Brian Smith Coach of the Year

[Hanscholo]

There is nothing more to say on this. He was an excellent coach for us, was doing what we needed. We took a cheap option and have embraced mediocrity in the medium term as a hallmark of our clubs existence.

 

[Noname36]

In all seriousness though, he's got to do something about the young blokes at that club. I understand that he probably doesn't have much control over those NYC players that just sh*t in that hotel, but head coach means "head of coaching" so he does have a responsibility there. He did some good things with Carney (hopefully he doesn't fall back off the wagon), but they really need to do something about the other young fellers there.

 

[Pika]

He is a Coach, not a baby sitter.

If the threat of having your contract torn up is not enough to stop this kind of stuff, then you will not stop it.

They are now gone and an example sent to the rest of the Club.

Nothing to do with the Coach really.

 

[red and blue]

That better playing roster got the wooden spoon last year and we also beat them the only time we played them this year.
And lets face it the begining of our season was a disaster to think we came as close to making the semis as we did I think speaks volumes for the club.
Also that so called great coach could not see any future in Kade Snowden so let him go.
I know people are going to say that he would not be playing as well had he stayed at the Knights but if Smith was that great of coach he would have been able to change his attitude and get to the level he is now playing.
IMO this dont show how great a coach Smith is just how bad Fittler was.

 

[knights girl]

Congrats to Brian Smith....that should be a kick up the arse for the knights board....we let him go and get Stone....yep a great replacement.

 

[Noname36]

Congrats to Brian Smith....that should be a kick up the arse for the knights board....we let him go and get Stone....yep a great replacement.

We get it, you hate Stone. You don't need to keep saying it, I think we know your position on the matter.

 

[red and blue]

Congrats to Brian Smith....that should be a kick up the arse for the knights board....we let him go and get Stone....yep a great replacement.

Lets not forget what Stone has achived this year with a side that was suposed to get the spoon.
The jury is still out on stone lets see how he goes next year.

 

[jayceen]

IMHO Smith was brought to the Knights to do the dirty work and have a clear out of the all the deadwood and once that was done,they, the board didn't want him around anymore. So good on you Brian, hope You have plenty of success at the Roosters

 

[Jono078]

Lets not forget what Stone has achived this year with a side that was suposed to get the spoon.
The jury is still out on stone lets see how he goes next year.

Team suppose to get the spoon?

I don't know about you but I had 100% expectations of top 8. Just about the same team as last year which was sitting in the top 6 the majority of the season.

Our position this year looks ok but some of the games we looked so bad I can only put it down to the coach. Next year will show is Stone is any decent or not.

 

[red and blue]

Team suppose to get the spoon?

I don't know about you but I had 100% expectations of top 8. Just about the same team as last year which was sitting in the top 6 the majority of the season.

Our position this year looks ok but some of the games we looked so bad I can only put it down to the coach. Next year will show is Stone is any decent or not.

I was more thinking about the drugs crap at the start of the year when all the so called experts in the media had said that the knights were favorites for the spoon.
I thought at the end of last year we were top 4 bound but as the season started and with the poice inquiry I did have my doubts as to were the guys heads would be.
They turned it around towards the end of the year and with Stone with a season under his belt there will be no exucses next year I think we will be in the finals next year.

 

[Noname36]

The more I think about this issue, the more I think people are being extremely short-sighted. I was absolutely devastated when Smithy said he was leaving. I knew immediately that we would go downhill this year, simply because we had assembled a team with so many players who seemed incapable of performing for any other coach than Smith. I was on the "our cheap club is so stupid blah blah blah" bandwagon initially, but after I've had time to think about it, I'm having trouble putting too much blame on the club.

To those saying "oh we should have offered him a 4 year contract like the Roosters did", lets be realistic here, do you really think that we had the finances to take a risk like that? It's easy to sit back now and say "oohhh but results this year speak for themselves, we should have offered him that!", but let's try and look at it in perspective. If things had have turned sour for whatever reason (as they unfortunately have a habit of doing when Smithy is involved), does anyone here truly think that we would have had the finances to pay out the rest of his contract, and hire a new coach? I would have given him a 2 year extension (instead of our 1 year extension), but other than that, I'm not sure if I would have done anything differently.

The Roosters are a different kettle of fish. They have enough money that they can afford to take the crazy risk of putting a coach on a 4 year contract, because they can easily pay that out. And even if we had have offered him a long contract like the Roosters did, their offer was still a lot higher than ours could have been. Does anyone really think we'd win a bidding war with the Roosters?

When the Chooks had enough money to offer him a 4 year contract on extremely high money, they could offer him the chance to move to Sydney to be close to his daughter, they could offer him a better playing roster, they could offer him all the facilities in the world, they could offer him the freedom to buy who and what he pleased without having money to worry about, they could offer him the dream of once again rebuilding a club in crisis...did anyone really think we could keep him? From what I've heard, as soon as the Roosters got in his ear he was gone...before The Knights or even Brad Fittler knew they'd spoken.

