Quote carl_spackler="carl_spackler"Just because a player is respected as a player doesn't mean they're any good as a coach, though.
He won the world cup when Wayne Bennett was helping him out. I personally wonder how much each of them did, as NZ have not been as good since IMO. It's also a bit strange to say that the only blot on his CV is the only true coaching job he's had, and the one closest in scope to what we'd want him for. '"
I'm sure there used to be similar stories about John Kear's time at Hull that Kearney was effectively coaching the team and when he left they weren't the same....?
I would be wary of hailing Stephen Kearney (or McLennan in 2005) a coaching genius because of the World Cup win. Effectively it's one game. Pretty much anybody could coach NZ to beat the other teams apart from Australia. So then it comes down to who wins one game and on one game all sorts of factors of luck and form can come in that affect one result.
Really you judge a good coach on constant performance over a period of time especially if they do it in more than one club. Tony Smith is a good coach, so is John Kear. So was Shaun McRae for a while.
Personally I would be surprised if Hull got Tony Smith as coach unless they mean the other Tony Smith that played for Hull? But if you do get the Warrington Tony Smith then he does guarantee improvement and professionalism.
If I was at Hull I would be trying to get Brian Noble or even Steve McNamara, who is maligned a bit (as all England coaches are) but I think he's a decent coach, or Powell.
