Tony Smith to Warrington

Tony Smith, wondering just how he's going to turn this one around (Getty Images)

 

I know I’m way late on this (work is such a hassle sometimes) but you can’t really avoid commenting on this. Tony Smith, England Coach, has been appointed as Warrington’s Head of Coaching and Performance. James Lowes is staying on as 1st Team Coach. In doing this, Smith now has had to step down as Technical Director of the RFL, although he is remaining on as England Coach in a part-time capacity.

I can’t say I’m all that surprised by the announcement. There are many reasons I could imagine that Smith would want to take up such a challenge:

1. Warrington are still a club with a decent core of very talented players, and it’s quite obvious that they have under-achieved. Smith probably thinks he’ll have a few fun toys to play with at the Wolves
2. I would suspect that Smith might be missing the more hands-on nature of Club management
3. He badly under-achieved with England at the World Cup and is looking for an outlet to prove that he’s still a more-than-capable coach
4. He’s guaranteed himself some work after the Four Nations

There are also a fair few reasons why this move makes very good sense for the Wolves:

1. ‘Under-achieve’ doesn’t do justice to what has happened to the Wolves so far this season. Their swings from ‘good’ to ‘very bad’ even within the same game has been alarming to say the least. James Lowes hasn’t been instilling confidence and they need to stop the rot as soon as possible
2. Tony Smith is a coach with a proven track record in Super League. Apart from one season where his Huddersfield side got relegated (and to be fair to Smith, they would have been relegated long before he took charge if they hadn’t been saved by bureaucracy) he’s basically succeeded with every side he’s coached. 
3. Connected to point 2, he’s one of the key forces that turned Leeds from under-achievers to the dominant force in Super League, something I imagine the Warrington board may have noticed and may relate to.

Really, the big losers here appear to be the RFL, who now no longer have a Technical Director, and have an England Coach who’s not fully committed to the job and has vested interests outside of the team. It adds another layer of intrigue to the Four Nations, and I hope that for Smith’s sake he manages to get success with at least one of his two sides now. This could prove to be exactly the remedy that Warrington needed.

Monday Musings: Worrying Trends Developing at Wigan and Wire

After two weeks of Super League (three for some teams) you tend to notice some patterns emerging. No respectable scientist would ever dream of trying to make sweeping judgements based on a data sample of two, but I’m not close to being a respectable scientist and some things appear to be making themselves known at this stage in the season:

• Reports of Saints’ demise have been greatly exaggerated
• Leeds have been winning without getting out of second gear
• The pool of sides fighting out for playoff spots is getting very large, with both Hull sides, Castleford, Wakefield, Huddersfield and Harlequins amongst the sides seeming stronger than last season
• Wigan and Warrington have both been losing games they really should win

This last point is worrying for both Wigan and Warrinton not just because they have lost all their games so far (only Celtic Crusaders join them at the bottom with zero points) but because of the way in which they have lost. Each case is different, yet both point to flaws which need to be addressed sooner rather than later if this season is to be a success for either of them.

For Wigan, the problem has been losing games against sides that finished below them in the table last season (none of the three sides they have played so far made the playoffs last year) by close margins (their largest margin of defeat so far is eight points). It’s hard to grasp entirely why this is: they have a successful coach and a fair number of decent players. For some reason this season they’ve let in a fair amount of soft tries which ultimately have cost them close games. They’ve also failed to inspire in attack and you have to wonder why they feel the need to bring in so many imports if they’re not going to deliver. Add to this that Wigan’s history makes this probably the most high-pressure coaching job in Super League and you have to think that Brian Noble should be concerned right now. He’s already said that this competition is won in October, not February but you have to be in the playoffs to reach October and at this rate it’s very much a possibility that won’t happen.

For Wire, the problems are even harder to fathom, because for the past two weeks they’ve let a comfortable lead not only slip away in the second half, but get positively blown out of the water. It’s hard to remember a side who have looked so good in the first half before looking so bad in the second, and the Wolves have managed it for the past two weeks running. The fact that they have done so both times in front of the Sky Sports cameras will do James Lowes no favours, who now has to solve the mystery of how his side keep imploding. Second half drop-offs are usually a sign of poor fitness, but in both cases the rot set in at the start of the second half, right after players have had a chance to get their breath back. It all indicates a lack of mental toughness, because in both the last few weeks the Wolves haven’t looked remotely like getting back into once things start going against them.

As far as I’m concerned, this isn’t a good thing. Both Leeds and Saints are far too far ahead of the competition right now, and Wigan and Warrington appeared to be amongst their challengers. If no side steps up this season, we could be left with the third Leeds-Saints Grand Final in a row, and as good as last year’s match was it would be nice to have a change. Both Warrington and Wigan have the chance this week to make amends against sides they should theoretically beat, with Wire away at Wakefield and Wigan away at Quins. Both sides have been losing to sides they should theoretically beat all season, and doing so in the two televised games this weekend could lead to a major upheaval at either club. If either club wants to prove that they’re still worthy of being deemed title contenders, they’ve got the right stage to prove it.

Crystal Ball-watch

Between them, Wigan and Wire have cost me four extra victories in my predictions (I correctly guessed Wire’s implosion against Saints) and it’s their underachievent that’s kept me under fifty percent. The other side to cost me this week were Huddersfield Giants, who fell back down to earth against a resiliant St Helens.  Also frustrating was getting close to the Leeds and Wakefield victory margins. I wish my Quins-Manly prediction was official, because that really wasn’t that far off the reality.

Results: 7/15 (46.7%)

Margins: 1/15 (6.7%)

Warrington Wolves: Exciting yet erratic Wolves need firm footing

Warrington are definite contenders for the title of Super League’s most frustrating team. There’s no denying the level of talent within their squad, but this simply makes it more lamentable that this side has never really made a serious run at a trophy for some time. They seem to be involved in entertaining games on a regular basis, but often because they aren’t putting away sides quick enough. With moves made in the offseason to add some more power to the forwards and more creativity around the ruck, the Wolves really are running out of excuses for not performing.

There were high hopes for the Wolves last season, so what actually transpired (silly defeats, Paul Cullen sacked) turned out to be a relative disappointment. Two of their big-name signings, Michael Monaghan and Matt King, had what could best be described as mediocre seasons. Conversely Chris Hicks, a signing brought in with much less fanare, had an excellent season both on the wing and covering at full-back for Stuart Reardon. Warrington really could do with Monaghan and King having much better campaigns this year, and in King’s case it could be a simple matter of moving him to the wing.

What will help Monaghan is the introduction of Mickey Higham and Gareth Carvell to the Wolves. Carvell is just the kind of forward that the Wolves need, with a proven pedigree (although he had an injury-hit campaign last year) and a never-back-down attitude. With Warrington’s pack not exactly lacking in dynamism, adding Carvell to offer support to Adrian Morley as an enforcer adds a different quality to the forwards. Higham and his sniping runs should also draw some more attention around the ruck and also provide a decent service to Monaghan, Lee Briers and their exciting back-line.

Warrington have been threatening to become a mjor player for the last few seasons now and it’s about time they justified it. They have a team as talented as any other in the competition but they somehow don’t show it. More than anything they need to discover a killer instinct, as they get drawn into far too many close games for their own good (they were involved in seven games decided by six points or less last season). If Warrington start to impose themselves on the opposition a lot more it could mean that we finally see this side live up to the hype.