I'm very pleased with this appointment, for the first time ever as a Wire fan I can say that out of all the coaches currently employed in the league, I think Warrington have the best. Great move by everybody involved in securing his signature and lets look forwards.

I actually think Smith's era as coach will be relatively short, the two and a half years he has signed for is what we will get. Who knows what his career aspirations are, but he's already coached a big club in England and won trophies, he's coached at international level, what must his long term ambitions be....I think he will want to coach in the NRL, and to be fair if he has any measure of success at Warrington he is going to be in line for an NRL job. So I'm not expecting him to be here beyond 2011.

A good thing about Smith is he is not a short term man, he has a perspective of the bigger picture and the future, building a club, which is just like his brother.

Leeds have always had junior talent but before he went there they had a lot of players who dominated at Academy level and won Academy championships but then underachieved at SL, some of them ended up at other clubs and their careers stagnated. Smith brought a crop of juniors who had just started to find their feet in the first team under Powell, into top SL players and internationals, and then supplemented them by bringing through the next generation, ie Lee Smith, Nick Scruton, Ashley Gibson, Jordan Tansey, Ryan Hall

Many a time when we were complaining about losing games because we had a lot of recent academy players in the first team and it was too much too soon, Leeds had around the same number and were still having success. Smith brought juniors through and they thrived. John Bastian is on board and we already have a lot of players coming through who had representative caps at junior level - Smith is the perfect man to oversee their development into quality first teamers.

An important point here is that Smith's reputation is as a first rate technical coach, not one who overcomplicates things like Steve Anderson, but who puts a lot of emphasis on improving individual players core skills. Look at the way Leeds sides coached by Smith played - they kept the ball alive superbly, their support play was good, the defence was organised and they were the least penalised team in the league. Rookie players came out of the Academy into that structure and fit in quickly.

As for Warrington post 2011, Lowes has got a good opportunity here, because apprentices to top coaches often become good coaches themselves. Craig Bellamy and Wayne Bennett is a good example, Steve Clarke and Jose Mourinho, Brian Noble/Mick Potter/Daniel Anderson and Brian Smith. Brian McDermott has made a good start at Harlequins, he served under Tony Smith. However it ends up turning out, I would imagine Smith's intention is to leave in 2011 with Lowes taking over as head coach and maintaining continuity in what will hopefully be a successful culture.

Forgot about him linking back up with Smith.

It would have been nice to still have Cull involved and not that Yorkshire oaf.

Cullen wouldn't have done it, he's got eight years experience as a head coach and isnt the type of character to be a number two.

Lowes is still an inexperienced coach and this is a great opportunity for him to observe and learn from Smith as a coach but also to contribute his own knowledge to Smith and see how Smith can get the best out of him. Brian Smith's mentality was always focused around developing upcoming coaches as well as players, so Tony is likely to be of the same school of thought.

Remember when the coaching team was Cullen, Darbyshire, Chambers people often said that we needed some winners in the staff, who had won trophies as players. Tony Smith never won anything the closest he got was being beat in two Grand Finals for St George. Lowes won it all and knew what he was doing on the pitch, give TS a chance to refine Lowes' knowledge of the game into a good coach. Its the same thing as taking a player with raw talent but flaws (eg Penny) and turning him into the finished article.

Very good post, but if he does achieve a modicum of success whilst he is here let's not go backwards when he does leave and give the job to somebody not up to it. We have made a crucial first step here and we better not cock it up. Look at what Leeds and Saints do when they lose the services of a good coach, they go out and look for an even better one.

I was thinking that very same thing but, like Sally believe, that PC would have had too much pride to accept the demotion, especially when he was the head coach for 5 years and not 17 games.

To be fair Bluey is the first time we have replaced one good coach with another, for instance after Murray left we replaced him with the disaster that was Dean Lance.

With regards to TS I feel that he may have more on his hands than he did when he took over at Leeds. With Leeds we were virtually there and just needed that bit extra that he brought us. With Warrington it appears that the whole culture of the club, or at the very least that of a number of senior players, needs to be changed.

On the positive side there is talent there to work with. Penny is one example, look at how Smith used Calderwood in his first year. Someone very similar to Penny in that he has blinding pace but still has a lot in his game to work on.

Where do you think we will be in 3 years?

I agree to an extent, but let's not forget that last season we were in the top 4 for more than half of the season. We were in 4th for 6 of the last 7 weeks.
We didn;t have that bit extra to take us a step further, and maybe Smith will bring that.

