the ball when their man got sent off, that could easily have been a try too. (though I thought the yellow card was a bit over the top to be honest. Looked to be going forward anyway.

i havent seen the incident since the game, re the sin binning.

However, I was positioned behind the posts, and had quite a good view.

I think the sin binning was the right call, as the Wakefield player was taken out without the ball. Had this have been a televised game, I think that would have happened. At the end of the day it was a professional foul.

At the end of the day, the player was running at pace supporting the play, and wasnt that far from the line, I think it was Annakin. Had he have caught this, I think would have taken some stopping, and then even the penalty try could have come into play, and have seen them given for that

There is no doubt, at the speed he was going, and with all the tacklers coming from the side rather in front he would have scored.............if he caught it.

Very happy with Brian's comments about the scheduling and how the big clubs get looked after its about time somebody stood up for us!!!!!!good work !

Just read it and agree he says it how it is but I like the part where he says it feels like we are insects on a windscreen but adds "it wont be like that on Friday". Do I sense some optimism?

I like Brian's comment when he said the game is lopsided towards the bigger clubs. We will not be able to compete with the Ozz teams until this is sorted out. In Ozz the TV money is shared out fairly and there are rules to stop the best team from having all the better players. They also are not allowed to poach the young & upcoming players, if they are not in their area. Players who are sent off face getting at least an 8 match ban, instead of our very lenient system!! It seems we are way behind and have a lot of catching up to do!!!

The big difference with the Aussies, is that RL is HUGE over there (at least it is in the states where it is played).
IIRC, their sponsorship deal is around £1 billion where ours is counted in millions.
Therefore the draw for young players is substantially higher, creating a much larger talent pool.
It's got rock all to do with TV scheduling, just pound notes (Aussie dollars).

Back on topic
Smith comments show the calibre of coach that we now have at Wakefield.
As I mentioned in another post, the guy understands the full picture, fans, players, finance, coaching etc and it's high time that we fought our corner with everything that we have.
It's a pity he doesn't know about UK planning regulations

One thing I like at the moment is the pen picture they have for Smith is of him with his Wax jacket on pointing aggressively clearly directing operations in training.
The other coaches have pictures of them in studio with a nice branded track suit on or watching the game from up high.

That shows exactly what we have. A mature experienced coach who is getting his hands dirty making this club go somewhere. When he goes we need to replace with something similar, rather than an up and comer. It's no coincidence that Kear stepped things up for us compared to T Smith, Agar and Webster. I'm sure they are all academically astute coaches, but we need a strong leader more than a tactical wiz. Smith seems to be both.

Thought it was an excellent interview and said it exactly how he saw things. He is a very astute individual who we are fortunate to have as our coach.

Superb interview from BS highlighting a lot of issues.