Powell is in the role entirely because of serendipity and circumstantial luck.

He goes to a region with no RL heritage whilst studying a History degree, gets introduced to the club merely by playing a handful of games and then becomes Head Coach of his old Uni whilst during his Masters degree; they are successful for the region in a limited area of competition both for the Head coach role and in terms of playing.

This same Masters degree involves a thesis on coaching and he likes Rugby League and randomly applies for placements and we are kind and he gets a placement at London Broncos and by implication an introduction to the RFL scene in London, David Hughes etc, who see him as a decent bloke.

He then gets a gig setting up clubs in the London area which feeds into the catchment area of Daryl Pitt at South London Broncos; Pitt suddenly quits and Powell whom is already helping the club by setting up new London teams as a co-ordinator is automatically given the role which then moves from the national conference to the weaker London only league and proves he is good with amateurs impressed by the textbook of plays.

His outrageous good fortune continues when he is brought into coach the juniors but the experienced Damian McGrath quits within weeks of his start and the foolish McDermott does a complete about turn and instead of getting an appropriately experienced assisant gives this humble novice an assistant manager role for the first team within a month or two of him being employed purely to support the academy, which is about the right level for him.

Powell then assists a losing manager for about four years, whom takes a club down from an average of about a 45% win record over 10 years to well under 30%. Powell gets on well with the players who think he is a decent bloke and with McDermott quitting benefits from a honeymoon period as players are happy with the fact he has gone.

He is the only person out of the 24 candidates whom is internal and whilst he is not well especially well placed for the role (as he has coached for only five years in obscure amateur leagues and has no playing background nor contacts outside London) the morale in the camp is happy with the fearsome McDermott gone and besides which as the Chief Executive has a new role lined up, so why not play him in, if you are leaving before the new season starts?

Remarkably everyone is fit at the start of the season and the club get off to a flier against the four other clubs with new coaches (Leeds, Crusaders, St Helens and Catalans) but suddenly Powell has exhausted his lifetime of freak luck on the 20th March 2011. His team don't look motivated prior to the kick-off and a tidal wave of points flood in - the second most amount in over 2000 Super League games.

Obviously he does not have the ability to do anything than fill in for his boss on a temporary basis and by the 1st of August he had seen 1 win, 1 draw and 18 losses against Super League opposition. He has a win record of under 25% despite a great start.

Fans can count on there being a ten minute period in the first half of just about every game where Quins will conceed three tries and effectively be out of the game by the early minutes of the second half, if not sooner.

Of course there will be people who vote to stay the same, but why? This guy has been at the club not one year but pretty much since the first season? What suggests that he has any credentials? The first five games? I don't believe in Powell whatsoever. His appointment was ludicrous.

We must go into the new season with a decent franchise after three years of mediocrity. It has to change. I don't mind what Powell does, but he is not a senior leader, just a young guy who was fortuitous but whose luck has ran out because he didn't have any real credentials other than being a pleasant studious guy whose disposition is suitable for a background role involving no contact with the media, supporters etc.

I am sure we will get people talking as if a role must be found for Powell? Why? It is not as if he has done anything in the game. Unless he has very hidden credentials. I have seen none! It is like one of those video games where you just enter your name and straight away are at a top team!

Rammo was your Uni thesis on Powell

Spot on.There is no room for sentiment in sport. He must go.

Mark's post has many valid points. Do people think, given the squad at his disposal, Powell has underachieved this season? Its a geniune question.

Yes, I think he hasn't got the best out of the players at his disposal.
Not a very inspiring figure is he

If the mooted investement in stengthening the squad happens then I think Powell has to be moved out in favour of someone with more experience. If we are to continue with the same lame assed squad then we might as well stick with Powell as clearly our only aspiration is finish in the bottom 2 or 3.

However, we shouldn't lose sight of the fact it was Brian McDermott who steered the club onto its current pathetic course.

Underachieved compared to what? As the team is slightly different to that under BM it is hard to make a straight comparison and as he was new(ish) to the role expectations were not high..........but if we take Mark Rammonds stats at face value, it would seem that we have declined even further under Powells leadership. Time to go.

I have no remit for BM, but IIRC, he saved us from relegation when he took over from the sainted Tony Rea. We heve been in decline since day one as Quins RL, and the sooner this phase is over the better. Probably only points deduction will save us from wooden spoon.

That was his highlight before he had chance to get his teeth into recruitment and build a team of his own "style".

There seems to be alot of questioning of whether the squad is underachieving or whether Powell is better or worse than Brian McDermott. I think you should look at it simply and say would you trust Powell to bring in better signings after what he has done in 2011; no. Would you trust him to get the most out of any better players who come in; possibly but I lean towards no rather than yes. Would you trust Powell to deliver relative success on what he has done, regardless of squad strength; probably not.

It is a question of looking at 2012 and searching for the littlest signs from Powell's coaching signs that he could be a top-level coach, and there were some at the start of the year, but since then he has looked a little lost. I don't think I would have trusted BMD with my money and I'm afraid I wouldn't trust RP with my money, and definitely not a mooted additional £500k spend towards salary cap.

Powell is an assistant, not ruling out a return to the top job, but he just isn't there yet.

Hello all,

Funnily enough I played Student Rugby League at about the same time as Powell, between 1994 - 1998, when Lancaster also rose from obscurity to the SRL top league - we were suddenly and unexpectedly pushed up two division when we won the SRL plate.

Lancaster played all the top teams like Leeds, Durham, Leeds Met, Loughborough and Leeds Met that season but the regional leagues were generally a lot weaker; teams like Edge Hill University College (home of St Helens) and UMIST (a lot of Wigan players) were excellent but there was also a lot of dross.

Powell played at Newcastle Uni, whom were second tier, plus Northumbria whom weren't much better.

I have read pretty much every edition of Rugby Leaguer and Rugby League Express before they merged and RL World for years and am a bit of a fanatic I guess. I followed student Rugby for a long time and loved it when one of the Unis made the Challenge Cup first round. I also moved south in the mid 2000s, not got the same handle on the London amateur game but building knowledge.

But going back to Powell the stats don't lie, we've gone from 7th to 9h to 9th to 11th to 13th to 12th this season. Look at slstats.org for every game for about a decade

Cheers
Mark

ps since Powell arrived we got Nick, Bailey, Latus and Calderwood plus loans. How many are good?

Of the permanent signings Bailey has been the only one to endear himself to the crowd with his consistent performances, but I believe a three-year contract had much more to do with him coming here, rather than anywhere else or for any other coach. I fear though that Powell may put off other more recognisable mercenaries from coming to the club.

If we are spending some money next season then we must have a coach who can spend wisely! The last few seasons have been dreadful to watch and its time we looked at an experienced coach who has contacts and can attract a few good players to London!

If they don't get a decent coach and keep the same dross in the team I wonder how many season tickets will be renewed

Not many.