Battered Cod?

For knee jerk read childish and pathetic, making up name for the coach and the like, apparently being a sports 'fan' gives you liscence to be a dim wit.

I formed my opinions from going to a few coaching clinics lead by BM hearing his philosophies on the game and coaching aswell as asking him a few questions myself, I was impressed by what he had to say much in the same way I did with TS.

Questions can be made of any coaches decisions and sometimes they appear odd, however there are so so many influences on these decisions that those outside the set up do not see. When these influences are explained, it makes sense.

This Leeds team suffers from an ageing pack in relation to performing at their top level each week, that much is obvious so peaking at the right time is key to this teams current make up.

G1 as for the hot pants, that night was meant to remain our secret!

Had his shirt been sprayed on to him on Sat night?? Never seen such a tight fitted button up shirt before

Forgot about that one, classic Bailey

some great points seth however if we have an ageing pack, and we do, why weren't they rotated and rested more?

Lack of faith in the alternatives?

I'm guessing it's easy to see the need to rotate but maybe more difficult to implement when it actually comes to it - always tempting to keep the big guns in for just one more week if the wins/performances aren't those expected. Equally might be tempting to keep the big guns on the field during games despite their being alternatives on the bench.

Only conjecture mind.

Did they need resting? Would they have stayed match fit by resting more?

Whatever the coach ideas are its working

Possibly due the coaches views on consistency with the 17, not being confident with the other senior options and feeling the juniors weren't ready. Like I said there are just so many things, factors that go into each and every decision, things that arent immediately apparent. I find It very difficult to be critical of a coaches calls not seeing them everyday in practice, especially a coach who I've been impressed with in the coaching clinics.

i would agree. his use of the interchange can be very strange to say the least though.
a real enigma our brian, i'm not sure anyone could ever get inside his head.
as you say though long may he continue to be successful

Can't argue with that Seth but again agree 100% with tad.
Well ateod we all want to see our team succeed and be competetive i dont think ANYONE is demanding to win every game or for perfect performances week in week out just to compete in the games we play.
Hopefully next year we will see the coach rotate a bit more and reward some form youngsters (especially in the pack) more because i think he handled getting Hardaker at 1 and reshaping the back line post Senior very well to be fair even though i wanted to see more of keinhorest Ablett was superb in the P/O's at LC.
With Achurch and hopefully Singleton at the very least added to the pack options i think we have no excuses for lack of rotation in the pack.

Trophies Available 2011: LLS, CC, GF
Results: 5th in League, Finalists in CC, Won GF

Trophies Available 2012: WCC, LLS, CC, GF
Results: 5th in League, Finalists in CC, Won GF & WCC

Trophies: 3 from 7 available
Finals: 5 from 5 available

a quote from Kylie Leuluai in League Express:

'Im just going to see Gary to see if i can sign up for a couple more years now.'

It wouldnt surprise me if he gets his contract extended.So we would then have 2 starting props both aged 36 running round in the 2014 season.

On the evidence of these play offs its hard to argue that they would not still be up to the job beyond next season.I do however, believe that Mac really has to start managing them better through the regular rounds from now on (especially Peacock after his regular flogings) if that is to be the case.

I can see us allowing Moore to move on during the close season and that should lead to Singleton getting a run of games over the next 2 years with little pressure, hopefully gaining plenty of experience from The 2 war horses and ready to pick up the batton when they call it a day in a couple of years.

If Achurch(24 years old?) ends up being the real deal we could find our front row is left in good hands after all.

I have never argued against the rights of contributors to be critical athough I confess to have less patience with those that display a permanent negative attitude. You do not need a coaches badge to have good rugby acumen. But the comments that I am against are the ones that show little understanding of the coaches role and are made in real ignorance of his true contributions. To call for McDermott to be sacked when the players are clearly out of form shows ignorance and impatience. When this call is repeated after last years finish shows stubborness and a closed mind.

You have been consistent in your defence of the players against some of the "clueless" postings and I have also done that too.