Cunningham plays it cool about Smith’s Wakefield exit

St Helens coach Keiron Cunningham has hailed the work done by Brian Smith at Wakefield, after it was confirmed this week that the Trinity coach had left his post.

Saints welcome Wakefield to Langtree Park on Friday evening, but Cunningham knows that his side must focus on themselves, and not what has happened at Trinity.

“Brian’s done a great job at the club,” said Cunningham.

“It was going to be a tough task, before the announcement was made that Brian had left the club, to face his team.

“They’re playing extremely well. People aren’t giving them the credit they deserve.

“I’ve watched the last four games they’ve played, and they’re playing some very good rugby.

“They’ve come close to beating Warrington at Warrington. Warrington got lucky with some long-range tries.

“Wakfield were by far the better team for large periods of the game.

“Then in the Catalans game, they nearly chased down a high scoreline in that first half.

“It shows that resolve, as a club, they’ve got now, and I think Brian’s done a great job at turning everything round there.

“Probably Brian feels like he’s taken them as far as he possibly can with their resources, I’m not sure what it is.”

Cunningham is fully focused on what his team can control, and not on rumours or speculation about what Smith’s exit has resulted from at Wakefield.

“You hear lots of things behind the scenes. That’s theirs to play out, it’s nothing to do with us as a club,” he added.

“All we can deal with is a team which is going to come and have a good shot at us on Friday night.

“All we can control is what we can control. We don’t worry about what they do – we’ll deal with that on the night.”