Being a great player has never meant that you will automatically be a great coach, some are, some aren't; often it's the unsung 'lesser' players who make the better coach, Peter was the least decorated of the Fox brothers, but neither Neil nor Don made it as coaches, whilst he was one of the best of his era.

Leaving that aside, it's far too early to say whether Lowesy or Brian Mac will be successful head coaches. For Brian in particular, you say he "is proving nothing at Quins", though you don't qualify this, but he was highly regarded at Leeds when second in command to Smith and has taken on a difficult role at Quins (a role which in all fairness, I don't think compares to the job at any other club, tbh) and not only that has seen his squad cut to ribbons before the season even started.

I don't think Brian was ever expected to win SL: much of what he has achieved is behind the scenes (a bit like Stevie Mac at the Bulls, in fact), putting systems into place and getting the basics right, and though I guess he'll be pretty disappointed with the way his team has performed on occasions, given what has happened to his team on the injury front, it's difficult to think anyone else would have done much better.

Maybe both Brian and Jimmy would have been better starting in the traditional manner, in the lower divisions? Coaching, in any case, is a job with a wide variety of tasks within it, coaching juniors, intermediates, top-end amateur, professional level and up to head coach in SL and the skills required are many and varied. The best junior coach in the world might not cut the mustard with pros and by the same token the best SL coach might be rubbish with the kids. So which is the best coach?

I think its pretty difficult to make an assessment of Brian McDermot judged only by his time at the Harlequins. You can only work with what you have got and to be fair Brian mac has not been able to recruit the calibre of players to Harlequins that other clubs have. Whether that is due to financial constraints or the fact that quality northern based league players are reluctant to up sticks and settle in the south is anyones guess.
A couple of years ago John Kear was a crap coach and now with a change of club he's suddenly become a top coach again. If we did appoint McDermott I wouldn't be disappointed and I believe he is a good motivational coach that could get the best out of a squad that is streets ahead of what he has got in London!

Yeah right.

With well laid out retorts like that, you should be on Question Time.


I agree with Andy Capp to be honest. I don't think you can judge McDermott's ability purely on his Harlequins results. He has been up against it since taking over down there.

Not saying he should definitely be hired, but I don't think it's as bad as a lot of people are making out.

I do however believe McDermott will be the best man for the England job (assuming you want an English coach). His commitment to bringing on young english players is second to none in Super League.

Agreed. Kear's case just highlights that if you are prepared to learn from your mistakes then, ultimately, you can succeed. To be a top coach you have to have ability but you also have to have quite a bit of luck, something I'm not sure that either SM or BM have had much of!

But I would class Kear as a average coach (and yes I do realise he's won two Challenge Cups with Sheffield and Hull) but personally I think we should be looking at the NRL for our next coach I don't believe that Lowes or McDermott would take us forward.

I think people are simplifying the situation way too much. It's not just a matter of "well he's best, so we'll have him". There are a number of other factors involved in it, and the two most important of those are:

1) Does the coach want to come to Bradford?
2) Can we afford his wages?

If either of those is a no, we can't have them.

We can only pick from those available and affordable.

I always regarded Kear as an average coach when he was with Sheffield, England, Huddersfield and Hull, his two good cup runs (in 10 + years) somewhat inflated his reputation IMO.

However, the job he has done at Wakefield has been nothing short of superb, possibly a case of the club and it's situation, fitting the personality and style of the coach perfectly.

Groundhog day.

You will always get people saying that every coach would jump at the chance re 1 regardless, and its up to the club if it is to "show any ambition" to facilitate 2 regardless. Quite how you hypnotise your prospective target, or rob your local bank to pay for him, would seem to be purely incidental.

Then again, you get some realists too.

And remember too that 2 extends beyond just his wages to the wages of the support team he would require - which may be rather more than the current incumbent has the luxury of.

You know, you just start to enjoy reading a good rant and then some sod spoils it by talking common sense.