I can't agree with prioritising the younger kids - if a player has worked his backside off to play well, he should be rewarded for that whatever his age. The kids are the future of the Club but we also have a responsibility to give them time to get used to Superleague, and it's better if (certainly on debut) they can come off the bench on say 25-30 minutes at the earliest when *hopefully* the opposition is a little more tired. I agree it's worth seeing what our options are for next season, especially if the injury Webb picked up last week is going to keep him out. When I talked about playing young lads every week, I assumed when you suggested dropping players that you meant for a longer period of time than just one game.

I don't think it seems like the senior players are in charge at the moment - I think Mac's shown great strength in shaking things up a bit and playing Burrow at hooker, as one example. Obviously we've played the big 3 twice this year already (Saints, Wigan and Warrington) and those are the games that you just can't afford to drop any senior players for; one because it would be a big ask for any youngster making a debut, and two because at any time our senior players could click and change the game. We need to keep faith with these guys for the rest of the year for that very reason, though we've got a few fixtures coming up (Wakey on Monday, London in a couple of weeks, and Wakey again at the end of July) where we could rest a couple and play a few young lads. Giving a good performance against any team will lift the players and should give them the confidence they'll need in the run up to the end of the season and through the play-offs.

Totally respect what you say about this debate, but the debate is ultimately about Mac as a coach, and I've been happy to spend the time this week defending him; I can't tell you how frustrated I've been with some of the non-reasoned and highly personal abuse I've heard (though I've tried throughout this thread)! I can also tell you it would take some highly taxing physical and mental changes for me to be Brian McDermott!!

To be honest its nice to have a positive poster on here. I'm kind of split on the subject though, i think while McDermott needs to be questioned for the performance (opposite to what the OP thinks) i agree with him that the criticism shouldn't go into abuse territory. Healthy and non-too-personal criticism is ok, going onto booing during games, name calling and disrespectful comments i think is unnecessary.

I believe Swiftcorn got a bit of a ban following an argument on the VT with an Aussie about Aussie Rules Football and claiming he knew Australia better than a guy who lives there. Don't know if it applies to here though but his absence is greatly appreciated.

Quote: Gotcha "Come on folks. This is another AP/Keith alias. Don't get sucked in.'" It's not really a case of getting sucked in, as others have commented it's remained a civil discussion. I've always been notoriously poor at identifying the men behind the 'characters' but agree it's likely to be one of the regulars. Either way it's provided an outlet for some frustration. Will it change anyone's view - I doubt it. rhinowinorlose probably still thinks Henry Paul wasn't replaced at the Harlequins and that he was always a leading role model off the field : news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_l ... 038590.stm I'm guessing the Quins were just grateful he wasn't the chauffeur driver behind the wheel of that Mercedes S280.

Quote: Gotcha "Come on folks. This is another AP/Keith alias. Don't get sucked in.'" It's not really a case of getting sucked in, as others have commented it's remained a civil discussion. I've always been notoriously poor at identifying the men behind the 'characters' but agree it's likely to be one of the regulars. Either way it's provided an outlet for some frustration. Will it change anyone's view - I doubt it. rhinowinorlose probably still thinks Henry Paul wasn't replaced at the Harlequins and that he was always a leading role model off the field : news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_l ... 038590.stm I'm guessing the Quins were just grateful he wasn't the chauffeur driver behind the wheel of that Mercedes S280.

Agreed. It's a discussion forum, this is a discussion. Does seem to wind a few people up though - not sure why.

I think in short they players have to take the criticism for the way they play and they shouldn't be exempt from criticism but equally the manager has to take some blame for the standard of play and tactics used in the game.