How do you know he's not a brilliant coach? Have you seen him coach? Would you know what to look for if you did?

I'm just going on history, and what I have seen

History being that given the resources he had at quins never was he given chance to succeed. From watching him and speaking to him I think he's very good, innovative in his approach and thoughts much in the same way I thought of Tony Smith, though not in Mclennan.

The squad he had at Quins wasn't good enough to finish anywhere but bottom but yet it did, every year he was in charge. He's brought his own way of playing to the club and it took half a year for the players to get used to it...

By the way, the Saints fans were calling for Royce to be sacked at the start of the year too. Once the Saints players got used to his style of play he is now considered as one of the best coaches in the league.

Fickle fans are fickle.

IMO Brian McClennan was the root of our problems. Yes, we won a couple of titles with him but the deterieration of the standard of our play was plain to see year on year. No players respected him and the players were the main reason he left.

What did people expect Gary to come out and say? Brain has two years ;eft on his contract so sacking him would cost, plus we've reached both finals. Im not a Brain fan but GH could only ever come out and praise him at this point.

I should also add that an amount of praise is justified too.

My main issue with Mcdermott was I think he is probably a good coach but was not sure about his abilities as the manager. In particular his man management and dealings with media.

but so far has proved many doubters wrong (including myself) hopefully he can go on.

I assume the best decision in 15 yrs in charge comes from being dropped in the situation by Bluey leaving suddenly and having to make a quick decision to back mcdermott a year earlyer than planned, and as it turned out ended up going well.

My main issue with Mcdermott was I think he is probably a good coach but was not sure about his abilities as the manager. In particular his man management and dealings with media.

but so far has proved many doubters wrong (including myself) hopefully he can go on.

I assume the best decision in 15 yrs in charge comes from being dropped in the situation by Bluey leaving suddenly and having to make a quick decision to back mcdermott a year earlyer than planned, and as it turned out ended up going well.

Just shows how fans should let the people who know what they're doing get on with it. As i mentioned elsewhere, opinions are fine but outspoken views without the knowledge to make them tend to make fans look silly (politely put). Will people learn from the error of their ways? Probably not.

Which is all well and good but very every coach who is a success there are a plethora that are abject failures. Should everyone stand in line and utter words of support for every single coach and club official appointed at every single club?

It is all about opinions. You, yourself have expressed an opinion of McLennan that is less favourable than your opinion of Mcdermott. I might point out that whilst you may hold McDermott in high esteem that is purely your opinion. This is not scientific fact. What is fact is that Mclennan, with whom you were so unimpressed, managed to be the first coach to coach a team to back to back final wins. McDermott has not coached a team to any sort of trophy..............yet.

You're also forgetting that it's never the player's fault Seth. They're put on a pedestal and idolised thanks to their past endeavours, so if anything starts going wrong it's quite clearly the coaches fault.

When Brent Webb throws a ball into the stand, or Peacock/JJB gives away a dopey penalty it's all down to McDermott. When McShane gets left out (essentially to accommodate Danny McGuire's return from injury, let's not forget) it's a terrible decision, yet since that move was made Leeds have played some of their best rugby of the season.

Perhaps it might be a good idea for someone from the site to spend a day shadowing him (maybe in pre-season) and turn it into an article for Southstander - give those who don't know what goes on behind the scenes a chance to find out what coaching at this level is all about?

Not a bad idea and would be interesting read.

No, however, as i said, opinions are very different from the utter tripe that was posted on here. Mine are just opinions though ones formed from seeing the coaches run sessions, being involved in their sessions and from talking to them, not from simply watching from the stands.

noted but when you come away from those sessions holding a higher opinion of a coach that has, so far, won no trophies than a coach who won two significant ones on the trot (plus a WCC and a LLS) why should your opinion be more valid than someone who hasn't had the access that you have had?

Might it be said, and I am not having a dig here because I find this discussion interesting, that even with the access you have had you could have formed an opinion that is flawed? After all, many things could have influenced your opinion, such as personalities etc.

I seem to recall you were not a fan of Tony Smith's personality (and you were not alone) but it cannot be argued that he is not a top quality coach surely? Perhaps you like McDermott and that has influenced your opinion?

I agree, btw, about the level of tripe and hope you will recognise this as merely a frank exchange of differing opinions.

Are we falling into the Ricky Bibey/Garry Schofield argument here? Medals alone are not the measure of a player or a coach IMO.