These winds of change just ain't slowing down at Mt Smart. Not only have we seen hefty changes in the playing roster, as well as a re-shuffle of the front office, now Brian Smith has been brought in as the GM of Football to work alongside Stephen Kearney. Or more to the point, take a load off of Kearney's shoulders and allow for more specific planning and execution.

Re-shuffling the front office and the various coaches can't be overlooked in terms of relevance to the winds of change at Mt Smart, they just aren't quite as interesting as bringing in Smith to be a footballin' overlord. Especially when Jim Doyle has moved from CEO to Chairman, with Cameron George coming in as CEO for example; the average kiwi joker doesn't give no fucks about the difference between CEO and Chairman.

There are a few wrinkles in getting Smith involved as GM of Football, the best place to start is to get Smith's role in the NZRL (this wasn't just a failure of the Kiwis) failure at RLWC out of the way. The failure of the Kiwis won't have any major impact on the players involved long-term as it will either be a blip on the radar or end up being status-quo for some players, yet it's hard to believe that anyone involved from coaching staff to NZRL officials will emerge with their reputations enhanced.

Smith has been hired right after that almighty failure, which is weird and prior to RLWC, mainstream media were rolling out a narrative of Smith overhauling Aotearoa's attacking structure and style of play. We all know how that played out and it's completely logical to question how anyone could be hired from that campaign.

I do however view these roles as being quite different and I doubt Smith will have much to do with how the Warriors play their football. This is largely due to the hiring of Smith revolving around allowing Kearney to focus solely on coaching the Warriors, while Smith handles all the peripheral tasks. Thankfully, Smith has not been hired to do the same job as he did with the Kiwis and there's going to be many Warriors tentacles that will keep Smith busy outside of the NRL team.

It's also worth mentioning Smith's history as a coach and reinforcing that Smith has not been hired in a coaching capacity. Smith oozes rugby league experience as a coach and in no way, shape or form to I view the hiring of Smith as under-mining Kearney's standing as coach, or preparing for Kearney losing his job, or any change in the coaching position.

Smith's experience will of value to Kearney, with Kearney still a raw head coach having limited experience in such a role. Yes, Kearney has learned from Craig Bellamy and Wayne Bennett, both of whom he'd view as mentors, but with regards to specifics within Mt Smart, Kearney now has Smith around for yarn spinning and general assistance.

Kearney's role in all of this forms the majority of my intrigue as I can genuinely imagine Kearney going to Doyle at some stage this year and outlining that he needed help in the form of a GMOF. It's equally as likely that this idea came from Kearney, as it is that the idea came from Doyle, as it is that the idea was a collaboration between the two. All of this comes back around to why the winds of change are gusting through Mt Smart; Kearney's had a year to suss out Mt Smart's strengths and weaknesses.

Hence the idea of immediate success was astronomically stupid.

The only way for Kearney to make changes was to truly understand what was wrong, something that could only come from being in the club. This is why it's no coincidence that Alex Corvo was head-hunted by Kearney, after a season in charge and why most of Kearney's roster changes have taken place after a year in charge. And that first year in charge saw Kearney pretty much do everything, most evident in the fact that the likes Gerard Beale, Adam Blair and Blake Green share a manager with Kearney - I focus on positives so I won't buzz about any negative perception about that. Chuck in Matiu Love-Henry, who Kearney worked with at Brisbane Broncos and the majority of these recruits have a connection with Kearney (ignoring Tohu Harris as he was signed earlier in Kearney's tenure but has a strong Kearney connection as well).

Kearney understood the players that the Warriors required and used his connections to get players of that style, without Kearney, none of those players are recruited. Kearney was the identifier, recruiter and deal-sealer. This is not sustainable long-term, nor is it how overhauling a club from the foundations is executed, which I'm sure Kearney understood.

I'd also suggest that Kearney now understands where the Warriors problems lie in terms of their junior pathways. Kearney will know that the Warriors have missed out on the immense #KiwiNRL talent at Melbourne and Brisbane, now he's had an opportunity to understand why so much talent falls through the Warriors development cracks - something that reflects horribly on previous regimes.

Cleary, Edwards, JFH, CHN, May. An insight into the unique Panthers program that set them on their path to the @NRL 👇🏽#pantherpride 🐾 pic.twitter.com/ILJLkM59P9
— Penrith Panthers (@PenrithPanthers) November 29, 2017

This coincides with the NRL scrapping the Under 20s competition, thus providing the Warriors with a chance to switch up how their junior pathway. This is the chance for the Warriors to go down the same path as Penrith Panthers did when Phil Gould took over and there is a genuine opportunity for the Warriors to overhaul their junior systems from the core. Keep in mind that Gould and Smith aren't doing the same job as Gould played a major role in the business side of the Panthers (as well as football) and the are in a solid business position when you consider their on-field performances.

Overhauling junior systems is not Kearney's job though and while it won't be solely Smith's job either, Smith will play a major role in any changes from this point onwards. Kearney would have seen all the holes in the junior system, identified that this was an area of weakness and understood that he couldn't overhaul that as well as coaching the NRL team. As GMOF, Smith will provide a consistent voice from the NRL team to the junior system and his vast experience in a variety of different footy situations will be useful given how unique the Warriors situation is.

This can be simplified down to; how do the Warriors ensure they are getting the best rugby talent in Aotearoa?

The Warriors only have X amount of roster spots and they can't control the desires of young players, so the Warriors can't get all of the best talent. They can at the very least do a far better job and aim, strive to ensure that they are getting all of the best talent and just as important as getting the best talent is developing players that other clubs have overlooked, into NRL talent. Right now, the opposite happens as the Warriors don't get the best talent, nor do they develop talent that shows potential and NRL clubs are the ones pouncing on what the Warriors overlook.

Kearney can't be asked to buzz about that and Smith offers a fresh perspective, based on experience in the NRL and Super League. The Warriors have an incredibly unique situation with regards to scouting, recruitment and player development in Aotearoa, that requires a dedicated presence from someone who can adapt their experience to the Warriors situation.

Ultimately, the Warriors now have the best coaching/leadership structure they've ever had, it's really that simple and perhaps that puts the past 20 years into some perspective - Alex Corvo is definitely included in that. I understand that this will bring expectation and people will judge 'the best coaching/leadership structure ever' on NRL success, yet I'm more concerned with, or excited about, that these people will be responsible for the winds of change at Mt Smart.

These changes are immense, which is why I use the word 'overhaul'. You can't change culture overnight, nor can you change junior systems overnight, but the overhaul has begun and this genuinely feels like an overhaul, not the superficial changes that come with only bringing in big name players. This feels like a deep overhaul and while the Warriors will likely be a better NRL team next season, the true impact of this overhaul will be felt in years to come.

Hit an ad if you're feeling the overhaul.

Peace and love 27.