Tony Smith relaxed about new contract at Warrington

By Ben Reynolds

Image: Tony Smith expects to sign a new contract at Warrington

Warrington coach Tony Smith expects to open talks about a new deal soon after scotching reports of him ending his seven-year spell at the club.

Smith, who has enjoyed an unbroken spell of coaching in the Super League since 2000, is out of contract at the end of the season, but is relaxed about his future and will discuss a new deal with club owner Simon Moran in the next few weeks. 

"Simon and I will be talking in the next little while," said Smith, who was recently linked with the vacancy at Hull KR. "It will take care of itself.

Image: Warrington are top of Super League after eight wins from their first 10 games

"I've got a good owner and a great relationship with the management and board of our club.

"I've enjoyed the seven years that I've been here, we've been a pretty consistent club in that time and we've always had a good relationship."

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Smith is in a strong position to negotiate a new contract, with Warrington top of the Super League after just two defeats from 10 games.

"I'm not worried about strong hands in terms of negotiations," he said. "We're in a strong position as a club and that's important.

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"This club is going places, not just on the field, but off the field. I think we've probably been a bit behind in that area in some respects for a number of years. It's a good place to be at the moment."

Warrington suffered a 25-22 defeat against St Helens last Friday

Smith, 49, steered Huddersfield back to the top flight before taking Leeds to two Grand Final triumphs ahead of his move to Warrington and he believes the appointment of Richard Agar as his No 2 has helped keep things fresh after seven years.

"I used to [believe in a shelf life]," he added. "It was more about freshening myself up. I've probably done that with our staff and changeover in personnel.

"I haven't had to move to freshen us up. I'm working with a different group of people both on and off the field - our off-field staff has changed a fair bit in the last couple of years and it has freshened us up a whole lot.

"A lot of the successful clubs have stability in the management ranks and I think there's a lot of worth in that.

"So it's not like I think there has to be a shelf life but it's important to know when it's time not to be there any more and I don't think that time's come yet."

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