Tony Smith is the best there was available at the present moment and he arrives with a real point to prove himself. He loves living round here and by his own admission reading between the lines he was hoping to step in at Hull FC one day although even he admits its early than he expected it. The timing of the announcement coming at a time of national mourning probably lets him fly under the radar a bit and it will be nice for us to be judging him on his actions rather than the pages and pages of sugar coated rhetoric jam tomorrow and flimsy promises these appointments usually bring.
He has obviously been respected, liked and even perhaps a little feared by the players he has controlled in the past and thank goodness the days of appointing an assistant are over and we have gone for a proven coach who has probably seen everything although there is little doubt even he probably faces his biggest challenge to date.
His appointments as assistants will be interesting and no doubt we will have more news next week as well as how he manages the 'troublesome' core of the team and gets a few of his own players in. The main thing is that he has seen it all and values and understands the importance of the corporate all embracing approach to getting improvements that spans right across the club from fans to the owner. Interesting times I don't think we will be bored in the closed season.
