SMITH'S ENGLISH REVOLUTIONAfter a hectic month at the end of last year in which Tony Smith orchestrated Grand Final success for Leeds Rhinos and the three-match whitewash over New Zealand - Great Britain’s first series win in 14 long years – England’s head coach enjoyed a well-earned holiday.
Cuba was his destination, where, in addition to admiring the 1950s Cadillacs, indulging in a spot of salsa and being blown away by the disparity between the rich and poor, the Australian caught the final breaths of Fidel Castro’s lengthy leadership.
In contrast to Castro, Smith - who took on his position permanently in October after the conclusion of the Rhinos’ season - is just starting out on his own revolution, with the immediate focus being the World Cup in his homeland. After the relaxation of Cuba, Smith was soon back to work, scouting out accommodation, venues and training facilities for October’s tournament - the first in eight years - down under on “a whirlwind tour”.
Rugby League World caught up with the 41-year-old to see how England’s World Cup preparations are going, and to find out how he spent the off-season - the first time since 2001 that he was not neck-deep in recruitment and pre-season training.
“Recently I haven’t done anything near as exciting as beating the Kiwis three nil,” Smith grins. “I can’t top that one at the moment. But I did have a couple of weeks in Cuba - it is a fascinating place. I was taken aback by the culture, music and dancing. The financial contrast within Havana is amazing and the old cars are incredible.”
Despite staying in “one of the best hotels I have ever been to” in Cuba’s capital, Smith knows full well what it is like on the other side of the fence. His first taste of the Super League was back in the inaugural season of 1996, when, while playing for Wokingham, he and his wife Lisa lived above the town’s Blue Dolphin fish and chip shop, “the stuff of nightmares”.
After two assistant coaching roles back down under Smith soon returned to north England, snapping up the opportunity to coach Huddersfield Giants in 2001. His innovative approach to the game and willingness to try new things soon propelled Smith to position of Rhinos’ coach in 2003.
He steered Leeds to their first championship in 32 years the following campaign and last October’s 33-6 Grand Final victory over St Helens was a fitting end to Smith’s highly successful reign at Headingley.
Despite winning a handful of trophies at Leeds and innumerable plaudits, Smith insists that he does not miss being a Super League coach. “I’m quite OK with it,” he confides. “People kept telling me I would miss the day-to-day stuff. But I’ve been that busy with the other parts of my role with the Rugby Football League that I haven’t had a chance to miss it yet.
“Without the pressure to win every week I’m quite happy to be sitting back and watching the talent. I’ve found that when you’re so engrossed in your own team you don’t really get to enjoy some of what’s happening.
“You’re concentrating on your team so much that you don’t see some of the young players at other clubs in the same sort of light that I’m perhaps seeing them at the moment. It’s been a joy, really.”
Such is the nature of Super League XIII’s game scheduling Smith is unable to attend every match, though he attempts not to miss a minute. “I’m trying to be at as many games as is physically possible, for the RFL and in my capacity as England coach, as I think it’s important that the players know that I’m there and watching them,” he says. “The games I have not been able to attend I have been watching on videos, so the idea is to view them all in their entirety.”
Freed from the pressures of a Super League coach and with his new panoramic perspective, Smith has been enthused by the quality of rugby league being exhibited in the opening rounds.
He continues: “I’ve been really encouraged by the type of rugby league that is being played. I’ve been impressed by the style and the willingness to play exciting football at this stage of the year, as usually it’s very cagey.
“There’s moisture in the ground, it’s cold and there’s still a little bit of nasty weather, which tends to make teams play conservatively. But I’ve been really encouraged that the coaches and the players haven’t been that conservative and have looked to play some rugby league and not just play field positions. It’s been entertaining and enthralling for everybody.”
As well as upping the entertainment level, Smith believes that Super League teams are correct to attempt a more expansive style, as it is that fine line between panic and calculated risk that will determine a great team from a good team.
“If you look at the teams who have won Super League in recent times – like Leeds and St Helens in the past couple of years – they’ve been pretty successful in the offload area,” he suggests. “Though they make a few mistakes in a game you’ve got to look at those two teams and say, ‘well, they have been successful from taking risks and throwing the ball around’.
“So maybe that’s the message that all of the teams have taken out of the last couple of years, and we are seeing it in practice this year. I think that is a good blueprint to take to the World Cup. If we try and play too conservatively against the Australians and just try and out-muscle them, I’m not sure that’s the way to go. The rugby league that we play over here is a bit more expansive and a bit more entertaining as well so let’s get good at that. Who knows where it may take us?”
The England head coach fully backs the RFL’s attempts to introduce a licensing system – a move, in his opinion, which would not only breed a more progressive, entertaining game, but also encourage coaches to blood youngsters earlier than before.
