he's the new head coach of Medway Dragons. Good luck to him. Sounds like they're really putting down the building blocks there, they plan on being semi pro in 5 years time and are going great guns with their junior development.

Just think where we would be today if we had appointed a Michael McGuire, Trent Robinson or similar at that time. Full SC available to them.

How wrong it has gone

Anyone who thinks that Broncos' current problems are down solely to the head coach between 2010 and 2012, should be wearing a big red nose and some long shoes themselves.

There's been a lot more problems at Broncos, for a lot longer than that.

Far, far too much faith being put in a coach's ability to make silk purses out of sows' ears. Broncos have had a poor team now for a very long time. Spending to the salary cap is a red herring if you have to spend more per player just to get them here than all your rivals, and if lots of your cap is going on past-it, poor quality has-beens who were tied into long contracts agreed with the owner.

McDermott's done ok at Leeds, but when he was at Broncos his results were still rubbish. Did he only become a decent coach when he went to Headingley, or is it the players who matter more than the coach ?

July 8th 2006-2010
44 SL wins from 117 games with 3 drawn is a 60% loss ratio. The average margin of defeat....7 points.

Whilst not brilliant, it shines like a beacon when comparing it to what has followed...2011- Now running at 75% loss ratio.......and we're losing by 16 points a game.

I have to say, I though Mac would fail at Leeds but he has proven me wrong.

I thought he'd be no good at Leeds either, but the results can't be argued with. However, I think it says more about the players he's now working with.

The whole win/loss ratio/average margin of defeat stuff sounds great, but it only actually works as a comparator if either you're comparing two coaches who have the same teams, playing against the same teams but in different years, or if you make the assumption that each team in the competition, no matter what its composition, is of equal talent. Both assumptions don't work, so the statistic is actually pretty meaningless. I might get a win ratio of 80% with a high quality team in a weak competition, while you might subsequently get a win ratio of 40% with a low quality team in a strong competition. It doesn't make me twice the coach.

Look at Nathan Brown; last year, fans were calling for his head, he couldn't buy wins, Saints were being beaten in games they had no right to lose, and the standard of attacking play was regarded as terrible. He had a win ratio of just 55% - quite possibly St Helens' worst in SL history. This year, his win ratio is 100% so far, fans and commentators alike are drooling over the quality of play. He hasn't become a different coach. The difference is that he has four players this year who last year were either not at the club, or injured for long spells : Roby, Lomax, Walsh and Amor.

I don't think coaches are meaningless. I think in tight competitions where teams are of very similar quality, coaches should be able to make a difference. But SL isn't one of those competitions. Win ratios are for the birds in our sport. All they tell you is about the quality of the team, not the quality of the coach.

So I think the conclusion about McDermott is that he's a coach who can get one of the best teams in the competition to perform to their potential. That's not a bad place to be. I guess where we differ is that I think the squads Broncos have put out for the last 8 years have largely performed to their potential, with consistent bottom four placings.