The point remains WHOEVER is in the 17 should be trusted to be brought on Walters may have struggled but in the biggest game of the year he came on and contributed and not just as a stop gap to give Delaney a rest either.
Lilley has also shown he's good enough to play if that mean spelling Burrow then so be it but it also gave an option for Sinny to move to 13 and rotate a forward.
I like the look of our pack next year overall but there's no need imo to run players like Delaney into the ground which has happened at times this year the same with Ablett.
I'd love us to sign another front line BR but that doesn't look like happening so i'm more than happy to see Walters et al get more game time i think the youngsters deserve to be trusted more.

Let's not get carried away. When Walters first came on he missed a tackle (along with JP and Hardaker) when they scored. I think the one who deserves to be trusted the most is McDermott. As with the short spell use of Kylie, the fans do not know the whole story. Please try and have a bit more faith in our record breaking coach.

I think people are forgetting how terrible Walters has been this year. I know he was stood in the right place at the right time in the GF and scored the winning try, but that seems to have covered up his feeble performances all year.

He put on too much weight over the off season and it didn't work for him. If people are seriously now saying he's one for the future then a lot of work needs to be done pre season. I can't see how he's rated above Minchella.

As for the Brian Carney/ Phil Clarke comment on Brian McD facilitating coaching style. I was sure it was actually Barrie McD that said it and he was complementing him. Saying it takes a great coach to put such confidence in his players and let them make the calls on the field and not micro manage. Letting Sinfield take the "captains run" entirely on his own when most coaches actually sit in n watch etc.

I agree this transition will be interesting to see how McD manages that, but nothing can take away from what he's achieved. Adding to that KS, JP and JJB have all separately said he's the best coach they've ever worked under. Best balance of tactician and man management. Those are opinions I respect.

I'm guessing some people here care about their esteem. To maintain an implacable prejudice against McDermott in the present circumstances isn't going to help with that. HTH.

Who's getting carried away?
Also re-Kylie that's a completely scenario to not using all the selected subs imo plus it's not a lack of trust in the Coach either it's an opinion.

McDermott'll do for me, even if he continues to make mistakes. That goes with the territory of decision-making. In 2011, the accusation was that he'd inherited a side imbued with the knowledge of how to win. The 2015 side was markedly better IMO, despite there being a number of reasons why it shouldn't have been. Suggests to me his input might be a tad more valuable than is recognised by some.

Haven't said any different!

The mistake that many coaches make, at all levels of the game, is thinking that their voice should always be the loudest. A good teacher doesn't give all the answers but instead asks the right questions, ownership of their own development is what makes teams and players achieve their personal best.

Didn't say you had



Never had you down as rabidly-anti BMcD, your opinions always seem very balanced to me whether praising him or slating him.

On a "Happy 5th Anniversary to McDermott" thread it would be nice though to just keep to the positives with no ifs and buts for once.

Spot on.

I think one issue he deserves praise for is how he dealt with the whole 'Legends leaving' emotion side of things.

We spent most of the year straight batting that issue saying it's not just about those guys, it's about the squad as a whole. But just at the end for those last 3 weeks after the Cas loss and we were on our knees they turned around and unashamedly started to use it and it's arguably what gave us that lift to turn things around in those last 3 weeks.

Use it too early, could've been too much. Try and straight bat it all season long and you're probably trying too hard to downplay something that was too big to fight.