Tony Smith today (Monday) reaches the mark of 500 Super League games as a head coach and describes it as “an honour” to have spent such a long time in the game.
The Hull KR coach will achieve the landmark when he leads his side out at Toulouse Olympique this afternoon, having spent more than two decades coaching at the top of the sport with Huddersfield Giants, Leeds Rhinos and Warrington Wolves as well as the England and Great Britain sides at international level.
“I never imagined when I started out getting to this many games,” Smith told League Express. “I wanted to be a coach and it’s an honour to be a coach as long as I have.
“I’ve got all sorts of different memories, but I’ve been in it to try and improve the sport, to try and improve young men’s lives and help them achieve their dreams.”
Smith believes his first job provided the ideal start – going on a long losing run at Huddersfield which led to relegation from Super League, before going up unbeaten the next season.
He said: “It was the end of 2000 that I arrived here. I was young, brash, self-confident. I was ready to become a head coach and I was very grateful for the chance at Huddersfield.
“They’d been the bottom team for a few years and through all sorts of ways they escaped the drop.
“We lost the first 13 of the next season before we got our first point, a draw against London I still remember clearly. We had a strong finish to the season but still got relegated, then we came up the next season undefeated.
“Those two experiences in back-to-back years, my elder brother Brian (who himself coached over 600 games) said ‘you’re so lucky to have those two completely opposite years, they will stand you in great stead for your coaching career’. He was more right than I realised at the time.”
After that, Smith won two Grand Finals and a World Club Challenge in a four-year spell at Leeds, before leading Warrington to three Challenge Cup crowns and a trio of Grand Final defeats in a nine-season stint.
Having led his current side to the play-off semi-finals last year, Smith is continuing a trend throughout his career of improving every club he has been at.
“I’d like to think the culture has always been better and healthier from when I started to when I left,” said Smith.
“I’d like to think I was part of the culture that developed (at Leeds) that lasted for a number of years.
“When I took over at Warrington, they weren’t part of the big four. Even now they’re still part of it, they’re spoken about in a different light.
“We were able to change our own attitude towards ourselves but also other people’s. I know they haven’t won a Grand Final but they’ve competed in plenty. I’d like to think I’ve had that influence.
“At Huddersfield, ever since those first couple of years they’ve been a strong club. I like to think I had some influence on what happened to them.
“I’m not trying to take credit by any means but I’d like to think I contributed to the culture change and their own self-assessment of where they saw themselves.
“I think it’s happening again with us at Hull KR. It’s not easy and it’s not quick, it’s hard to change things quickly and particularly things that last for a while.
“It takes time to instil some of the changes in culture and belief, both the self-belief and the belief of other people.
“Teams are now a bit wary of us. Once upon a time it would be seen as ‘we’ve just got Hull KR this week, that’s two points’. Some of that is changing.
“It’s not where we want it to be yet and we’re not satisfied, but we’re in the process of changing it and who knows how far it goes.”
Smith is still enjoying the job after all this time and says that if he continues to do so and he continues to have a positive impact, he’ll keep on going.
“People on the outside will assess me on whether the team wins or loses but players are the ones who determine whether I’m a decent coach and the right coach for them too,” he said.
“Whilst ever I’m useful (I’ll keep going) – and I’ll sense when I’m not. I’m enjoying it, these guys have helped me.
“The last couple of years have been really enjoyable. It’s made me realise how much I like coaching.
“Going away for a little while, going into football and doing some consultancy (with coaches) made me realise it’s coaching that I love.
“When you do something you love, I think you’re better at it. If I don’t love it any more, I won’t do it.”
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