Brian Smith’s 25 years of mediocrity

[Patorick]

http://www.theroar.com.au/2010/06/0...heroar/rugby-league+(The+Roar+-+Rugby+League)

By Junior - Roar Pro

Brian Smith’s 25 years of mediocrity

In what occupation can somebody still be paid handsomely to turn up for work after 25 years of chronic underperformance? Ask Brian Smith. He’s built a career out of it.
As a rugby league coach since 1984, Brian Smith has delivered not a single premiership to any club that he has mentored. That’s twenty-five years, at six clubs, in two countries, and zero premierships.
When somebody has twenty-five attempts at doing a job with all the resources that he needs and can’t achieve the desired goal even once, then something is rotten in the state of Denmark.
At what point does somebody have a quiet word in his ear that perhaps he should consider an alternative career?
As a chief string-puller in Australia, he has coached his team du jour to the semi-finals on no fewer than ten occasions, for three grand final appearances and three abject grand final defeats.
Two matches highlight how impotent Smith has been as a coach. Parramatta’s capitulation in the 2001 Grand Final to Newcastle (24-0 down at half time) and Parramatta’s 29-0 loss to North Queensland in the 2005 preliminary final.
Both were quintessential Brian Smith. He failed miserably. He had the cattle and the cattle were in peak form. Yet he didn’t have the capacity to motivate his players to lift for the occasion of winning a grand final or qualifying for a grand final.
Obviously Smith could not run, pass, kick or tackle for the players, but the simple fact is that he could also not find the words or the energy to trigger a performance when it mattered most.
In recent months Smith has given his current Roosters experiment, sorry club, some much needed discipline and structure as he drags his whiteboard around Bondi.
He may be the poster boy for all aspiring Mr Fixits out there with a track record of nurturing juniors and even occasionally breaking down opposing teams, but he still has the same number of first grade rugby league premierships to his name as Craig Bellamy. The same number as Kim Kardashian, for that matter.
To the Rooster supporter out there (please stand up so we can see you), the weekend’s 42-18 loss to the lamentable Cronulla side is a bleak sign of what lies ahead. Take the next three years to go backpacking through Eastern Europe and we’ll text through any premierships.
Don’t panic too much if you lose your phone.

:crazy:

Sounds like someone's trying to get a job with the Daily Telegraph.

He neglects to mention how Stone is going with much of Smith's team from last year.

 

[Dr Crane]

i like the accidental contradiction he gets by bringing up craig bellamy.

 

[BIKER_DRAGON]

Every football code needs their Village Idiot and rugby league has Brian Smith.

 

[Baron Vo Mandor]

I kept on waiting for him to get to the punchline or add something new to this much rehashed article, but it just turned out to be poorly written dribble!

 

[TheDalek079]

Look at the squad he had in 2001. Hardly world-beaters, yet he transformed them into the arguably most potent attacking team in rugby league history.

or the drags in 92/93. On paper that squad would be lucky if it scraped into the finals. He got them to back to back grand finals.



He may not have won a premiership, but his ability to transform a team into a genuine contender is clear

 

[mattyVOK]

What a load of sh*t!

How can you blame a coach for losing a grand final, if the players can't find motivation for a GF then they will never be motivated.

 

[FastEddie]

Has never had the class, particularly in the halves, to win a premiership.
That could change at Easts, once Carney goes to 6, with a few additions to their squad here and there
They had Taylor and Buettner at 6 and 7 in 01, Morris and Smith in 05
He almost won a formula 1 title driving a Corolla for f**ks sake

 

[Bobby DIGital]

Only thing good about the article is the Kim K reference.

 

[Bluebags1908]

"In what occupation can somebody still be paid handsomely to turn up for work after 25 years of chronic underperformance? Ask Brian Smith. He’s built a career out of it.
As a rugby league coach since 1984, Brian Smith has delivered not a single premiership to any club that he has mentored. That’s twenty-five years, at six clubs, in two countries, and zero premierships"

Brian Smith won a premeriship with Hull, I think it was in 1991.

Brian Smith may not have won a premiership, and maybe he has a problem with getting teams 'over the line' in the big one - but the bloke can coach. You simply don't last or 25 yeas in this business if you can't.

 

[Stagger eel]

"In what occupation can somebody still be paid handsomely to turn up for work after 25 years of chronic underperformance? Ask Brian Smith. He’s built a career out of it.
As a rugby league coach since 1984, Brian Smith has delivered not a single premiership to any club that he has mentored. That’s twenty-five years, at six clubs, in two countries, and zero premierships"

Brian Smith won a premeriship with Hull, I think it was in 1991.

Brian Smith may not have won a premiership, and maybe he has a problem with getting teams 'over the line' in the big one - but the bloke can coach. You simply don't last or 25 yeas in this business if you can't.

he also won a premiership with souths in third grade 1981.

 

[Gaba]

I think brian smith needs to get his white board out again like in his days at knights and eels , and show his game plans.

 

[gregstar]

brian smith will always have my gratitude.

he returned saints to competitiveness after 4.5 years of dross.

to say the guy can't coach is straight out ignorant.

 

[Serc]

Yep, did the same at the Knights too...almost wish we still had him going on our performances so far this year!

 

[Johns Magic]

Yep, did the same at the Knights too...almost wish we still had him going on our performances so far this year!

Almost???

 

[gregstar]

in his first year with the steers in '84, he nearly polished a turd.

on paper that team would have struggled to beat two dead earwigs & yet they rolled all the top sides & went to within a weekend of making the finals.

 

[perverse]

i dearly wish we still had Smith at the knights... at the very least i know for a fact he would be sticking so many rockets up our players that we could probably work out a sponsorship deal with NASA.

he's very intelligent and tactically masterful... although on occasion he even out strategizes himself and everything falls into a heap. rarely happens 2 weeks in a row, though. i think it will be genuine shame if he never wins a premiership in the NRL... although even if he doesn't i will not consider his career a failure... and i trust he will look back on it himself and have the same opinion.

 

[Serc]

Yeah almost...I'm not exactly going to go too hard just yet on a rookie coach after we lost two forwards in the off season (who haven't been replaced), the drugs scandal still hanging over our heads, and the majority of our best players injured for much of the first half of the season.

This is regardless of me wanting Smith to have been at the Knights until at least the end of this year...but thats another story

 

[mightybears]

Thats the first and last time i'll see 'Kim Kardashian' and 'Brian Smith' in the same artricle!

 

[Apey]

Why don't they ever write about Tim Sheens? :sarcasm:

 

[hybrid_tiger]

Every single club Smith has coached were better off with him at the helm then they were before he was coaching.