Don't think you'll be far off, just think there is a lot further to go than there was at the same point in his Leeds career. As someone mentioned previously he excels in improving a players core skills which is better suited to clun coaching rather than internaltional. He is a strict disciplinarian so I can see a few departures from Warrington soon.

One thing I can definitely see improving is your record against Saints. When Smith came to Leeds we had a similar (though maybe not as bad) record against Bradford and that has turned round drastically. And if you can come above Saints you won't be far off winning trophies.

Not 100% sure about that, but he's definitely up there. Warrington now have a very good coach who COULD take them to the next level.

Good timing aswell I feel with some big games coming up. It's brought a 'feel good' factor to Warrington which could help this weekend against Leeds.

Tony Smith as mentioned on this site earlier will be a good overall director of coaching. Jimmy is a players coach and will work well with and alongside the direction of a top level coach. Unlike PC Jimmy will be able to develop his skills as a coach and move away from the public eye, media responsibility that he is quite clearly uncomfortable with.
I believe if he is given a team sheet to work with he will get the best from them 17 players and not have to make tough decisions about players he is too close to.
The youngsters in this club are chomping at the bit, if they are given a chance the enthusiasm and passion will come to the fore to drive these senior players who are in comfort zones..COME ON the wire.

Dave, fair enough, we did trouble the top 4 for a while, but did you really believe we could sustain that position and trouble the late rounds of the playoffs? We flattered to deceive.

So is Tony Smith coaching Jimmy Lowes?

Yep, I'm actually looking forward to the match on Sunday now, even though I acknowledge that not much may change by then.

The fans of the club have been depressed for the past few months, and even the usually optimistic fans like me have not been ar$ed about going. I suddenly feel a whole lot more optimistic!

This will ultimately turn out to be as significant as the day Bill Shankly took over at Anfield.

Well I wouldn't go that far, but we have the potential to build the next big Super League dynasty here at Warrington. Tony Smith in charge, John Bastian bringing the young players through, Simon Moran providing financial backing.

One of the Super League's few A-grade licenses, its now time to see this club reach its potential on the field.

You'd be surprised what it can do in the short term. Remember when Saints appointed Daniel Anderson? We'd just got hammered to Hull and were in a bit of turmoil after the Millward fiasco. Along came Mr. Anderson and we suddenly went on a good run with some superb victories early on. Coincidentally his first game was against Leeds too!

Totally agree with you. It's the best appointment we've made in decades, and furthermore it's a an appointment that fits with what all feel has been the 'image' of the club since probably 2005. I've never felt so positive about the future of our club as I do right now.

He gives youth a chance, he plays open, attacking rugby, he seems to according to people (like Stevo) not be afraid to weedle out bad apples. He's basically ticking all the boxes of what you'd want, and I just think as fans, we should just enjoy the journey for the next two & a half years as I think there's only one way we're going.

I'm not to worried about what happens this year, 2010, with alot of the squad having come off contract in 2009, with his recruitment, and all of our 'kids' a year further developed. I know it's borderline laughable now to keep churning this out, but you'd have to be pretty confident of having a big 2010.

My expectations for this year now, finish the season stronger & stronger as it goes on, his methods get accepted etc, say finish 5th with a good cup run.

5th is not a bad position to finish this year. With the new playoffs don't they play 8th in the first week. Better than finishing 4th and having to travel to top or have I got it completely wrong?

With the links to staff that were already here (Bastian and Lowes) makes me wonder how long has this been on the cards and how much influence has Smith had on the appointment of Lowes last July and the recruitment / retention and releasing of some of the playing staff.

I know the Smith rumours were being thrown about last season but how much truth was in them back then?

I dont suppose it matters now but makes me wonder if Lowes knew that the cavalry was on its way and was his last post match interview a bit of a mickey take as in "i know I am doing a holding role until TS turns up"

I'd like to see Smith get a bunch of youngsters and work closely with them as he did at Leeds ala Smith, Burgess, Tansey etc weve just bought some pre season acadamy kids along with the acadamy we have now, if we nurture them in the right way we could be a team looking forward

Smith had it lucky at Leeds. They have the cream of the crop in this country and a much bigger catchment area than Warrington. I wouldn't expect results like that.

Crumbs.....
Sally overjoyed? I'm gobsmakcked!!
Backed up by JWP and others.......

I guess I'm in the minority but.........
........ still can't get my hopes up.

I really do hope my negativity is proved to be totally wrong.

Wire have flattered to decieve for 20+ years and (another) new coach doesn't lead me to set my sights too high.

I really hope I'm wrong and am forced to eat my words.

C'mon, cheer up!!!

Things look better now than they did this time last week, surely you can see that?