Tony Smith is handling the heat of his cross-city move to Hull FC - but sometimes wonders what he’s got himself into.
The ex-England coach is preparing for his first season in charge after being sacked by the club’s arch-rivals Hull KR last July. The popular Smith had a massive impact on the Robins, leading them to a first-ever Super League semi-final before things turned sour. But he wasn’t out of work for long, controversially getting the Hull gig just a few months later after they got rid of Brett Hodgson.
The prospect of Smith working for them riled many Rovers fans. But ahead of next month’s Super League kick-off, has the Australian got used to wearing black and white instead of red and white? Smith joked: “It’s more slimming so I’m a big fan of it!
“I’ve not got any grief from anybody. I don't do social media so I might be getting slagged off left, right and centre but if I have it doesn’t affect me as I don’t read it. But I haven’t had any problems and never have. Even when I was Leeds coach - and you know how much Hull hate Leeds - I never had any grief. People have just been really respectful and wished me well with this job.
“I met up with (ex-Hull and Hull KR stand-off) Paul Cooke for a couple of shandies in town on Friday night and two red and white fans came up to me and said thanks very much for the time I had there. I said what a pleasure most of it was. And I’ve had that sort of reaction from most of the fans on both sides. It’s nice.”
Smith, 56, has had a positive impact on every club he’s been at since first coming to the UK to take over Huddersfield in 2001. He helped Leeds win their first title in 32 years, led Warrington to three Challenge Cup glories and then lifted standards at the Robins. Hull slumped in at ninth last term, one place below KR, so how big a challenge is it to turn them around?
Smith admitted: “Some days I go home and go, ‘wow this is huge.’ You feel a million miles away and the season is creeping up on you. But by the end of the week I’ve gone home and thought these guys were great and they’ve nutted it out. We’ll see. It’s my job to improve players.
"And as I say to all of them (fans), I want both sides of the city to be successful in rugby league. It's one of the reasons I came to FC. Whoever I'm coaching I want them to be the stronger of the two. But this has been a rugby league city and we need to make sure it remains that way as it’s a big football city now.
"We need to make sure rugby league is thriving here. We need both clubs to be successful and local kids wanting to play, hopefully for us but, if not, then the other club. That's massively important for this city.”
