Tony Smith (born 24 January 1967) is a professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

coach and former player He played for the

Illawarra Steelers The Illawarra Steelers are an Australian rugby league football club based in the city of Wollongong, New South Wales. The club competed in Australia's top-level rugby league competition from 1982 until 1998. On the 13th of December 1980, the ...

and

St. George Dragons The St. George Dragons is an Australian rugby league football club from St George District in Sydney, New South Wales that played in the top level New South Wales competition and Australian Rugby League competitions from the 1921 until th ...

in the

ARL ARL may refer to: Military * US Navy hull classification symbol for repair ship * Admiralty Research Laboratory, UK * United States Army Research Laboratory * ARL 44, a WWII French tank Organizations * Aero Research Limited, a UK adhesives comp ...

, and

Workington Town Workington Town R.L.F.C. is a semi-professional rugby league club playing in Workington in west Cumbria. Their stadium is Derwent Park, which they share with Workington Comets, a speedway team. They became Rugby League Champions in 1951 and ...

in the

Super League The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of wh ...

. He coached the

Huddersfield Giants Huddersfield Giants are an English professional rugby league club from Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, the birthplace of rugby league, who play in the Super League competition. They play their home games at the John Smiths Stadium which is sh ...

Leeds Rhinos The Leeds Rhinos are a professional rugby league club in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The club was formed in 1870 as Leeds St John's and play in the Super League, the top tier of English rugby league. They have played home matches at Headi ...

and

Warrington Wolves The Warrington Wolves are a professional rugby league club based in Warrington, England, that competes in the Super League. They play rugby at the Halliwell Jones Stadium, having moved there from Wilderspool in 2004. Founded as Warrington Z ...

in the

, and

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

and

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

at international level. He is currently the Head coach of Super League club, Hull F.C. from September 2022 for the 2023 season.

Background

Smith was born in

Grafton, New South Wales Grafton ( Bundjalung-Yugambeh: Gumbin Gir) is a city in the Northern Rivers region of the Australian state of New South Wales. It is located on the Clarence River, approximately by road north-northeast of the state capital Sydney. The closest m ...

, Australia. He is the younger brother of fellow rugby league coach Brian Smith and uncle to former

Tonga Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in ...

national team and current

head coach,

Rohan Smith Rohan H. Smith (born 31 May 1973) is a former Australian rules footballer in the Australian Football League. Debuting in 1992 after being recruited around 1990, Smith has long been one of the Bulldogs' favourite sons, with his reputation r ...

. Tony played his junior rugby league for the Casino RSM Cougars and was part of their U18 Premiership winning side in 1984. He holds a British passport.

Playing career

Tony Smith played rugby league with the

, for whom he made 40 appearances and scored 9 tries, as well as the

for whom he played 48 games under the coaching of his older brother Brian Smith, including the

1992 NSWRL season The 1992 New South Wales Rugby League Premiership season was the eighty-fifth season of professional rugby league football in Australia. Sixteen teams competed for the J.J. Giltinan Shield during the season which culminated in a grand final for ...

grand final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final (sometimes colloquially abbreviated to "grannie") is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Sy ...

, in which he played from the interchange bench.

Workington Town

Tony Smith's involvement with British Rugby League began by finishing his playing career in 1996 with a spell at

in the inaugural

season. His initial time at Workington was hampered by

Achilles tendon The Achilles tendon or heel cord, also known as the calcaneal tendon, is a tendon at the back of the lower leg, and is the thickest in the human body. It serves to attach the plantaris, gastrocnemius (calf) and soleus muscles to the calcaneus (h ...

injury suffered two seasons previous, made all the worse by Workington's poor form which saw them relegated to National League One. He also notoriously lived above a Workington fish 'n' chip shop with his wife, commenting "''every morning I trudged to training and swore we'd never come back to this country''." His most notable on-field contribution was on his début as he helped the club to an 18-18 draw with

Halifax Blue Sox The Halifax Panthers are a professional rugby league club in Halifax, West Yorkshire, which formed in 1873. Halifax were one of the original twenty-two rugby clubs that formed the Northern Rugby Football Union in 1895. They have been Rugby Leag ...

