Hull FC and Tony Smith - Analysis of head coach's exit by YP rugby league writer, James O'Brien - video Dailymotion

Yorkshire Post

The Yorkshire Post's rugby league writer, James O'Brien, assesses the departure of head coach Tony Smith from Hull FC by mutual consent and what it means for both club and coach going forward ...

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00:00 Tony Smith has become the first coaching casualty of the 2024 Super League season. He leaves

00:12 his post at Hull FC after around 18 months in charge. It's fair to say he hasn't had

00:17 the impact or the influence he would have liked at the MKM Stadium. Hull finished 10th

00:23 last year and they're 11th this year after seven rounds. They've lost seven out of eight

00:27 games in all, they've conceded 302 points, which is quite remarkable and there's no defending

00:33 that really. But their habit of capitulating goes all the way back to the days of Lee Radford

00:39 really when on the back of their Double Challenge Cup success, they did have a habit of capitulating

00:45 and suffering heavy defeats. So it's not something that's just happened on Tony Smith's watch

00:52 and clearly it's not going to be an overnight fix at Hull. These problems are deep-rooted.

00:59 But this is the first step in trying to change things, I guess. I know big changes are coming

01:05 to the off-field operation and obviously the first team as well with Tony Smith leaving.

01:12 There's going to be a few player departures, Tex Hoy is one of those. There's going to

01:16 be a few players coming in, some signings from the NRL, some potential domestic recruits

01:21 as well. So Hull are trying to rescue the season. It's not going to be an easy task.

01:28 The playoffs are still there for them, the playoffs are there for anyone in theory, but

01:33 it's on the field that matters and Hull are lagging a long way behind their rivals at

01:37 the moment. It's a bit of a cliche, but this next coaching appointment is a huge one and

01:45 I understand the next head coach will have support around him as well. So it will be

01:49 an interesting few weeks at Hull and also with Tony Smith as well. He was sacked by

01:55 Hull KR in his last job, in his previous job, for the first time in his career and now sacked

02:01 by Hull. He has had a lot of success in the past, revived Huddersfield Giants a long time

02:08 ago, now back in the early 2000s, won two grand finals with Leeds, three Challenge Cups

02:14 with Warrington, but his reputation has taken a hit. It remains to be seen whether he'd

02:19 want to get back into the rugby league as well, given these past experiences.

02:23 [BLANK_AUDIO]

Hull FC and Tony Smith - Analysis of head coach's exit by YP rugby league writer, James O'Brien

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