I know I'll get abused from all angles from saying this, but as soon as the Chooks displayed interest he was gone. They're the perfect club for him, and from the stabs he's been taking at us, Newcastle obviously wasn't. sh*t like this happens, and although I wish the club could have done something, I didn't like their chances.

 

[aqua_duck]

The more I think about this issue, the more I think people are being extremely short-sighted. I was absolutely devastated when Smithy said he was leaving. I knew immediately that we would go downhill this year, simply because we had assembled a team with so many players who seemed incapable of performing for any other coach than Smith. I was on the "our cheap club is so stupid blah blah blah" bandwagon initially, but after I've had time to think about it, I'm having trouble putting too much blame on the club.

To those saying "oh we should have offered him a 4 year contract like the Roosters did", lets be realistic here, do you really think that we had the finances to take a risk like that? It's easy to sit back now and say "oohhh but results this year speak for themselves, we should have offered him that!", but let's try and look at it in perspective. If things had have turned sour for whatever reason (as they unfortunately have a habit of doing when Smithy is involved), does anyone here truly think that we would have had the finances to pay out the rest of his contract, and hire a new coach? I would have given him a 2 year extension (instead of our 1 year extension), but other than that, I'm not sure if I would have done anything differently.

The Roosters are a different kettle of fish. They have enough money that they can afford to take the crazy risk of putting a coach on a 4 year contract, because they can easily pay that out. And even if we had have offered him a long contract like the Roosters did, their offer was still a lot higher than ours could have been. Does anyone really think we'd win a bidding war with the Roosters?

When the Chooks had enough money to offer him a 4 year contract on extremely high money, they could offer him the chance to move to Sydney to be close to his daughter, they could offer him a better playing roster, they could offer him all the facilities in the world, they could offer him the freedom to buy who and what he pleased without having money to worry about, they could offer him the dream of once again rebuilding a club in crisis...did anyone really think we could keep him? From what I've heard, as soon as the Roosters got in his ear he was gone...before The Knights or even Brad Fittler knew they'd spoken.

I know I'll get abused from all angles from saying this, but as soon as the Chooks displayed interest he was gone. They're the perfect club for him, and from the stabs he's been taking at us, Newcastle obviously wasn't. sh*t like this happens, and although I wish the club could have done something, I didn't like their chances.

When have things turned bad for Smith? He may not be the best ncoach in the world but he's in the top 3 coaches out there when get comes to lifting a struggling club. The roosters were wooden spooners last year and played like a park footy team at times, and he's managed to take them to a major semi final in the space of a year. I mean if Hagan was worthy of a 6 season, 154 game career as a knights coach than surely Smith could have been given the benefit of the doubt

 

[Noname36]

When have things turned bad for Smith? He may not be the best ncoach in the world but he's in the top 3 coaches out there when get comes to lifting a struggling club. The roosters were wooden spooners last year and played like a park footy team at times, and he's managed to take them to a major semi final in the space of a year. I mean if Hagan was worthy of a 6 season, 154 game career as a knights coach than surely Smith could have been given the benefit of the doubt

Do you recall his last year at Parra? Or the way the players here turned on him as soon as they found out he'd been negotiating with the Roosters? I'm sure part of that is the player's immaturity (from both clubs), but you'd think that if they were 100% behind the coach they'd be willing to play for him. I don't know what it is about Smithy, he seems like a good bloke, but I can't recall a coach that had the ability to turn entire groups of players against them. That's the risk I was talking about. The club couldn't be sure that nothing like this would happen. Has Smith ever seen out a contract anywhere?

On Hagan, I think that's a different matter entirely. Despite the fact that even during our golden years of 01 and 02 most Knight's fans could see that he couldn't coach, the results were still there (because of Johns, etc). You couldn't just say to Hagan "look, I know we're dominating the competition, but we know you can't really coach, so see ya". In 04 we were without Johns for most of the year, and in 05 we had the worst imaginable injury toll. Hagan was shown the door as expected.

 

[Pika]

Which players turned on him when he was leaving?

 

[Rusty]

Lets not forget what Stone has achived this year with a side that was suposed to get the spoon.
The jury is still out on stone lets see how he goes next year.

It's always the same deal...'let's wait until next year'.


The fact that we can't attract big name players is a reflection of the club. Quite simply, nobody wants to play for the Knights. Brian Smith turned wooden spooners into premiership contenders in the space of ONE YEAR.
What the f****is happening at our club? We keep waiting and waiting...how long did we wait for the likes of Dureau to come good? What 2 years or maybe 3 years? Would say the Dragons or Brisbane put up with such mediocrity? No. Player recruitment in the past years? All we have ever made a play for are deadbeats?! We even struggle to attract deadbeats. All I can say is from the board all the way down to the coach, there are issues that need to be addressed.

Sick of waiting...

 

[RHCP]

After one year with Smith, we were one win away from the wooden spoon. Hardly 'premiership contenders'

 

[Serc]

I think he's talking about the Roosters

Though to be fair I thought the same as you until I re-read it lol

 

[RHCP]

Damn my quick trigger fingers.