He isn't at all just watch the games to prove that one Lilley isn't even here & 2 Suttcliffe has bore the brunt after 2 games & got dropped.

Sutcliffe was always going to bare the brunt, personally I think he has played really well this year.

Schofield was talking nonsense 2 years ago when he said Sutcliffe should be in the England squad (i fully believe he will get there, but not yet), and he was talking absolute nonsense when he suggested Lilley for England, who, more than anything isnt physically capable of a full season of SL never mind international RL yet.

Now he has to find a scapegoat to justify the utter stupidity of the opinions he has voiced over years. Over the last two years Sutcliffe has suffered two pretty bad injuries, and Lilley is still only 20, the idea that they arent internationals yet because of McDermotts coaching is ludicrous.

When Suttcliffe broke into the first team in 2013 at just 18 he looked a top player, but he hasn't improved in 4 years. Similarly, Hardaker was at Leeds 6 years but never improved his passing, yet he looks better already after a few months with Powell.

Hardaker went from lower league winger to man of steel fullback under McDermott. He showed consistent improvement year on year. The only reason Hardaker isn't still at Leeds, isn't England's first choice fullback and has gone backwards over the last year is entirely and solely down to Hardaker.

Sutcliffe suffered two major injuries and is still only 22. People may wish to write him off now, they are wrong. Just as people wanted to write off Ashton Golding last year and are now seeing him as our fullback for the next decade.

There was a time that people didn't see anything in Ryan Hall and saw Donald and Smith as our better options, then they moaned about how losing BJB was a huge mistake marched only by not giving the spot to Jodie Broughton. There was a time that Rob Mulhern should have been a full first team player, that Liam hood was hard done to by McDermott. There was much wailing and gnashing of teeth on here when Wire signed Mick Learmonth. There are people who would have told you Jimmy Keinhorst wouldn't make an SL player while they had a hole in their ass.

Great points TA! There was a conversation on one of the RL shows about blokes needing at least 18 months game time after a knee reconstruction to get back to their best. Leeds fans expect Sutcliffe at 22 to be different from tried and tested elite players of the game. The kid is the new poster boy scape goat. The usual suspects always find one. That is inevitable. Still depressing but inevitable.

The point has been raised how much of the improvement or lack of is because of or in-spite of McDermott that is the in-quantifiable.

All you would say is the standard of the team is not where you expect from a club with the resources of Leeds. Can anyone really say this team is performing anything close to its potential - after all that is the added value the coach brings

Just to clarify Hardaker had nearly every SL club chasing him he was scouted repeatedly & always much more than just a "Lower League Winger".
Also Mclennon put Ryan Hall in.
Wrt Learmonth he went chasing the better deal the fact it didnt work out doesn't mean he didn't have huge potential whilst here.
Amor went onto become one of the top Props in SL why didn't you mention him?

Not writing Sutcliffe off whatsoever and I think he has the potential to become a top 6, but the fact is that he currently isn't living up to that potential and Mac must be at least partly responsible for his lack of development.

Zak was a 6 at Fev btw, and I will give Mac (or his coaching staff) credit for developing his and Golding's defence at fullback, but his attack arguably got worse in the time he spent with us, given he scored 20 tries in his first full season but never repeated that.

Lee Radford's response to Schofield's criticism of Sneyd

"I don't think Sneydy is that ar*** to be honest. Pundits are like ar*******, they've all got one and the majority of them are full of s***. In Garry's case, he has a lot of diarrhoea throughout the year and he must take a lot of laxatives."

My point is, and this goes to sals and rhinoms posts too, many players have potential, few reach it and the judgements on here of who will or won't are generally terrible. I'm not saying people shouldn't express them just that it leaves McDermott on a hiding to nothing when he is held responsible for others crappy opinions. Which is what Schofield has done here.

It's also impossible for any coach when opinions are not only poor but they wildly vacillate on the changing winds if they aren't ridiculously contradictory. Sutcliffe is both the saviour one week not good enough the next. Lilley is championship level yet also unfairly kept out of the team. Leeds aren't exciting to watch but we need structure like Wanes Wigan, they need to start afresh buy go back to someone already failed once at Leeds like Powell.

The fact remains we still have very little in way of an attacking game plan he certainly has zero plan B & ATEOTD it's the Coaches job to A.Get the best out of the available squad & B.Develop & improve younger players.
Also id add his man-management on/off the pitch is poor.
Non of the above have happened in the last 14mths & in some cases wrt Youth not at all.
You may call those opinions crappy & indeed you are entitled to yours but im sticking with mine & imo the evidence is there to see.

You see, the evidence that his man-management skills are lacking just doesnt stack up. Even taking the most anti-mcdermott position, that what we have won we did so because of the players not Mcdermott, then his ability to keep out of the way of himself is something that uber-coach Tony Smith failed to do with imo our best squad of players in 2005 and 2006. In 2006 i remember the common wisdom was that Smith was struggling because he had lost McDermotts man management skills when he went to London.

In McDermotts 6 seasons so far he has won 3 SL titles, 2 challenge cups, a WCC and LLS, im not sure how much more there was to get out of the squad. In that time we have seen the emergence of Golding, Lilley, Sutcliffe, Ward, Singleton, Handley, Keinhorst. Baldwinson, Walters and many more. Its wrong to say he hasnt developed players.

I get the disappointment of last season, and ive said myself that we look like a team about to click in to form, but thats as good as we have looked for over a year and that is not good enough. But it is simplistic to look at McDermotts job performance on not getting the best out of his team last year, Ive no doubt we could fire McDermott bring in a few ringers and finish comfortably in the top 8. We are Leeds Rhinos. Our aim has to be higher than that. Our aim is for the next 15 years to better the last 15 years. We don't do that by chopping and changing, we do that by consistency.

We shouldnt minimise McDermotts achievements, nor should we give him a free reign. If we collapse like we did at times we did last year he should go, if we dont at least show some obvious signs of clicking this year, he should go. But when/if McDermott goes, it has to be part of the plan for the next 15 years and not as a response to some of the impossible expectations that some have.

Picking younger players for 1st team games doesn't equate to developing them especially when some only get 5 minutes or none at all.
He's had his time his achievements are set in stone but that time is up like you say we look forward not back and that is a grim picture under this Coaching set up.
Tonight proved again he has no idea how to set a team up with or without injuries as did his subs and his choice of Captain has proved woeful.
Now granted GH takes some flak re-Recruitment/retention but this squad needs fresh ideas and a Coach to believe in they simply don't with Mc.D anymore.

You on the Wacky Smokey , some of those players you are saying he has developed are either garbage or gone backwards and as for the love in on here at the moment with our full back i just do not get it .