WARRINGTON Wolves’ search for Tony Smith’s replacement continues this week.

The Wire have targets in Australia, but one of their key candidates is now out of the running.

Reports confirm Canberra Raiders assistant boss Dean Pay was one of the men seen by Wolves chief executive Karl Fitzpatrick.

However, the ex-Kangaroos international pack man has now been revealed as the new head coach of former club Canterbury Bulldogs, who parted company with Des Hasler last week.

With Gold Coast Titans seeking a new head coach, following the sacking of Neil Henry, a chain of events looks set to confirm a number of appointments – including the one for Warrington – over the coming days and weeks.

Other coaches still in the mix are understood to be Cronulla Sharks assistant Steve Price, former Wigan and South Sydney head coach Michael Maguire, ex-Bradford boss Geoff Toovey, Penrith Panthers assistant Garth Brennan, North Queensland number two Todd Payten and Hasler’s former right-hand man at Canterbury Jim Dymock.

Five of The Wire’s last eight head coaches have been Australian, with Paul Cullen the only Englishman to have been afforded a decent stint at the helm from 2002 to 2008.

His predecessor David Plange and successor James Lowes, both fellow countrymen, had less than 12 months between them in the job.

John Dorahy took Wolves into the Super League era following Brian Johnson’s resignation in 1996.

Darryl Van de Velde arrived in 1997 and was replaced by Steve Anderson in 2001.

With Smith’s nine-season stay at the helm ending officially on Monday this week, The Wire appear set to turn to NRL experience in a bid for a vastly improved 2018 campaign.

The ninth-placed finish in Super League this year, and the consequent fall into the Middle 8s, was the leanest campaign of his successful tenure.

Smith steered The Wire to their first Challenge Cup success for 35 years in 2009, backed it up in 2010 and 2012 as well as achieving League Leaders’ Shield glories in 2011 and 2016, which were firsts for the club in the Super League era as were the Grand Final appearances of 2012, 2013 and 2016.

Saturday’s win against Hull KR was the 10th in a row, matching the Super League era record set by his team in 2014.

He bows out as the man to have achieved the best win-loss ratio of all Wire coaches, narrowly edging out Ces Mountford who steered the club to back-to-back title triumphs in the mid 1950s.

Smith was also the longest serving Warrington coach since Mountford, the New Zealander having served from 1951 to 1961.

Looking deeper into the statistics of Smith’s reign, his most wins against a team was 17 – achieved versus both Catalan Dragons and Huddersfield Giants.

His most defeats, 14, came against St Helens, while he was unbeaten in all his six games against Crusaders.

The only team he coached against and failed to beat was St George Illawarra Dragons in 2015.

Ryan Atkins played in the most games under Smith’s control, with 238 starts plus one substitute appearance.

Staying on the trivia theme, Mike Cooper was the only player to appear in his first and last wins as head coach – both against Hull KR.

At the age of 50 for his last game, it makes him the second oldest coach in Warrington’s history, behind Joe Egan, who was 51.

As an interesting aside, Smith has coached in 17 games against Warrington – while with Huddersfield and Leeds – and won on 10 occasions.

He only played once against Warrington, that was with Workington Town in July 1996 when his side lost 49-4 at Derwent Park.

Tony Smith’s Wire journey:

Signed: March 5, 2009

Position: Head of coaching and rugby

First game: Warrington Wolves 14 Leeds Rhinos 20 – March 8, 2009

Last game: Warrington Wolves 46 Hull KR 24 – September 23, 2017

Days in charge: 3,127

RECORD:

Win ratio: 66.55% 302 matches, 201 wins, 6 draws, 95 losses

Super League: 228 matches, 148 wins, 6 draws, 74 losses

Challenge Cup: 35 matches, 29 wins, 0 draws, 6 losses

8s (Super and Middle): 21 matches, 15 wins, 0 draws, 6 losses

Play-offs and Grand Finals: 16 matches, 8 wins, 0 draws, 8 losses

World Club Series: 2 matches, 1 win, 0 draws, 1 loss

HONOURS:

League Leaders’ Shield winners – 2011, 2016

Challenge Cup winners – 2009, 2010, 2012

Grand Final runners up – 2012, 2013, 2016

Challenge Cup runners up – 2016