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YOU GOT IT WRONG: Hill delivers damning assessment of Smith reign
BY ROBERT DILLON
14/08/2009 4:00:00 AM
THE Knights' longest-serving chairman, Michael Hill, has produced a damning assessment of Brian Smith's reign and says the veteran coach should have been told to "move on immediately" after agreeing to join the Roosters.
Writing exclusively for The Herald today (see page 9), Hill argues that Newcastle's board should have released Smith from his contract next season only on the proviso that he vacated his post without delay.
Hill, who was Knights chairman for more than a decade and presided over their grand final wins in 1997 and 2001 before retiring in 2005, says the essential bond between player and coach has been broken by Smith's decision to seek a release and sign with the Roosters.
"It was explained as a business decision, but Smith had already made a business decision to commit to the Knights when he agreed to his coaching contract," Hill writes.
"It ought to have been a condition of any release that Smith move on immediately. The essential respect and loyalty between coach and players must have been affected.
"Especially as the coach as good as told the players and supporters that his best chance of success lay elsewhere."
Hill is also critical of Smith's controversial player cleanout of 2007, which he says exiled a number of local juniors who have since continued their careers at rival clubs and "have years of football ahead of them".
He describes many of Smith's signings as journeymen who were "reserve-graders at the time" and points out that only four member of the team chosen to play Melbourne on Monday night could be considered home-grown products.
He queries whether Smith should have spent as much time nurturing local products such as Josh Perry, Anthony Quinn, Clint Newton and Luke Walsh as he did their replacements.
"The coach certainly has had some success in teaching a group of players to win without [Andrew] Johns, but might not an alternative method have been to coach those players then on the roster who had the 'local' tag attached?" Hill asks.
But perhaps Hill's most damning comments relate to the performance of Newcastle's junior teams in the three years since Smith took over.
"In the decade before Smith's arrival, the system had yielded eight finals appearances, two premierships, produced several Australian players and a constant stream of Newcastle and Hunter Valley lads desperate to prove that they were worthy of wearing the red and blue an essential reason the club had been established in the first place and the basis of its phenomenal crowd support," Hill writes.
He says Newcastle had the "best junior nursery in the game" before Smith started to recruit a "succession of young men . . . from outside the area".
"This is directly against the founding philosophy of giving local juniors a pathway to represent their own area," Hill writes.
"This change has been a failure and it has cost us, now and into the future. We do not have a stream of young kids being groomed to come through to the top grade and it will take time to rebuild that."
Hill says there have been positives to emerge from the Smith regime, including steps to remove a drinking culture that previously existed in the club and educating players about how they treat women.
"Another major success was in persuading the board to raise the standard of the training facilities and the number of support staff, something for which Michael Hagan and Mark Sargent could not win support," Hill writes.
Smith was contacted by The Herald last night but declined to comment.
Knights chairman Rob Tew said he would prefer to read Hill's article in full before he responded.
CRITICAL: Michael Hill
http://www.theherald.com.au/news/local/sport/rugby-league/you-got-it-wrong-hill-delivers-damning-assessment-of-smith-reign/1595555.aspx
BY ROBERT DILLON
14/08/2009 4:00:00 AM
THE Knights' longest-serving chairman, Michael Hill, has produced a damning assessment of Brian Smith's reign and says the veteran coach should have been told to "move on immediately" after agreeing to join the Roosters.
Writing exclusively for The Herald today (see page 9), Hill argues that Newcastle's board should have released Smith from his contract next season only on the proviso that he vacated his post without delay.
Hill, who was Knights chairman for more than a decade and presided over their grand final wins in 1997 and 2001 before retiring in 2005, says the essential bond between player and coach has been broken by Smith's decision to seek a release and sign with the Roosters.
"It was explained as a business decision, but Smith had already made a business decision to commit to the Knights when he agreed to his coaching contract," Hill writes.
"It ought to have been a condition of any release that Smith move on immediately. The essential respect and loyalty between coach and players must have been affected.
"Especially as the coach as good as told the players and supporters that his best chance of success lay elsewhere."
Hill is also critical of Smith's controversial player cleanout of 2007, which he says exiled a number of local juniors who have since continued their careers at rival clubs and "have years of football ahead of them".
He describes many of Smith's signings as journeymen who were "reserve-graders at the time" and points out that only four member of the team chosen to play Melbourne on Monday night could be considered home-grown products.
He queries whether Smith should have spent as much time nurturing local products such as Josh Perry, Anthony Quinn, Clint Newton and Luke Walsh as he did their replacements.
"The coach certainly has had some success in teaching a group of players to win without [Andrew] Johns, but might not an alternative method have been to coach those players then on the roster who had the 'local' tag attached?" Hill asks.
But perhaps Hill's most damning comments relate to the performance of Newcastle's junior teams in the three years since Smith took over.
"In the decade before Smith's arrival, the system had yielded eight finals appearances, two premierships, produced several Australian players and a constant stream of Newcastle and Hunter Valley lads desperate to prove that they were worthy of wearing the red and blue an essential reason the club had been established in the first place and the basis of its phenomenal crowd support," Hill writes.
He says Newcastle had the "best junior nursery in the game" before Smith started to recruit a "succession of young men . . . from outside the area".
"This is directly against the founding philosophy of giving local juniors a pathway to represent their own area," Hill writes.
"This change has been a failure and it has cost us, now and into the future. We do not have a stream of young kids being groomed to come through to the top grade and it will take time to rebuild that."
Hill says there have been positives to emerge from the Smith regime, including steps to remove a drinking culture that previously existed in the club and educating players about how they treat women.
"Another major success was in persuading the board to raise the standard of the training facilities and the number of support staff, something for which Michael Hagan and Mark Sargent could not win support," Hill writes.
Smith was contacted by The Herald last night but declined to comment.
Knights chairman Rob Tew said he would prefer to read Hill's article in full before he responded.
CRITICAL: Michael Hill
http://www.theherald.com.au/news/local/sport/rugby-league/you-got-it-wrong-hill-delivers-damning-assessment-of-smith-reign/1595555.aspx
