Hi rhinoms,

Sorry for my lack of reply over the weekend – busy one! I think I’ve already answered pretty much all of your questions in my previous posts but I’ll go through them again for you.

To answer your first question about senior players, I would initially point you towards last season. The way we played for the majority of last season was totally unprecedented (much like now), but ultimately the players came good for us, and I trust them to do the same this year. We also have to bear in mind the consequences of dropping a senior player, for example, if this player is a confidence player, how will this affect the rest of his season? Yes, in a team sometimes it is necessary to drop one for the sake of the others, but I think that it’s right to show a certain amount of faith when we know what they are capable of. The other thing you need to bear in mind is who you bring in in that player’s place; if it’s a young player, we need to make sure that we look after that player’s needs too.

In terms of defensive structure, how do we know that this is not being worked on intensively in training? I discuss in my original post that missed tackles, knock-ons etc are NOT the fault of the coach.

How long before it’s reasonable to question the coach? When has he EVER not been questioned?! Many of the fans started to question Mac almost as soon as the 2011 season began. I have no problem with questioning the overall performances, but explain what I think the problem is in my original post.

When you talk about aging props, I can only assume you mean Jamie Peacock, as Kylie Leuluai has been great for us, as has Richard Moore. Maybe JP needs to be rested, but in previous posts I’ve talked about the confidence that could be gained from a good performance against ANY team, and maybe Mac feels that he would benefit from being a part of that.

When I talk about good performances against Cas, Wakey and London I talk about them in the context of gaining a bit of confidence (obviously we didn’t get that on Monday). On their own, they might paper over the cracks, as the performances in last 65 minutes of the Challenge Cup Final, against Wakey at home last year and against Huddersfield away last year might have, but those performances gave us a good platform for the play-offs and the Grand Final. The losses against Wigan and Saints this year have been disappointing, but as I’ve already mentioned in previous posts, we were competitive against Wigan away (with one eye on the World Club Challenge), and for 60 minutes against Saints at home. I think it’s pretty unfair to say we didn’t challenge them, unless you are only looking at the headlines from the Saints away and Wigan at home games.

I do not agree that the criticisms of Mac have more evidence to back them – many people have questioned my detailed defence at the start of this thread, but few (including yourself) have actually backed up with any evidence. The criticism of the performances at the moment are valid, but I have explained very articulately that I think they are mis-directed. I don’t think anyone could accuse me of burying my head in the sand either, but seeing as none of us are actually in any position to do anything, the only thing we can do is hope things come good.

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.