“People will argue the fact there won’t be two or three exciting games at the end of year,” Smith says. “I disagree – there’s still going to be a lot of excitement at the end of the year. But instead of relegation, the emphasis is going to be on who is going to make the top six.
“That’s really where we should be putting our focus and attention. The teams at the bottom of the competition will play enough of a part of who gets into the final six. They won’t want to do teams favours and so that will be really interesting.
“As there won’t be relegation it will give clubs the chance to play with more risk throughout the year. They can chance their arm, try different styles and take on the so called big-boys in a different way.
“Before it’s been a case of damage control: ‘Let’s play conservative and hope we don’t get beaten by a silly score and make it through until the end of the year’.
“But now you see Hull Kingston Rovers, for example, who are perceived as one of the lesser teams and they’re thinking, ‘we’re going mix it around with the big boys’. That’s great. Even my old team, Leeds Rhinos, had a tough opening game against Hull KR – they’ve been terrific in their first few games.”
While Smith is delighted with the type of football that the licensing system would pave the way for when it comes into place next season, he warns against throwing too many British youngsters in the deep end too early. If the national team are to benefit fully, the transition should be, he stresses, gradual. He argues that it is still important to have high quality imports, from Australasia or elsewhere.
“I think the blooding of young Brits is happening more, but we’ve got to be careful we don’t go too quickly with it as well,” Smith insists. “We don’t want to throw people in before they are ready but keep doing it gradually, in a way similar to how we are reducing the numbers year by year on the imported players.
“It’s the right way to go. We have also got to be conscious that we’ve got a competition and we don’t want to jeopardise the quality of it by doing things too quickly as well.
“But you only have to look at the signings by a lot of teams in the number of debutants getting their start in the first team this year, it’s really encouraging to a young British player knowing that you’re going to be a given a chance or more of a chance.
“That’s very encouraging – there’s more of a bright future for a young British boy trying to make a career here now. That’s going to increase the number of players coming through, which is great for the national team.
“What’s great is that it’s almost become trendy to have your local juniors signed up and that’s going from Harlequins right through to the teams in the north. There all quite proud that they’re signing players from their own backyard and it’s been a long time since they been proud of those sorts of things.”
Smith selected a number of young, uncapped players for the Lions Tests against New Zealand in the autumn, a choice that was vindicated ultimately. The successful fusion of experience and youth augurs well for the World Cup. And that was always the plan from the forward-thinking England coach.
During the Test series Smith moved the squad from accommodation in Leeds, to Worsley and finally to Manchester, in order to simulate the journey they will have to contend with in Australia.
England open the tournament with a Pool One game on October 25 against Papua New Guinea in Townsville, followed by a trip to Melbourne to face firm favourites Australia, at the Telstra Dome on Sunday November 2. Then Smith’s team travel to Newcastle for the following Saturday’s final pool game against New Zealand.
“We purposely moved the guys so they didn’t have a home base,” he says. “They had to adapt to moving from different hotels and situations, and occupy themselves in a camp scenario at the World Cup. That was part of the test, and they passed with flying colours.”
Already he has worked out where England will be sleeping and training in a hectic trip to his homeland after the relative calm of Cuba. “I went off on a reccie to Australia with Graham Thompson, the team manager,” he continues. “We had 13 nights over there and spent time in six cities – it was a whirlwind tour!
“We followed the route we are going to do in the World Cup and checked out the accommodation, venues and training facilities, so that we know what is coming. It was also to make sure that we had got the right arrangements – it was a pretty successful trip.
“So now when we arrive we know what we are doing, what to expect – who we are playing, where we are staying and training. All I have to do now is work out who we are taking!”
Ahead of the World Cup Smith will have little chance to address and train the squad en masse, but hints that, come the friendly against France in June, he will be selecting on form rather than reputation.
“I won’t get much chance to see the lads collectively before the France game because there’s no break in the season this year,” Smith says. “I’m also very conscious of their time and the clubs –it’s difficult.
“I’ll probably only get a week’s preparation leading up to the France match, and although last year I did pick quite a young and up-and-coming squad, this time I may pick whoever’s in form, so they’ll be more closer a full-blown side rather than an emerging team.
“I’ll have a couple of meetings with quite a large squad leading up to the end of the year and I want to keep it that way because I want everybody to feel that they have a good chance to make it on the plane to Australia.”
For now Smith is enjoying the fact that he doesn’t have to contend with the usual stresses of a Super League coach, and his outlook on the opening of Super League XIII is very bright. But underneath the calm exterior you can be certain that his revolution geared towards England’s success in his native back yard is well underway.
Labels: Australia, Cuba, England, Rugby league, Rugby League World Cup, Tony Smith
