If he's so bad why does Tony Smith and the moneybags Wire want him?

He is very unproven and didn't get the results. Although I am a bit dubious about Lowes joining us, I do feel that we have got the better assistant coach!

My 1st guess is that TS knows he's a "yes man".
My 2nd is that he's only going there as an assistant and TS needs someone right now but he's not coaching the juniors which he did'nt do very well at Leeds imo.
Strange how things work out but we'll soon see how it all pans out come Feb.

Find it strange how people make judgements on coaching ability, have you ever seen them coach? And if you had would you know what you were looking for?

Many things other than results factor into how a coach would fit in to a new club.

On Mcdermott, he has some interesting coaching philosophies, some of which I think are spot on. He also feels the previous regime was probably too technical. Interesting transition time for Leeds.

Poching - yes
Lowes - no

On Poching, whilst I wouldn't go quite as far as Gotcha in describing his record as "shocking" I'd agree with Gotcha's general point that he's not great. Having said that, he's a really nice guy and hopefully he'll improve under Tony Smith.

On Lowes, not seen him coach but have heard things from people who have. Some complimentary, some not. Probably as you would expect from a coach still learning his trade. Perfectly willing to give him the opportunity at Leeds, anything that's happened in the past is just that, in the past. I would imagine Lowes wasn't too happy with the way good ole Alf got rid of him but he's put that behind him so let's all move on shall we.

That's interesting, since after the 2008 Grand Final win McClennan said that our ability to wrestle and control the tackle was "probably the biggest factor" in that final win.

McDermott probably has a point.

Willie would be a great "ASSISTANT" Coach.

With the U20's it was his job, he was solely responsible and as many have mentioned, wasn't very good at it.

Although the Assistant's job is technically a step up, there's a lot more places to hide, and a lot more "hand holding" in that role. If the U20's lost it was Willie's fault, but nobody ever blamed Franny for our disgrace at Wembley did they (or any other loss)??

Willie's qualities are clear for all to see, dedication, commitment, work ethic, motivation, likeability. All qualities which could easily see him excel when practically being Tony's coffee-boy and when used as a sounding board for any ideas, without any of the key decisions to make, or any responsibility with the fans or media should those decisions go wrong.

Were the U20s results so bad solely because of Poching's coaching? Or were the tools he had to work with not as good as in previous seasons? Those that say it was down to Poching, what evidence have you got to back that up? I'd say it's never black and white in these situations.

It's funny how some people are lining up to back McDermott who has a questionable record at Quins yet are ready to write off Poching who had a comparable record with the U20s. I wonder if they'd be saying the same if McDermott was joining another club?

There's a fair bit on inconsistency IMHO!

Simple in'it... McDermott is joining us. Poaching is leaving us.

We're all blindly following the mighty Rhinos with Blue & Amber specs on, and there's certainly nothing inconsistent about that!

We've already seen what impact Brian Mc has had when he was the assistent to TS and the immediate after effect when he 1st left so that initself buys Brian Mc some time and grace as no1.
With Poching the u20's were'nt as bad a team as the results were suggesting imo and some of the performances were absolutely woefull now of course the players themselves take a good % of blame for that but it was'nt all down to them and overall Pochings tenure as u20's coach was'nt as good as it could of been imo.
How he turns out as TS's no2 remains to be seen and he was a fantastic servant to our club as a player but ATEOD the club decided not to retain/offer him a new deal and that points to GH being not exactly 100% impressed with his efforts as the u20's boss also.
That's absolutely nothing to do with consistency of opinion just how it is and as for Lowes i still remain sceptical about his appointment but he's gone through the interview process and got the position so we'll have to wait and see.

It's what fans do isn't it? We all did the same at the Bulls when McNamara got the head coach job. You try and convince yourself of the positives!

It's going to be an interesting 2011.

There were positives about McNamara? Apart from the obvious that some day his contract would end of course.