, one of only five points that the club secured in 1996 as they finished bottom of

. Smith's high

bomb A bomb is an explosive weapon that uses the Exothermic process, exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy. Detonations inflict damage principally through ground- and atmosphere-t ...

led to the side's third try, scored by Wayne Kitchin.

Coaching career

In 2000 he was appointed the head coach of the

Japan national rugby league team The Japan national rugby league team, nicknamed the Samurais, represents Japan in rugby league football. Japan have played some international competition since 1994. The Japanese National Cup, the JRL domestic club competition, was founded in 1 ...

for the

Emerging Nations tournament In 1995 and 2000, the Rugby League International Federation held an Emerging Nations Tournament alongside the Rugby League World Cup. The competition was designed to allow teams who have failed to qualify for the World Cup proper a chance to play ...

. Unfortunately his spell wasn't successful as Japan failed and lost all three games in the Tournament.

Huddersfield Giants

After returning home to Australia after finishing his playing career with Workington, Smith turned to coaching and applied for the job of

club

in September 2001. His first season in charge saw Huddersfield Giants relegated to National League One, which consequently followed their dreadful start to the season losing 13 games in a row, a record number of consecutive defeats for a coach who held on to his job in British Rugby League. Conversely, Huddersfield Giants returned to Super League the following year after not losing a single game throughout the National League One season. This culminated in their Grand Final win against

Leigh Centurions The Leigh Leopards are a professional rugby league club based in Leigh, Greater Manchester, England, who compete in the Betfred Super League. The club was founded in 1878, and is one of the original twenty-two clubs that formed the Northern R ...

which secured the team's promotion. In their return season to Super League in 2003 Huddersfield Giants avoided relegation, finishing in 10th place which at the time was by far the club's best Super League finish.

Leeds Rhinos

Smith was appointed head coach of the

in a surprise move in November 2003 as the club decided to move incumbent

Daryl Powell Daryl A. Powell (born 21 July 1965) is an English professional rugby league coach who is the head coach of the Warrington Wolves in the Super League. He is a former professional rugby league footballer who played as a in the 1980s, 1990s a ...

into an upstairs role for two years from the start of the 2004 season. He guided the

to their

2004 Super League Grand Final The 2004 Super League Grand Final was the 7th official Grand Final and conclusive and championship-deciding game of Super League IX. It was held on Saturday 16 October 2004, at Old Trafford, Manchester, and was played between Leeds Rhinos, who fi ...

victory against the

Bradford Bulls The Bradford Bulls are a professional rugby league club in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, playing in the Championship. They have won five Challenge Cups, six league championships and three World Club Challenges. The team jersey is predom ...

, their first Championship in 32 years, and went on to beat the

Canterbury Bulldogs The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Belmore, a suburb in the Canterbury-Bankstown region of Sydney. They compete in the NRL Telstra Premiership, as well as competitions facilita ...

in the

2005 World Club Challenge The year 2005 Carnegie World Club Challenge was contested by Super League IX champions Leeds Rhinos and 2004 NRL season premiers, the Bulldogs. The match was played on 4 February at Elland Road, Leeds before 37,208 spectators. Australian Sean Hamp ...

Elland Road Elland Road is a football stadium in Beeston, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, which has been the home of Premier League club Leeds United since the club's formation in 1919. The stadium is the 14th largest football stadium in England. The g ...

. In 2005 Leeds made both the

Challenge Cup The Challenge Cup is a knockout rugby league cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League, held annually since 1896, with the exception of 1915–1919 and 1939–1940, due to World War I and World War II respectively. It involves am ...

Final and

2005 Super League Grand Final 5 (five) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number, and cardinal number, following 4 and preceding 6, and is a prime number. It has attained significance throughout history in part because typical humans have five digits on eac ...

, but were unsuccessful in both matches, losing to

Hull F.C. Hull Football Club, commonly referred to as Hull or Hull F.C., is a professional rugby league football club established in 1865 and based in West Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The club plays in the Super League competition and were ...

and the

respectively. Smith was however named Super League coach of the year for 2005 and signed a contract extension to the end of the 2006 season. The

failed to win a trophy in the 2006 season, suffering defeat at the Semi-Final stage of the Challenge Cup and losing out to the

in 2006's Super League XI Play-Offs. Smith secured his second Super League championship with victory in the 2007 Super League Grand Final, his final game as coach of Leeds Rhinos.

