Knights coach Brian Smith to replace Brad Fittler at Roosters
July 18, 2009 Newcastle coach Brian Smith will quit the NRL club and take over the reins at the troubled Sydney Roosters next season.
Smith will be released from the final year of his contract with the Knights to replace Brad Fittler, whose deal will not be renewed when it expires at the end of the season.
A former Parramatta and St George coach, Smith has transformed the Knights from cellar-dwellers into finals contenders in his three seasons in charge and the Roosters will be hoping he can do the same at the Bondi Junction-based club.
Under Fittler's leadership this season, the Roosters are languishing at the bottom of the ladder with just four wins, just a year after finishing in the top four ahead of a disappointing finals campaign.
“I don't think Newcastle was ever going to be long-term for Brian,” Knights chief executive Steve Burraston told Fox Sports on Saturday night.
“If he had an opportunity to get a pretty substantial position somewhere else for a long period of time, it would be wrong for us to stand in his way I think.
“Brian asked us today if he could have a release so he could take up the position with the Roosters.
“From the chairman's and my point of view, we said we would be recommending to the board on Monday that that be the case, that we do grant him a release.
“In any employment outside of footy, you wouldn't stand in someone's way if they could do something that they wanted to do in their career.”
Burraston said the Roosters had offered Smith a four-year deal, compared to the one season remaining on his Newcastle contract.
“I would suggest without knowing that it's probably substantially more than we're capable of paying as well and he had family reasons around that as well,” Burraston said.
He said the Knights had a number of ideas regarding a possible head coach for next year, including assistants at Newcastle and other clubs.
“We're not short of options, put it that way,” he said.
But he played down talk club great Andrew Johns would be the man.
“I don't think Joey would like a full-time coaching career. He has stated that publicly on many occasions that he's not cut out to be a coach,” Burraston said.
Burraston said he was more than happy to have Smith as head coach for the remainder of the 2009 season.
“He's a very intense coach and he's a very professional coach,” Burraston said.
“Brian will give us everything and he gave me his word on that and said he has got a competition to win here and he firmly believes we will win the competition.”