Tony Smith

Tony Smith (born 24 January 1967) is a professional rugby league coach and former player

He played for the Illawarra Steelers and St. George Dragons in the ARL, and Workington Town in the Super League.

He coached the Huddersfield Giants, Leeds Rhinos and Warrington Wolves in the Super League, and Japan, Great Britain and England at international level.

Smith was born in Grafton, New South Wales, Australia.

He is the younger brother of fellow rugby league coach Brian Smith and uncle to former Tonga national team and current Leeds Rhinos head coach, Rohan Smith.

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.

Tony Smith played rugby league with the Illawarra Steelers, for whom he made 40 appearances and scored 9 tries, as well as the St. George Dragons for whom he played 48 games under the coaching of his older brother Brian Smith, including the 1992 NSWRL season's grand final, in which he played from the interchange bench.

Tony Smith's involvement with British Rugby League began by finishing his playing career in 1996 with a spell at Workington Town in the inaugural Super League season.

His initial time at Workington was hampered by Achilles tendon 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, one of only five points that the club secured in 1996 as they finished bottom of Super League.

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

In 2000 he was appointed the head coach of the Japan national rugby league team for the Emerging Nations tournament.

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

After returning home to Australia after finishing his playing career with Workington, Smith turned to coaching and applied for the job of Super League club Huddersfield Giants 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 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.

Smith was appointed head coach of the Leeds Rhinos in a surprise move in November 2003 as the club decided to move incumbent Daryl Powell into an upstairs role for two years from the start of the 2004 season.

He guided the Leeds Rhinos to their 2004 Super League Grand Final victory against the Bradford Bulls, their first Championship in 32 years, and went on to beat the Canterbury Bulldogs in the 2005 World Club Challenge at Elland Road.

In 2005 Leeds made both the Challenge Cup Final and 2005 Super League Grand Final, but were unsuccessful in both matches, losing to Hull F.C. and the Bradford Bulls 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 Leeds Rhinos 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 Warrington Wolves 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.

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

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.

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, half-backs Rob Burrow and Danny McGuire, 2nd Row Gareth Ellis and centre Keith Senior.

As this was the last test series as a Great Britain side on home soil.

At the end of the year, Tony was named the RLIF Coach of the Year for a successful 2007 season.

Smith then led the England side into the 2008 World Cup.

Only overseas touring sides now use the Great Britain name.

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

He coached England in the 2008 Rugby League World Cup, making the semi-finals.

On 5 March 2009, Warrington Wolves 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 Challenge Cup Final since 1990, and ultimately the team's first final victory since 1974, beating his former club the Huddersfield Giants 25–16.