Maybe it was good management as the coach had decided the style of play would be to go wide early rather than pick and go which was Ellis's strength.(Just a thought that maybe has been overlooked-He has brought in stacks of wingers!) The one trick pony Higham at Wire has been shipped out of many a club due to his pick and go style not suiting the coaches intent.(He is a proven international)

Rammond-Turn that into a thesis of conjecture, statistics and non rugby league nonsense as per your norm

Good post.

I've said before, it was a crying shame Ellis left - for whatever reason - as we look a poorer team without him. I'm afraid I don't have the confidence (or respect) for the people behind the scenes to believe the theory that he left as part of some 'grand plan'

Dave is 100% right. East Stander is it your time of the month?

Between June 2009 and the end of 2010 the club won just 8 from 39 games and the home trained players Louie, Willie, Joe Mbu and Mike Worrincy left the club because it was going backwards. Perhaps Louie was destined for bigger things but the others were messed about at contract time, with Sharpy being offered a one year deal whilst Wells got two. Joe and Mike came off badly from the decision to sign the two workhorse Aussies in the second row. I note that Mac now routinely signs his young stars to 4 and 5 year deals but we lost out as his experiment as to how far he could push people failed.

At the end of 2011 guys like Andy Ellis, Luke Gale and Oliver Wilkes walked away having experienced a further 20 losses from 27. Tony Clubb's international career has dissolved after a promising start due to playing adjacent to O'Callaghan in a losing setup. If you add these guys back in and maybe shrewd signings like Lloyd White and Elliot Kear who were on the open market you start to see the basis of a fair team.

Whilst Powell talks about the long term the fact is that good players leave bad coaches. You need to win your par share of games. If you don't good players leave and bad players only are available unless you overpay. That's why we need to get sorted before the few remaining young good players like Clubb, Sargy and Dixon also question why they are still there.

Sharpe, Mbu, Worrincy are not SL quality players.

Gale is not a quality half back

Wilkes is not a quality forward

White and Kear are not quality backs

"you start to see the basis of a fair team".-No you dont. You see the basis of a club that will languish in the botton few teams in SL.

Note which clubs they play at and where they currently sit in the league(Sharpe being the exception)

Clubbs international career has dissolved after playing adjacent to our player of the season last year ? Get over it Mark ,Clubb was pathetic last year and thats why he lost any hope of being called into the England set up .Its still a mystery to most fans how he got called up in the first place .

So Clubb has gone from an international under McDermott to 'pathetic' under Powell? So why has that happened then, I suppose its somehow all Tony's fault? The bloke wasn't brought up on Rugby League and our promising players need far more guidance than those up North. McDermott excelled at this but Powell does not have the ability or the credentials.

Spot on Dave , our youth were mainly brought up on union i presume so need top class coaches to reach their potential if they are to compete at SL level .Unfotunatley with our underperforming new recruits playing they can see little chance of gaining matchday experience for the time being .Its a shame but from speaking to some of the younger players they think they would have more chance of making it in thre south if they return to union .

What are the Quins, Irish and Saracens youth policies like- Do they have a large representation of youth in the first teams?

Is our youth brought up on union?-I've been watching the same kids playing rugby league for the London RL youth teams for years now.

Here we go again, the same people who see no wrong in Mac are using Tony Chubb as a player to use as an example, the same player many of them knocked for so long and also when selected for international duty, once more selected memories!

Of course players from the South are not rooted in rugby league tradition, but it is the not coach of a super league team who brings them through and gives them their grounding in the game, it is the school's and the amateur clubs who do all the hard work, before they ever reach our academy teams or under 20's, then very few will have contact with the first team coach such as Mac or Powell, that they only have once they are ready to step up.

I also talk to many of our younger players weekly and they love rugby league and the set up the club offers, not one has ever suggested they would be better off in rugby union to me, in fact quite a few never even played union at school! We have some good talent coming through the youth coaches deserve Praise not using the Powell angle as an opportunity to make it into just another knocking the club thread.

So basically, it's not the club's fault at all. It was a player's choice.

Roy has a long association with Powell from their South London Storm days so it is no surprise that his misguided loyalty/support is continued on here.

What I do find surprising is that a guy who clearly first and foremost supports St Helens comes on here pretending he has any serious interest in London Broncos. I suspect Roy is a troll.

And Roy, as you like dealing in facts, it is a fact that Powell is not up to the job of Super League Head Coach.

I'm sorry but this sort of nonsense is not on. You do not agree with Roy. Fine. Say so. That does not make him a troll.

Those of us who know who Roy is will be fully aware of the years of hard work and commitment he has put into rugby league in London and the south east. I suspect he has done far more for our great game in the capital than virtually anyone posting on this forum and therefore deserves a bit better than childish name calling.

I know Roy and I know what a great job he has done in the grassroots. He clearly knows his onions.

This makes it all the more puzzling that he cant see that Rob Powell is incapable of doing his current job.

Doesn't make him a troll though

Of course it is his choice who he signs for but once the club withdrew any offer then his options did not include staying.