It's very difficult to say who should go and who should stay because at the end of the day the club HAS one long-term objective: another franchise position in 2012.

On the field you can argue that BM has made LMS and Clubb into England internationals and recruited a number of English born players but what do Quins bring to the Super League as a whole? Poor attendances, no major honours in SL era, no major final spot for 10 years, a huge turnover of players and boardroom staff, regular name changes, no true identity....

It certainly isn't looking to good but the on-field situation isn't helped by the small squad BM has to work with and he has seen injuries and suspensions to key players wreck his play-off hopes but then some of the games lost have been very close affairs like Wigan (18-24), Catalans Dragons (24-2icon_cool.gif, Saints (22-12), Wakefield (20-1icon_cool.gif and Salford (22-26) so that suggests that in fact Quins have performed very well in 2009 but then you look at then Quins have conceaded 30 points or more in 8 games.

I think recruitment is a big, big issue for Quins this winter because I think that BM has to start making big decisions and release some big names and big earners like Gafa, Dorn (maybe) and Wells as well as ditching some fringe players like Mbu, Gardner, Grayshon and Heckenberg. I'd like to see BM make some big signings but this links back to my comment about the low attendances meaning less money is available.

I think now is the time to make a big decision into the future of the Quins RL. Are the club safe enough over the long-term? Are the RFL going to drop QRL from SL in 2012? If these answers are no then there is no point making a bid in 2012 IMO and leaving the "Harlequins" name behind and once again moving.

do you genuinely believe that?
I suspect if we offered the job out worldwide, a top flight club in London would be an attractive proposition to some quality coaches- My thoughts based on nothing!

In real terms i.e. league positions there is a grave possibility this year that Mac may have taken us backwards. I’m acutely aware there are lots of other factors involved- so it is a cheap shot

THe clubs above us have all (it would appear not having seen the figures) invested much more heavily in their first team squads than we have. hopefully in a couple of seasons our academy will have produced a good proportion of the first team augmented by quality imports. However we are nowhere near that atm and we continually punch above our weight.
I still think this is one of the best, most balanced, and most stable sides we've had in a while, just that other teams - who have years of stability - have improved quicker.

Expectations such as making a playoff system offering 8 PLACES? Memories of 3 seasons of failure?

This is assuming we get tonked by Cas, which we will do.

the overall standard of the league has been increasing, we were as high as 2nd earlier this season, we've been shown to be thin in squad terms towards the back end of the season and also hit a bad losing streak/lack of confidence as a result.

good to see that you're such a died-in-the-wool r/l fan that you're happier shouting for our coach to be removed than looking at why it is our admins can't even get 5,000 people along to the ground to support the team and build our capacity to develop. but what would i know eh? i'm simply casual compared to you........

Rubbish. Higher standard of the league? Is this your first season? The standard has been abysmal this year, the worst that I can recall. Poor games, lack of skill and generally very dull. We were second yes, we were found out, we had a few injuries, we had players come back and we put in 2 more embarrassing performances. You can make as many excuses as you like, you say it yourself, we were 2nd at one point, a few injuries and a bit of a lack of confidence doesn't make a team that were as high as 2nd in the ladder suddenly go into freefall and lose 9 out of 10 games.



Correct, nobody wants to watch a losing side playing the terrible brand of rugby that Brian McDermott is determined to force Harlequins into playing. You are a casual fan yes, I will be renewing my season ticket next year and giving the club the support it deserves.