TALK to anyone in rugby league about Rohan Smith and the soundbites are all the same.

“Smart young coach… vastly experienced despite his age… great assistant but when will he make the step up?”

Well, the son of the legendary Brian Smith can today call himself the head coach of Bradford Bulls.

He hails from a family synonymous with the game both in Australia and England and certainly boasts an amazing CV.

Smith, who turned 35 yesterday, has enjoyed numerous coaching roles in the NRL and a two-year stint as assistant at London Broncos.

It has been an apprenticeship and a half and then some.

Now, this is his time.

That his father played a key role in the rise of the Bulls at the advent of Super League 20 years ago adds intrigue to the appointment.

During his solitary season in charge at Odsal in 1996, Smith senior was credited with laying the foundations for the Bulls’ rise to prominence and subsequent golden era.

Thus there is a neat symmetry to Rohan taking the hot-seat his dad once occupied as the club bids to return to its former glories.

A Grand Final or Challenge Cup final appearance will have to wait, but promotion back to Super League would be a start.

Tony Rea worked with Smith at London for two years and believes his compatriot is ideally suited to the Bradford job.

The former Broncos boss said: “There is a saying in coaching ‘the longer the apprenticeship, the better the career’ and I think Bradford have recruited a very good coach in Rohan.

“He’s a guy who has been through a number of different systems, so that’s a great advantage.

“He has actually moved around several countries and challenged himself in many ways.

“Rohan is a very open-minded coach who really enjoyed himself at London and had a close association with the people there at the time.

“He made a lot of friends and was very diligent in the way he worked.

“Rohan going to the Bulls is a very good scenario, there is no question about that, and a very different profile for Bradford.

“They’ve going from a reasonably experienced coach to someone who is young, hungry and will come with a lot of expectation.

“I think Rohan will demand a lot of the players because he has worked in several big programmes and will want to raise standards at Bradford.

“That’s a good thing – to challenge what is currently in place – and I think he will do that in the right way.

“Rohan is a very technical coach and the players will realise that immediately.

“He puts a lot of emphasis on detail and does a lot of individual work with players.”

When Rohan was born in 1981, his father was the under-23s coach at South Sydney and only just embarking on a career that would amass more than 600 top-level games.

His first coaching opportunity came with the University of Wollongong's junior teams when after two shoulder reconstructions he made a move to the sidelines.

Smith went on to enjoy various stints with the New Zealand Warriors, Newcastle Knights, Penrith Panthers, Sydney Roosters, London Broncos and latterly, as assistant coach at the Gold Coast Titans.

He has quit his job with the Titans to make the move to Bradford and Rea, a regular rugby league pundit for Sky, added: “It’s all about getting back into Super League and Rohan needs a group of people who want to be there.

“That’s another challenge for him – getting the perception right so that the key players can see themselves getting back into Super League with Bradford.

“I gave him a lot of freedom to work with the team at London, which has always been my style with my assistants, and he did a very good job with it.

“He definitely had a Super League level brain.

“Has he been influenced by his father and his uncle, Tony Smith? Very much so.

“There is a stable of coaches who have been influenced by that Smith philosophy, with Tony and Daniel Anderson having worked under Brian.

“Matty Elliott and Brian Noble are in that category too and Rohan is in the same boat, so he will be similar to these guys as coaches.

“Bradford would have had their own criteria for the job and have clearly seen something they like in Rohan.

“Certainly it’s hard to fault Rohan’s CV when you look at the experiences he has had.

“It then comes down to whether the coach’s philosophies fit with what the club are trying to achieve.”

Recruitment will be a key issue for Smith as he bids to fashion a squad capable of returning to the big time later this year.

Rea, who still watches London regularly and saw them lose to Bradford at Odsal over Easter, said: “With guys like Steve Ferres there, Rohan will be surrounded by some good experience and knowledge in the background when it comes to the recruitment of players.

“That’s a new challenge when you step up because the first thing you’ve got to do as a coach is recruit well.

“Having been to a few clubs, he will no doubt have certain players who he will want to come to Bradford with him.

“When I worked with him, he was always strong at networking with the players he coached.

“He also had a strong suggestion on people he would recommend.

“He’s not a hesitant recruiter, he will be a very positive recruiter, and that will benefit the Bulls. Rohan’s time is now.”