Going from Tony Smith to Steve McNamara? Its not even a step down more like a jump off a cliff

how can you choose the best man for the job then employ someone to show him the ropes....what kind of idiots applied?

Nope. In a recent interview he said he doesn't have time now.

Plenty of folk knocking the RFL and McNamara. So go on, who would you have appointed?

And as for the post saying that England are now 'f---ed', haven't we been 'f---ed' for a good while now?

Francis Cummings, Richard Agar and Dennis Betts to my knowledge.. Maybe Steve M was the best man available..

The RFL should have followed Ian Lenegans lead and gone for an experienced Aussie Full time coach, I don't care if the coach isn't British/English, he just has to be the best coach available who wants the job.



I bet the aussies are crapping themselves with this appointment.

Agar & P Anderson to be assistants according to George Riley on Twitter.

Rad's ruled himself out of being involved on Warriors TV interview.

I have two real problem's with McNamara. Firstly, he inspires about as much passion and excitement as a wet fish, secondly, he is damned lucky to still be in a job, like Agar, he has landed at a club that seem happy to plod along with a minimual fuss/ambition coach who wont rock the boat.

I dont blame McNamara for taking it, and I he has my support.

The real issue here is the RFL. When Lewis arrived, they were a progessive organisation, now, with him off playing with his Sport England chums, we are left with Nigel Wood, the man who nearly killed Halifax and gave us the Blue Sox and "Clubcall". A meddler who needs to be removed from his role for the RFL to progress.

Is McNamara now in the full time role that Smith was, in real terms, structuring the game. What experience does he have in that role? Its a worry.

At the end of the day, though, the shortlist must have been a nightmare in itself.

Who might the other contenders have been:

John Kear ... Brian McDermott ... Richard Agar?

Thus far, all failures at domestic level.

It's not often I give credit to TotalRL, but someone on there suggested that only when all our SL sides are being coached properly (I suppose a la Maguire, Brown, Smith), will we have a GB side that can compete with Aus. Because only then will the majority of our players have the baseline discipline and skills required for international football.

There may be some truth in that.

An excellent point, shocking really given its origins.

The RFL's insistence to go with a full time coach who also has to be British has narrowed are choices down immensely, we don't have enough of an international competition to warrant a coach being full time.

We should have gone part time like the Aussie's and Kiwi's are, and selected someone such as Craig Bellamy as are coach but only on a part time basis. We could have then provided him with multiple advisors and selectors such as Radlinski and Sculthorpe, who could then watch the progress and development of are players throughout the season and help him pick the squad.

Do you honestly think Craig Bellamy would have been interested in the job?

If we're going dream team fantasy rugby on this then I think we should have had a coaching team of Wayne Bennett and Craig Bellamy with Michael McGuire and Nathan Brown as their British based advisors.
I'd also like to have seen myself presented with free tickets to every major game, domestic and international till the day I pop my clogs, and a private jet to take me to and from said games.

Matching nationality of coaches with the nationality of the team is a nonsense. amatuer hacks those RFL s. Fulltime coach is also a nonsense.



Australia and NZ back on top now, unchallenged.



Wane as an assistant is an excellent idea except i'd prefer him to concentrate on Wigan.

Do I detect a hint of sarcasm in that post.



I think you'll find I wrote "someone such as Craig Bellamy" it doesn't necessarily have to be him. I still stand by my point that a part time high caliber Aussie coach would do a better job than a full time Steve McNamara, after all what has Steve done to warrant getting this job? Other than being British and available, he's proved nothing in his capacity as the Bull's coach to deserve or earn his appointment.