When Brian Smith took over the Newcastle Knights, he walked into a club that was a total mess.
The inmates were running the asylum, to the point where journeyman reserve grade garbage were going to the media when their contracts were not extended, and the clubs was run of a mates basis.
Player fitness and discipline was a major issue. The Knights were were being beaten to the punch as far as speed, strength and endurance goes. In games their structure was non existant, they were a dumb team making dumb mistakes.
Smith walked into a mess, but the people on the Knights board that got him in needed then need someone to clean the shit out of the club.
As was to be expected, once Brian Smith started cleaning the shit out of the Knights club, a mess was made. Players whinged and the back stabbing started, but after a whole even the biggest whingers could not deny the massive positive changes made to the club.
All of a sudden the Knights were exciting again. They looked fast, fit, and were once again a team that came into games physically ready to challenge the opposition.
They Knights not only played with much better structure and game plans, but they started to bring through exciting juniors, something that had become a rare occurance in Newcastle in recent years.
So Smith has don’t what he promised, he changed the direction of the club and now the future is once again bright in Newcastle.
So why on Earth would the club even think of sending him on his way?
Smith is one of the very top coaches in the game, he is among a small group who has the runs on the board, who has shown he can coach whats in front of him and is not stuck in his ways.
Smith has turned around the Dragons, Eels and now, the Knights, its a record few other coaches could ever hope to match.
The only thing I can think is that the political rubbish that happens at board level at Newcastle is prompting this speculation about Smiths job. Couple that with the fact that Smith is not one of New Ltd favorite people, and you find he gets a lot of negative press.
I think through all this, the fact that Knights fans have never been really critical of Smith says a lot. They know he is doing a good job, and they just want him to get on with it.
