Was Gidley brought in above him? Was he hell, that is a silly thought. Gidley was brought in for the leadership and experience they were missing across the squad. Ratchford plays starting thirteen no matter what position it is. Whether he is a jack of all trades or not, is only to his teams benefit, as he plays no matter what, purely because of the quality he brings. That flexibility allows his coach to rotate and rest key players elsewhere.

To answer your question he is significantly better than what we currently have.

Hes a good player Ratchford but this isnt gonna happen. Wire would never let him go.

If I were playing for one of the better coaches in SL would I want to come and play for one of the worst.

Quite but some on here are blinkered and think Smith can only coach a team of expensive imports!!

Think we can rule HKR out of the running now.

Where did they finish in the league last year with their all English HB's before they brought in Gidley and Sandow?

Higher than Leeds/McDermott finished this year without Sinfield

Agreed but Smith took a team that hadn't won the league for 32 years and got them there. McDermott inherited a great side with a winning mentality and look what has happened as soon as his key half back retires?

2005 was a year that Smith learned a lot about man management and the need to re-assess his approach, these days he seems far less arrogant and more compassionate than he did in his days at Leeds.

And despite some claims that 2017 will be exactly the same as this year we might well see McDermott learn from this. Also Smith then took us backwards in 2006 which was arguably our poorest season in the Sinfield-era, and he didn't cope too well when Briers retired.

I agree re. 2006 - I think this was a reaction to what went on in 2005 it continued into 2007 until it was announced his was leaving.

Warrington built a team around Briers and didn't have much else - in that scenario any coach would struggle. McDermott has hardly flourished post Sinfield and Leeds had a better squad that Warrington did when Briers was playing

People are writing off 2017 because of the quality of the squad as much as the quality of the coach

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And this season has proved really that for over a decade our team was built round Sinfield, perhaps more than most of us even realised.

Look, i do think we need a regime change but there is still a chance Mac will turn it around next year and get us challenging again. whatever, he will be here anyway so we have to get behind him and hope that will be the case.

The present squad of players are not good enough to win anything next season.

Smith took over in 2009, Briers retired at the end of 2013. He had plenty of time to build a team that "didn't have much else"....which I don't think is true anyway as they went out and got a MOS FB in Hodgson, splashed out to get two of the brightest young players in Myler and Ratchford, had a very strong two hooker rotation and two of the most consistent performing forwards in SL in Hill and Westwood.

McDermott has struggled this year, one single year with injury issues and a badly disrupted preseason and loss of their main training facility and a second massive leader in Peacock......Smith has taken a couple years to get back up to the top of the table and to a GF after 2013 after the retirement of Briers and without those other factors McDermott's had. And then he had to sign yet ANOTHER MoS winner and two NRL halfbacks because the ones they spent years grooming to be their HB partnership in Myler and O'Brien failed. With regards to McDermott also he might have his hands tied slightly in regards that GH will stay loyal to the likes of McGuire and Burrow whereas the coach might very well want to have some new guys in but can't have them.