Disagree DA I think they see the quality we have in this team/squad and get angry/frustrated when it goes completely t!t$ up and loses with as little as a whimper.

Any chance you can enjoy this trophy for a couple of days without all the "yeah, but..."?? Im sure all the doom mongers will re-appear in a couple of days and you can all start dissecting the team and the coach again. For now, just enjoy the 1st challenge cup in 15 years.

Yes I can accept that for most. They simply don't understand what makes players and coaches tick and yes anger and frustration without understanding can be forgiven.

What knarks me is those with axes to grind and those who are gifted with 20/20 hindsight.

I will confess I misunderstood the man when he first came and I think that prejudice was coloured by his playing background but I soon recognised that I was wrong and he is clearly a gifted coach. His record stands for itself.

I don't believe its his job to entertain the fans but rather to win as many trophies as possible. SL is a business like any other and if you decide to "invest" in that then you need to learn to accept the losses and enjoy gains.

all i would say to the doom mongers that want mac out is be carefull what you wish for

mac is without a doubt the least respected/celebrated rhinos coach from large amounts of our fans both on here and at the grounds on game days,and despite him delivering the goods within a salary capped sport when it matters most.....shame really

Completely agree with the majority of posts on this thread. My now infamous other thread of a similar name was posted 3 years ago when we'd just appointed a coach with no pedigree of which to speak of and at the time we looked like we were going backwards. 3 years on and like has been mentioned Brian McD is now up there with the greats.

it was bennett but that quote also applies to mac without a doubt

Credit to you for that. Just looked at the opening post on that thread, and even Lowes is doing OK for himself now!

I'll admit to not having been a McDermott fan, and not because he used to play for Bradford. When he came, I thought he was a good choice and it was a flip up between him and Powell. But I did think he'd play exciting rugby. We never seemed to get that, but the events of the last few weeks have seen me warm to him. The loses to Bradford and London weren't his fault. He picked teams capable of winning but the players didn't do it. Yeah, some blame laid with him. But he used the squad, like many of us have called for, against the 2 weakest teams in the league.

Then, ready some of the articles in the build up to the game I understood him a bit more and understood why the players love him. He knows how special this group is and what winning the CC meant to them. As fans we like to think losing means everything to us but really its nothing. To the players and staff it means everything and he's given them the game plan to win the last 2 cup games. So well done Brian and I was one of those saving the biggest cheer for when he lifted the cup. My only beef was when they were having the team picture after and he hovered at the edge. They should have made him stand in the middle but I guess that's just him.

Also want to say thank you to Gary Hetherington. He gets stick for not spending money on big signings but he's got us to this level and helped maintain it whilst making a profit. Sure he's done a lot in the background to create our culture and players wanting to play for the club for less money.

These knock-out games are all about winning and that's what this team did in this competition in 2014. The game-plan was depressingly dour at times (entire sets seemingly played in a ten metre short side channel, kicks in attacking field position negatively drilled into touch) but irrelevant in the circumstances.

I'm pleased for but most of all relieved for the core group of players and congratulate them for completing their domestic set of honors - anything that fell short of that would have been a travesty.

damned with faint praise indeed.

for one so concerned with stats and seemingly with success rates you seemed to have somehow overlooked something in your post...care to fill us in on the match yesterday ????

Castleford 10 Leeds 23

Not sure whether it was Wayne Bennett or Brian McDermott who said it but hard to disagree with either.