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| I wanted to start this thread to address what I feel is truly shameful treatment of Brian McDermott by some of the Rhinos fans. Looking at the Rhinos facebook page, the comments that have been made are not only highly narrow-minded, but also very personal, and in the same way that these people have spoken out to vent their frustration at recent results, I now need to vent mine. Brian McDermott has been in the job for just over 18 months now, and I really believe that he’s been a convenient scapegoat for the issues that we’ve had, with anything positive that he’s done being conveniently forgotten.
The transition
Mac joined us after a disappointing 2010 season under Brian McClennan – we finished fourth, losing 9 games, and lost both the World Club Challenge and the Challenge Cup final (a game which frankly seemed like we never even got off the bus).
We started the 2011 season without Jamie Peacock and Danny McGuire, who only returned to the squad at the end of April (nearly half way through the season), and yet during this first season under Mac, we only lost 2 more games than 2010, and we reached both the Challenge Cup and Grand Finals. While the first 15 minutes of the Challenge Cup Final were undoubtedly disappointing, we were the better team for 65 minutes of the game and if we’d been on the right end of a couple of poor decisions from Robert Hicks (as touch judge) and Phil Bentham, the end result could have been somewhat different.
Individual Players
While I appreciate that our results at the start of this year and last have not been what we might have hoped, I now want to point out the many positives that Mac has achieved over the last 18 months, starting with his achievements with individual playersPast coaches
We have been privileged in the last 10/11 years to reach 10 finals (not including the World Club Challenges), with several of the players featuring in all or most of these seasons. We experienced disappointment under Daryl Powell (DP), some success under Tony Smith (TS) (2005 being a heart-breaker, and 2006 under-performing), and a poor final season in 2010 under Brian McClennan (BMcC). Out of interest, I wanted to see our league positions and numbers of losses in these yearsAddressing fans comments
I totally understand everyone’s frustration at our performances this year, but like I say above, it disappoints me that some of you are aiming this frustration at Brian McDermott; offering little justification for doing so and often being really personal with your comments. Here are some of the comments I’ve come across:
Kevin Sinfield does the half-time team talks – how do you know this happens on a consistent basis? Because you’ve seen a 20 second clip on Sky? This is a ridiculous comment to make – we can’t possibly know what goes on at half-time so to use this as criticism of Mac is really strange.
The players just do as they’re told, if they’re crap it’s down to the manager – think about why the players are under-achieving at the moment. This is nothing to do with the “plays” themselves, it’s because in every single game we’ve lost this year, we’ve missed tackles, knocked on, had a poor kicking game, and given away silly penalties. Anyone who really believes the players are being told to do this, frankly needs their head testing.
The team were solely responsible for the back-end of last season – if this is true, why aren’t we performing now? Again, we are losing games because of the lack of basic rugby skills, not because the “plays” aren’t any good.
Brian McDermott has no passion – how do you know this? Do any of you know him, know him well? For me, his passion for our Club and our players came across in the motivational video that helped us get to the Grand Final.
I’m not going to go through some of the more personal comments I’ve seen and heard the fans make, but I just hope that none of you get abused at work like you’ve been abusing Mac. The fans, yes, are important to the Club and we have been rewarded for our loyalty with a number of finals in the last ten years and some fantastic performances in the regular season. We have the right to be frustrated, but we do not have the right to gang up like pack animals and be as abusive as what I’ve seen and heard.
I have always been proud to be a Rhino because we’ve stuck together through thick and thin, so when I see some of you treating one of our own this way, it just doesn’t sit right with me. Mac has not only got the backing of the Club, but the backing of the players – over the last year, a number of players have signed contract extensions, and this surely isn’t in spite of Mac, but in part, with him. If the players and the Club back him, so do I, and I back the players to start playing better this year and once again, give us something to be proud of.
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