Quote: Big Steve "I think he's done a pretty decent job and is unfairly getting far too much stick.
We have played with structure yet been positive, the way we moved the ball around was great.
Yet again we were a number of very fine lines away where we could have won against both Aus and the Kiwis away from home.
I've seen far too many games in the past where we looked totally out of our depth.
For those who constantly carp about selection, he's shown he's more than capable of making difficult decisions and swapping players in or out. Look at Sarge, dropping Chase etc.
No one is ever going to agree with every decision a coach makes . I really don't think picking Whithead for exAmple would have raised our performances significantly last week.
The players selected made more than enough opportunities to win, it isn't as though we have a proven world beater who has been ignored.'"
Your four first paragraphs are 'presently' unarguable with.
But the fifth in which you state that MacNamara has been shown to be capable of taking tough decisions, for example dropping or promoting to the team, are laughable.
In the last W/Cup he proved precisely the opposite and glaring though it was would not be budged on Chase V Widdop until the semi-final.
Even then it was rumoured, that this was brought about by Chase's poor behaviour rather than a decision from the coach. Widdop proved that he had been the stand off we required throughout that comp in that match, every fan knew it should have been done before, Mac apparently did not.
He would still have had Sinfield on this tour, who has had very moderate to poor form for sometime along on this tour and, would have had him again as captain regardless.
No matter how he would have performed, Mac would have kept that unwarranted faith. Possibly with the excuse of retaining the settled side a descriptive he has used so often previously.
Our team certainly did play so very well V NZ, they could even have won but for two coats of paint sending Widdops kicks the wrong side of the posts.
We did create chances, we did NOT take enough of them.
Watch the try that Oz scored V Samoa, five or six players touched the ball within 8 or so yards, before the try was scored, personally I would have been surprised if our lads would have been able to do so showing the same kind of composure that those Aussies HAD to, to make that score.
Sheen showed Mac how to handle players (yet again) and how to use subs, out of position ones at that, wisely and, to his teams best advantage.
This kind of ability is inbred, you either have it or you don't and I contend that in those areas of coaching, that Mac has probably not got the inbred skills to help his players, the team, from his off field position.
I appreciate that he does not knock on, drop passes, etc, but there are avenues that a good coach should possess inherently and up to this stage of his stewardship, I have yet to see them displayed By Steve MacNamara.