Great Britain

Smith was announced as the successor to Brian Noble and became the full-time coach of

. He saw out his Leeds contract until the end of the 2007 season and combined the GB coaching role with that of performance director and headed up the Rugby Football League's technical department at

Leeds Metropolitan University Leeds Beckett University (LBU), formerly known as Leeds Metropolitan University (LMU) and before that as Leeds Polytechnic, is a public university in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It has campuses in the city centre and Headingley. The univ ...

. His first game in charge of Great Britain was a victory over France. The 3-0 whitewash of New Zealand followed with a 20-14 victory at Huddersfield, a 44-0 thrashing of the Kiwis in the 2nd test at Hull and a final test win at the JJB by 28 points to 22. Leeds Rhinos players contributed hugely to these victories including captain

Jamie Peacock James Darryl Peacock MBE, (born 14 December 1977) is a motivational speaker, leadership mentor and former English professional rugby league footballer. He played for Leeds Rhinos and the Bradford Bulls in the Super League, and captained both ...

, half-backs

Rob Burrow Robert Geoffrey Burrow (born 26 September 1982) is an English former professional rugby league player. An England and Great Britain representative, he spent his entire 16-year professional career with Leeds Rhinos in the Super League, making o ...

and

Danny McGuire Daniel Phillip McGuire (born 6 December 1982) is an English former professional rugby league footballer who played as a or , and is currently the interim head-coach of Hull Kingston Rovers. He spent the majority of his professional career play ...

, 2nd Row

Gareth Ellis Gareth Ellis (born 3 May 1981) is an English former professional rugby league footballer who played as a and in the Super League and the NRL, and England and Great Britain at international level. He played at club level for the Wakefield Tri ...

and centre

Keith Senior Keith Andrew Senior (born 24 April 1976) is an English former professional rugby league footballer who played for the Sheffield Eagles and the Leeds Rhinos in the Super League. A Great Britain and England international representative , he is co ...

. As this was the last test series as a Great Britain side on home soil. Smith then led the England side into the 2008 World Cup. Only overseas touring sides now use the Great Britain name. At the end of the year, Tony was named the RLIF Coach of the Year for a successful 2007 season.

England

Smith became a naturalized British citizen on 8 September 2008 at a ceremony in

Huddersfield Huddersfield is a market town in the Kirklees district in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confluence into ...

. He coached

in the

2008 Rugby League World Cup The 2008 Rugby League World Cup was the thirteenth staging of the Rugby League World Cup since its inauguration in 1954, and the first since the 2000 tournament. The tournament was held in Australia from 26 October, culminating in the final b ...

, making the semi-finals.

Warrington Wolves

On 5 March 2009,

announced that Smith was to take over as their new head coach while continuing to coach England on a part-time basis. His first game in charge of Warrington was a 14-20 defeat at home to former club Leeds Rhinos. On 29 August 2009, he led Warrington to their first

Final since 1990, and ultimately the team's first final victory since 1974, beating his former club the

25-16. Smith coached the

to their 2010 Challenge Cup Final victory over the

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

, their second consecutive Cup victory. and there are groups on Facebook about smit

Smith coached the

to their first

League Leaders' Shield The League Leaders' Shield is a shield awarded to the team finishing the season top of Super League in the sport of rugby league football. Currently, and for most of Super League's history, the championship is decided on the basis of a play-off se ...

in the

era in 2011 and the Warrington Wolves became the first team in 6-years to break 1,000 points scored during one season (the last team to do so being Smith's

, along with St. Helens and the

in the same season). He led the

Wolves The wolf (''Canis lupus''; plural, : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large Canis, canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of Canis lupus, subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been reco ...

to their

2012 Challenge Cup Final The 2012 Challenge Cup Final was the 111th cup-deciding game of the rugby league 2012 Challenge Cup Season. It was held at Wembley Stadium in London on 25 August 2012, kick off 14:30. The final was contested by Leeds Rhinos and Warrington Wolves ...

victory over the

. He coached the

to the

2012 Super League Grand Final The 2012 Super League Grand Final was the 15th official Grand Final and conclusive and championship-deciding match of the Super League XVII season. The match was held on Saturday 6 October 2012, at Old Trafford, Manchester, and was contested by ...

defeat by the

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,310 it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after Wemb ...

