Re Wires. Cullen made the team but couldn't coach it. Was to much of a mate to the players and went out drinking with them when he should have distanced himself. Lowes took over the same team but could not coach it. Looked clueless and like a rabbit caught in the headlights. Offered to fight wakefield fans apparently while we were taking a hiding at belle vue,so obviously was not mature enough for the job. Smith took over the same team and took them from the bottom of the league to wembley and the cup win in 5 months. So it is down to coaching,not the players,and it's as clear as day that steve mac is not up to the task in front of him at the bulls.

Nonsense.

Hull's new Antipodeans have done not so bad so far have they not? Are the pitches that much firmer down by the Humber?

So no change there, then.

How typical of you.

It was a perfectly valid point but you, once again, come up with something like that. Is it Adey's day off today and you are filling in for him?

Blaming the pitch for that performance is really clutching at straws. I'm still waiting for the pitches to firm up from the start of last season, wasn't that when it was all supposed to click in 2009?

I usually give it 24hrs after a bad match before posting, it usually allows me to get things into perspective but at the moment when I think about yesterday's performance I just feel thoroughly ed off.

Barring Nick Scruton I thought the team yesterday looked totally uninspired, unmotivated, lacking in direction, aggression and will to win. It was a nonentity of a performance. In the second half when Saints took the foot off the gas and we got some ball our efforts at finishing were laughable. People around me were laughing out loud at the antics on the field. At least we could laugh about it but you can bet not very many will be back next week.

At least L'Strange and Hall also found it funny. Their broad smiles at the end when the hooter went showed that some players really weren't that bothered.

I pretty much lost patience with McNamara last season but hoped that some quality players coming in would improve matters. Unfortunately there's no sign of improvement whatsoever and I really wonder how much longer this can continue. As has been stated above we're still playing to the same ineffective patterns as last year - flat attack, backline moves that are predictable and go sideways, defence that switches off and doesn't work as a unit, poor finishing, lack of ideas in the opposition 20. I could go on and on.

I've seen this before at Bradford while I've watched us and on all occasions the only solution was a change of coach. When we've flirted with relegation in the past we made a change and each time there was a fairly rapid improvement. Now without relegation we seem to be sticking with McNamara purely so we don't have to pay him out with performances on the field a secondary concern. Unfortunately if things continue as they are that will become an unsustainable option.


Solutions? Well, many have lost patience totally already and I can see why. I would say that if there's not a significant improvement over the next three games then that's it. If we have space under that cap perhaps that can be used to compensate McNamara for being given the elbow? As for a replacement if we really are strapped then make Medley head coach and have some senior players as assistants. While it may not be a long term solution it may work and it surely can't be worse than the current situation. A combo of senior players and assistants has worked in the past for a short period of time. Then lets advertise and see who applies. We have a fairly decent playing staff with 7 or 8 good players and some good kids coming through. That opportunity should appeal a few coaches out there.

I hate to be writing all this after a mere two games but TBH I see all the same failings as last year and the years before that. The team looks a million miles from being able to achieve the goals set of top 4 and a final.

double post.

Please can we all keep on topic and stop the sniping. If you want to get personal do it via PM and stick to the AUP.

Thanks.

I was on topic. Yet again someone else had to start with the insults.

I don't care who started it. I'm finishing it. Anyone who wants to argue can take a rest!

Ooooooh I LOVE it when you get all masterful.

Although I suspect that they'll stick with him until the end of the season I hold out hope that they'll give him the boot if the crowds are consistently low. Incidentally I thought it looked like more than 10,000 today. Where's our next 9K+ crowd coming from though? The Harlequins and Crusaders games could be sub 7,000.

I agree with all of that.

What embarrassed me most yesterday was having built my kids up pre-season only to have my ten year old tell me before we started that we'd get beat by 30 points because we 'don't have as big a team' and 'we always do the same things and can't defend'. Despite the evident logic of this position I naively and overly optimistically argued that this wouldn't be the case any more...

So can I suggest we appoint my son, he's nearly 11 and would probably take the job for an improvement on his £2 per week pocket money