Brian Smith’s big mop heads for Bondi
Roar Guru By Steve Kaless, 20 Jul 2009 Steve Kaless is a Roar Guru
- Tagged:
- Brad Fittler, Brian Smith, NRL, Rugby League, Sydney Roosters
Roosters coach Brad Fittler. AAP Images
Brian Smith’s reputation as a man who rebuilds clubs is clearly one the Roosters are banking on as they bring him to Bondi.
The results of Brian Smith’s rebuild at Newcastle have by now been well documented and the Roosters must be praying he is as effective in turning them around, whether some of the players on juicy contracts are as keen remains to be seen.
A friend of mine commented that maybe Smith will work his way around all the clubs featured on Four Corners.
The experiment with Brad Fittler is over. Sadly for Brad it will be remembered for all the wrong reasons, it is perhaps not all Freddie’s fault but it is clear that the Roosters need a major personnel change given this season’s performance on and off the field.
As Fittler has said “the buck must stop with the coach” and so it has.
The Roosters have publicly said that they have no form of ‘problem’ culture in the club, but privately they must know it is the case and the appointment of Smith must be the closest thing to an admission of guilt.
The board of the club though should be applauded for making such a strong decision especially given the fact that Smith has been offered a four year deal.
It is clear that they are taking the matter seriously and there is no doubt that Smith will be given full control to make the changes he deems necessary.
There may be some painful moments for Roosters fans in the short term, as there were for the Knights when favourite sons Clint Newton and Josh Perry were shown the door, but they must have optimism in the long term.
Interestingly, Roosters CEO Steve Noyce has already said that the roster for next year is all but decided so it will be during his first year in charge that Smith will get the chance to mould his team rather than from right from the start.
The fireworks may well be delayed.
How Smith works with Peter O’Sullivan will also be worth watching. The well paid recruitment manager has already been charged with replicating his success in Melbourne and how the two men’s vision for the future mesh may well decide how quickly the revolution occurs.
Of course, the Roosters will start their clean up without their leading statesman Craig Fitzgibbon, who is off to Hull. I’d imagine he would have been exactly the sort of player Smith would have liked to see at the club, so how this impacts on recruitment will be interesting.
I can’t help but imagine the arrival of Brian Smith at Bondi as being similar to that of Harvey Keitel’s arrival in Pulp Fiction.
Watch this video, and imagine if you will Smith as Keitel and Steve Noyce being played by Quentin Tarantino.
Brian Smith solves problems.
But has he created a bigger problem in Newcastle? The Knights seem to have been easy to convince to let him ride off into the sunset, maybe they felt they simply couldn’t, or didn’t want to, match the Roosters’ offer or perhaps they are confident they have their own suitable back up ready.
Time will tell, but headline writers will be at the ready.
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- Brad Fittler, Brian Smith, NRL, Rugby League, Sydney Roosters
July 21st 2009 @ 8:13am
Mushi said | July 21st 2009 @ 8:13am | Report comment
the Man, whilst Smith is certainly the consolation prize compared to Wayne a CEO should be fired instantly if they have Sheens above Smith for rebuilding a club. I mean instantly not even given a chance to get out “sorry can I just explain…”, there should be a little pickfords box with a picture of his wife and kids in it sitting by the door.
Sheens has coached 4 clubs and only ever had an above 50% record with one of them, the Canberra squad which at one point had so many rep players you could be forgiven for thinking they’d rocked up in faded Australian jerseys for a Sunday game.
Smith, if Newcastle keeps the same pace this season, will have only coached 1 club to a below 50% record, the expansion Illawarra Steelers which he left more than 20 years ago.
Sheens is a good coach and he seems to be able to get the most out of a squad at its “peak”, but if you want to rebuild your club there isn’t a single shred of evidence suggesting that you should take Sheens over Smith when sheens has failed to win more games than he’s lost outside of his star studded green machine.
July 21st 2009 @ 8:44am
LeftArmSpinner said | July 21st 2009 @ 8:44am | Report comment
Guys, I don’t share your overflowing optimism.
Firstly, spare a thought for Fittler. He, an inexperienced coach, rescued a coachless club, inherited a mess, in terms of players and culture, compounded it with expensive has beens, and then copped the blame for it all and was dismissed in an appalling and hurtful manner.
When do the management, and specifically Politis take responsibility and fall on the proverbial sword? By definition, the mess at Bondi is their doing!!
Smith has had the squad on at least one occasion but failed to either deliver a premiership or follow up the next year for a successful tilt. From this he created his own mess at previous clubs. Look at the required clean out at Parra.
Sure he has done a good job at Newcastle, but it is clearly unfinished and the jury has not come back in!!! They currently lie 5th and are just one win into the 8. They have won 10 and lost 7.
Now, Mason, Myles, and Anasta should worry. Really worry, oh and stay off the booz!
The pronouncements about Carney not having a signed deal will soon be tested but, either way, he is hardly a player to rebuild a once proud club around.
Shillington, Tupou, Crocker, etc, etc are now players that should never have been allowed to leave!!!
July 21st 2009 @ 8:46am
LeftArmSpinner said | July 21st 2009 @ 8:46am | Report comment
Like walking through the supermarket with the missus, there will be a lot of checking of “sell by” dates.
July 21st 2009 @ 9:39am
Mushi said | July 21st 2009 @ 9:39am | Report comment
Leftie,
Freddie – yes an inexperienced coach who I didn’t think should have been given the job in the first place having seen mercurial players like Wally Lewis also struggle with the immediate change.
Yes the dismissal was poor. But what’s done is done, he should have resigned after the hotel incident. He didn’t. The club should have handled it better. They didn’t. I don’t think either side has enough moral high ground to order an assault.
Don’t forget Fittler played a part in bringing mason to the club and he was always going to be the wrong guy to conduct a clean out of the players he captained.
As for tupou yes he was a good player but a wide running offloading second rower that creates 1 line break per 4 errors is a luxury and for 400k a luxury that you can’t afford to build a team around. I think that was the rooster smartest move asking themselves, “he is very good but will an offloading second rower with a low work rate, and a high error rate provide 400k worth of contribution”. Answer is an emphatic hell no. If we kept tupou at that price then we’d be more screwed than we are now.
With Smith, the premiership debate is always a tough one, I’m not a sports fan who gives the pass or fails my club based on premierships I think setting the pass mark at a 1 in 16 is a tad unrealistic, plus it all comes down to a single two horse race one game . In fact I don’t think many fans are. I pass or fail them on wins or losses.
C – win about as much as you lose and make it entertaining/get me emotionally invested
B – Win more than you lose compete regularly in the finals
A – all the above plus a premiership
July 22nd 2009 @ 1:11pm
The man said | July 22nd 2009 @ 1:11pm | Report comment
Premierships are all that matter, anything else is bonus.
July 24th 2009 @ 10:34pm
todders said | July 24th 2009 @ 10:34pm | Report comment
Well said Mushi, especially re Tupou. 1-4 ratio but workrate wasn’t that bad.
However re other comments and Big Willie. Any footballer who can read the play so well as to avoid making any front on tackles game after game after game must have an incredible football brain!
Politis should stop listening to yesterdays man, Gould. He set the standard (with Freddie) and he’ll always be my first love but its over and the memories will have to suffice.
Now let me see, who were Brian’s contemporaries, Wokka, Anderson, Bee Sting, Bozo even. mmmm?