sportingFACTIONS :: Code XIII

So, Mr Smith goes to Red Hall …

[spoiler warning - but hey if you ain't seen it yet don't blame us]

Our story opens with Commissioner Richard Lewis about to pick a replacement for departed GB coach, Brian Noble. Political pressure is on him to pick a media friendly Aussie stooge. Popular committees want him to name a British candidate. Those closest to him want him to select Mr. Smith coach of the home town Leeds Rhinos.

Unable to make up his mind between the Brit pushers and the patsy, Lewis decides to flip a coin. When it lands on its side – and next to a League Express newspaper opened to a story about Mr Smith’s accomplishments – he chooses Smith, calculating that his clean image will please the people while his naivete will make him malleable to the political machine.

Whether Mr. Smith goes on – as in Frank Capra’s 1939 epic – to fall under a malign influence before being saved by his love for the Senator’s daughter remains to be seen.

[spoiler warning ends - okay that's all folk you'll have to watch it to see how it turns out]

But that ending seems no less likely than the one we so dearly long for … a three and out Ashes series win over the Kangaroos.

At least the RFL left no stone unturned in looking far and wide for a successor before spotting the ‘last man standing‘ right on their own doorstep.

Still this is where we are … the King is dead, long live the King!

They say you can’t bake a cake without breaking eggs. That there are winners and losers in life. That the meek shall inherit the earth and that the good guys always win … in the end.

They also say that Leeds Rhinos’ Australian coach, Tony Smith, is to be announced as the next GB coach.

Boy if that’s true then a whole lot of eggs are about to get cracked as the winners and losers scuffle for the high ground. The rest of those cliches ‘they’ say? Toss ‘em out.

The biggest loser in all this may not be apparent until after the next Ashes series … but the team ‘most likely to lose the most’ are Super League’s new darlings … the Hull KR Robins … with the basement dwelling Giants likely the surprise winners.

Why? Because with Smith gone the Rhinos are likely to snaffle the Robins’ jewel in the crown coach, Justin Morgan. And if he leaves this season then the wheels will drop off that wagon faster than flies off a shovel (sorry, mixed metaphor).

Morgan has compiled a nice little CV in the past couple of years and has HKR running on adrenalin during the opening rounds of Super League. Maybe they can sustain it for the season maybe not … maybe just long enough … for their coach at least.

And that’s where the Giants come in. Currently bottom of the league – a position they’d owned for three years when Smith just failed to halt their slide into the NFP all those years ago – the Giants could be the biggest winners, retaining their Super League place on the back of the slippin’ slidin’ Robins.

What about Leeds? Well they’d get a smart, media-savvy, charismatic coach who could go far … but they’ve had those before. So the jury is out on that.

And GB? Smith is an organiser … h.e’ll be as good as the staff he appoints under him … for me his first call should be to Harlequins and his former assistant coach, Brian McDermott, a motivater and coach who can command the best from his players.

McDermott – rather than Smith – could eventually be the guy to rebuild our international reputation and it’s time to begin the next stage of his education to get him ready to kick-on when the Smith reign ends.

The RFL’s search for a coach to lead Great Britain’s resurgence at International level is soon to be over …

The news from Sky Sports commentator, Eddie Hemmings during tonight’s coverage of the Wakefield Wildcat-Warrington Wolves engage Super League clash is that the RFL are expected to name the new GB coach on Monday.

He also confirmed that it won’t be Shaun McRae … which fills me with misgivings … in fact looking at the way John Kear has turned around the fortunes of Wakefield (who currently lead the Wolves 10-6 and look headed for a share of the Super League lead as things stand) makes me think they could (and probably are about too) do worse than give the job back to Kear.

If the announcement is coming Monday then I’d guess it’s a UK based candidate, which probably means Tony Smith or (heaven forbid) Joe Lydon.

We’ll just have to wait and see … let’s hope whoever it is can do something about these godawful fuchsia pink kits the referees are forced to wear these days …

Andy Farrell, Chev Walker, Karl Pryce, Stephen Myler, Chris Ashton all gone. Sean Long, Jon Wilkin, Lesley Vainikolo all recently quoted as saying they’d like to give it a go.

So?

Should we put it to the vote then?

If so many of our top players fancy playing to Union rules so badly, well maybe we ought to give them the chance to. Let’s go the whole hog and get back to the bump and grind of the Union game.

How many Leaguies have truly excelled in Union though?

In England? Jason Robinson and to a more limited extent Henry Paul maybe. Name me two others. Two who didn’t have their roots in the RU game to start with (so no Inga Tuigamala or Feriti Tuilagi who was less than great anyhow).

Gary Connolly – really? Robbie Paul – hardly? Sean Edwards – as a coach certainly but not a player.

Let me know if you find ‘em, because I can’t.

Whilst some of these guys made a little initial splash they soon found themselves dragged back to the mediocre; whether by conditioning or rules or prejudice who knows.

In Australia/NZ it’s been a little different with the likes of Mathew Ridge, Wendell Sailor, Lote Tuqiri and others making enough of an impact to command an international jersey.

Not sure why that should be the case except that maybe they were a higher calibre talent in the first place than the equivalent defectors in the UK.

But those Union rules must be mighty attractive to attract such successful or potentially successful RL talent mustn’t they?

What’s your favourite? The rolling maul … all muddy knees and sweaty ass? Or the lineout with its almost balletic elegance? Maybe it’s the catch’n'kick-it-back or the hoof-it-and-clap-it.

Perhaps – like referee Karl Kirkpatrick – you’re attracted by the million-and-one scrum offences or the endless stream of technicalities at your disposal to disrupt the game’s flow.

Whatever it is it’s powerful stuff … It’s enticing our rising stars at a Pied-Piper like rate.

The puzzle?

If it’s so darn attractive why can’t Union attract and develop it’s own talented stars capable of imaginative, attacking flair-filled rugby?

The answer?

It does … but the Union game itself stifles them, it’s endemic within a rule-set that throttles the flair from them; just as it did with all those great league players … sooner or later … that’s why it needs a constantly replenishing supply of new blood.

The cure … to evolve … to Adapt … to become quicker more exciting more fluid and coherent … BUT it’s already been done.

It’s here NOW and its name is Rugby League. Honed over a century on the anvil of commercial pressure and polished by a decade of professionalism.

Why would any ambitious player want to go from best to less … it’s a lot to surrender just for the dollar.

Sean Edward’s decision to rule himself out of the running to be the next GB coach was as disappointing as it was expected.

His apparent endorsement of Leeds Coach Tony Smith is a more worrying development though.

A serviceable Super League level coach, Smith has been a perennial under-achiever with a talented Leeds squad that ought to have dominated the competition.

My most enduring memory of Smith is of his emotional press conference following the final game of the 2001 Super League season. It was another loss for the Huddersfield Giants and ensured their relegation to the (then) NFP.

Smith understandably was at a loss to comprehend how Super League could cast asunder a team with the tradition and resources (read ’stadium’) of the Giants. It was a touching and candid moment.

But much as I’d like to think he could I just can’t believe Smith to be the man to fire-up and manage Great Britain to Ashes triumph. It just doesn’t sit.

Kind of like imagining Arsene Wenger leading England’s soccer team … the pieces just wouldn’t fit …

With Edwards out of it the RFL is looking at an empty Larder right now … with another nice guy, Shaun McRae, seeming the only viable candidate despite the huge question mark raised by his inability to succeed on his return to the NRL.

If Richard Lewis has any surprises up his cuff now would be a really great time to plonk ‘em on the table.

Let’s just hope Schoey ain’t one of ‘em.