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.