It is grand final week and like every grand final week our thoughts turn to one man: Brian Smith.
The great man has spent the last 12 months blogging and tweeting his unique insights on rugby league to anyone with a smartphone and time on their hands. His rugby league coaching days, at least at the NRL level, are seemingly behind him.
His record at the top was solid rather than stellar. On the numbers alone, he had a remarkably similar coaching record to one of his contemporaries, Tim Sheens. Both started coaching in 1984 and both coached 600-plus first grade games. Sheens had an overall 50.8% win percentage versus Smith’s 50.7%.
The main difference? Another number.
Four. As in four premierships.
Smith coached five clubs in Australia over almost 30 years.
Two of those five clubs no longer exist. He got his team to last game of the season five times, but discovered that efficient junior pathways, left-field analysis and random texts to key players late at night did not win trophies.
Smith is all too aware of these facts, while astute rugby league people only think one thing when they hear the words “Brian Smith”.
Most, however, may be less aware of the record of these five clubs after ties were severed. Let’s call it the Smith legacy. Okay, hoodoo.
Here are the facts: Smith left the Illawarra Steelers in 1987 and the club disappeared 11 trophy-less seasons later. Smith left the St George Dragons in 1995 and the club vaporised after three lean seasons.
The post-Smith era at Paramatta began seven years ago, while Newcastle have been Smith-free and glory-free now for four years.
That is an aggregate of 25 post-Smith seasons.
All without Smith. All without a premiership.
Call it a legacy, call it a hoodoo, call it a curse. How ever you cut it, thirty barren seasons as coach plus 25 subsequent seasons of inertia and stagnation is not good.
So to 2013, the Roosters inaugural post-Smith season.
On the back of a rampant season from Sonny, the Roosters can sniff the Provan-Summons. Finally, the hoodoo will be snapped.
Or will it?
Eagles by 20.
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