. He played in the

2013 Super League Grand Final The 2013 Super League Grand Final was the 16th official Grand Final and conclusive and championship-deciding match of Super League XVIII. The game was held on Saturday 5 October 2013, at Old Trafford, Manchester, and was contested by Wigan Warrio ...

defeat by the

Wigan Warriors The Wigan Warriors are a professional rugby league club in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the Super League. Formed in 1872 as Wigan Football Club, Wigan was a founding member of the Rugby Football League, Northern Rugby ...

. He coached the Warrington Wolves to the 2016 Challenge Cup Final defeat by

. After leading Warrington Wolves to the

Super League Grand Final The Super League Grand Final is the championship-deciding game of rugby league's Super League competition. It is played between two teams who have qualified via the Super League Play-Off series. The winning team receives the Super League Trop ...

in 2012, 2013 and 2016 at

, and also his second

in 2016, his spell as Warrington Wolves coach ended in 2017 when he departed the club at the end of the 2017 Super League season; at the time he was the league's longest-serving coach.

Hull Kingston Rovers

Smith was announced as the new head coach of

Hull Kingston Rovers Hull Kingston Rovers are a professional rugby league club based in Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, England, that competes in the Super League, the top tier of British rugby league. The club has won five league championships, and one Challeng ...

on 6 June 2019 following the sacking of former Hull KR coach

Tim Sheens Tim Sheens (born 30 October 1950) is an Australian professional rugby league football coach and former player. Head Coach of the Australia national team between 2009 and 2015, he has also been the head coach of National Rugby League (NRL) clubs ...

the day before. At the end of the

2019 Super League season Super League XXIV, known as the Betfred Super League XXIV for sponsorship reasons, was the 2019 iteration of and the 24th season of the Super League and 125th season of rugby league in Great Britain. Twelve teams competed over 29 rounds, incl ...

, Hull KR finished 11th on the table. In Smith's first full season as head coach in 2020, Hull KR finished bottom of the Super League but were spared from relegation due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the expulsion of

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

. In the

2021 Super League season Super League XXVI, known as the Betfred Super League XXVI for sponsorship reasons, was the 26th season of the Super League and 127th season of rugby league in Great Britain. The 2021 season was originally scheduled to begin on 11 March 2021, ho ...

, Smith guided Hull KR to sixth on the table as they qualified for the playoffs for the first time since 2013. After upsetting Warrington 19-0 in the first week of the playoffs, Hull KR travelled to France for the semi-final against

Catalans Dragons The Catalans Dragons ( French: ''Dragons Catalans'', Catalan: ''Dracs Catalans'') are a professional rugby league club from Perpignan, Pyrénées-Orientales department, France. The team competes in the Super League and are the only team from ...

. Hull KR would lose the match 28-10 which ended their season one game short of the grand final. On 4 July 2022, Smith was terminated as head coach of Hull Kingston Rovers after the club had only won a single match since St. George's Day of the 2022 season with the side were sitting 10th on the table. Smith had announced in April that he was leaving the club at the end of the campaign which resulted in a massive drop in form. Smith was replaced by interim head coach Danny McGuire.

Hull F.C.

On 13 September 2022, Smith was announced as the new head coach of

References

External links

Tony smith at yesterdayshero.com.auTony Smith at nrlstats.com

Smith takes up Great Britain job

Rhinos coach Smith exiting Headingley

Smith unveiled as GB coach
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Tony 1967 births Living people Australian rugby league coaches Australian rugby league players Australian expatriate sportspeople in England Australian expatriate sportspeople in Japan England national rugby league team coaches Great Britain national rugby league team coaches Huddersfield Giants coaches Hull F.C. coaches Hull Kingston Rovers coaches Illawarra Steelers players Japan national rugby league team coaches Leeds Rhinos coaches Rugby league five-eighths Rugby league players from Grafton, New South Wales St. George Dragons players Warrington Wolves coaches Workington Town players Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom