No regrets for Smith ahead of Warrington farewell

Warrington coach Tony Smith says he has no regrets and doesn’t lose sleep over not managing to bring the Super League title to the club.

Smith, 50, departs the Halliwell Jones Stadium after eight years having won three Challenge Cups, two League Leaders Shields and appeared in three Grand Finals.

It is those Grand Final defeats – to Leeds in 2012 and to Wigan in 2013 and 2016 – that failed to end a wait of more than 60 years to bring the championship back to Warrington.

He said: “I don’t lose sleep over it (not getting the champions title). We gave it a shot and it’s about on the day and if you’re not quite good enough on the day, you don’t get the champions tag.

“We weren’t far off on a couple of occasions. I’m not into records though. I am in to having an affect on people and places and clubs, and overall I think we’ve had a pretty positive effect here.

“I’m proud and I can walk away without any regrets.

“Hopefully they can get the champions tag in the future and I’ll be more than proud that I played my little role on the way there for them to get there, just like the people before me helped contribute to the success.

“Everyone keeps asking me what’s the highlight or the lowlight, but I’m privileged I get to work with these people and watch players develop and that’s what coaching is about for me.

“Sometimes you’re really lucky, you get a chance to win some trophies or win a trophy. There are a lot of better coaches out there than me who have never won a trophy.

“You can go through a whole career and not get one, so I say better coaches have bigger influences on their players and get more out of them, and that’s what coaching is about.”

Warrington round-off their season with a home game against Hull KR in The Qualifiers, searching for a tenth successive win.