Brian Smith: Saviour or party organiser?

In December 2009, on the occasion of Carney’s and Smith’s signings, I said and I say it again: Brian Smith: saviour or party organiser?

The consensus was to give Brian Smith time. By October 2010, he appeared to have been a miracle worker. We now know that not to be the case.

For a short term gain, the club is left reeling yet again!

How would you feel as one of the majority of genuine, hard working professional players at the Roosters who had thrown their support behind Carney as a player, together with their financial exposure, only for it to be dashed on the rocks of Wedding Cake Island off Coogee Beach?

In particular, Anasta and Pearce have been incredibly supportive and understanding. If it is a family member with an addiction to alcohol, then, you support them because you inherited it. There, but for the grace of God, go I!

In this case, the players were unwitting victims of Smith and Politis’s short-term, selfish decision.

Carney is also paying a very high price. He is on the verge of prison! And it is not over yet. The police have challenged the leniency of his most recent brush with the law…

On Tuesday, on The Roar, Scott Woodward bemoaned that his son had chosen Todd Carney as a role model.

Carney is a flawed character compromised by a selfish club and run by a risk taking coach.

Mistakes:

1. Roosters sign a player with a long list of misdemeanors;
2. They base their whole team around this player;
3. They get the other players to embrace and work with this player;
4. They add Carney to a squad already containing other similarly flawed players (Friend, Watts, Myles, the second rower?);
5. They fail to fully address the club’s drinking/Eastern suburb’s culture (a hang over from 2009 and before);
6. They ignore the warning signs that have been evident with Carney for months (there were rumours of binges last season);
7. They don’t manage the mental side of his injury, he is at a loose end, then they play him still injured;
8. They forget, in all of this, that RL is a team sport. Just ask Mr Bennett and his team of no stars. His “Todd Carney”, Jamie Soward, a Roosters cast off, is in line to play at 6 for NSW this year and has a premiership and World Club Challenge to is credit.

NRL is like life, success doesn’t come cheaply or easily. There are no shortcuts.

The best coaches are those that work hardest and who really care for their players. Bennett, Sheens and Gibson were in that mold.