How can you say McLaren had a good record in qualifiers when under him they were unable to qualify for Euro 08

Completely agree and I have thought the same thing myself. The standard of coaching across the board needs to improve not just at a few clubs like us.

When we went to the GF playoff format that was apparently going to transform our national side as the intensity of the play off format would result in much better players up to the rigours of competing with the Aussies. Well that was yet another RFL inspired miracle cure that hasn't panned out like that.

We have been doing the playoffs since 1998 and we are still as bad internationally and the standard at some clubs is still poor. The RFL under wood tinker with the plAY-OFFformat, do things like the Magic weekend but fail to address the underlying poor standards.

I mean what has transformed Wigan this season? Several seasons as semi-finalists in the play-offs, the odd game in Cardiff/Edinburgh or the arrival of a new coach?

They need to stop tinkering with the game in the hope changes Wood comes up with will deliver a higher standard and take on board what has transformed Hudds, Wire and Wigan - good coaching - and see if they can do something to improve that aspect of the game.

Dave

I still believe less games will help improve intensity.

The reason we struggled for suitable candidates is because we wanted a full-time coach. Who really is going to be interested in watching a few games every weekend and then coach for about four or less games a season? Coaches miss the full-time environment. Tony Smith was the perfect example - how long did he last? New Zealand and Australia don't have full-time coaches because they don't need to. It's only one mid-season game and then a tournament at the end of the year.

I don't see why the coach has to be British either. They don't adopt that attitude in football. They took that route once and hired McClaren and we failed to make the Euro's. Now, they have finally seen sense and hired the best man for the job, regardless of nationality. We should have done the same. New Zealand did when Wayne Bennett shadowed Steven Kearney. We should have adopted a similar setup.

If Wigan can find a Michael MaGuire then so should the RFL. A young NRL coach with all the latest training techniques/methods (not to mention an extensive knowledge of Australia/New Zealand and their players) who fancies a challenge at the end of the season should have been given a go. After last seasons campaign I had genuine hope that we were progressing as a nation. Kyle Eastmond and Sam Tomkins were ripping it up with Richie Myler also in the frame. More players heading over to Australia - Ellis, Burgess, Flanagan (Widdop in there too). The potential is there.

I'll give McNamara my support, but you can't help but think, can McNamara really coach a side to beat Tim Sheens' Australian side?

You have my support - Good luck!

To be honest it would be nice to see less Leeds/Saints players in there.

Let's see what he's got.

Thats exactly what they have done, hired a national to coach the team (McNamara, Kearney) and then hired an aussie to mentor / shadow them (Brains Smith, Wayne Bennett)....

Should have read the article.

giving McNamara the england job is on the same line s as england football give Steve McClaren the England job and look how that turned out

sorry i don't rate him at all, never done anything, from his interview on boots n all which is still on i'd say he has no new ideas, be interesting how he answers the questions coming up.

We will be lucky to beat PNG with a second rate coach in charge, should have been sacked last year from bradford

We'll never get a decent coach as long as they insist on him being full time.

Having watched Boots'n'All tonight, Smith is only contracted as advisor for a year and it is with the specific remit of getting insight into the oppositionteam[/i* fully informed of what they can expect to meet on the pitch and how to counteract the same.

Based on the interview with him, it sounds like McNamara has given an awful lot of thought and done a lot of research into the changes that need to be made and what needs to be done to enable those changes to have impact. Given his direct experience with the last world cup as assistant, I would say he has a greater awareness of our frailties and what needs to be done about them than other coaches and also in his contact with Smith he has a direct line to the opposition which is possibly not something other coaches could bring with them.

*McNamara was categorical in stating that he is recruiting in the next two to three weeks a number of individuals with specific responsibilities within the England coaching set up. He also stated that it is not going to be a job of only two to three weeks.

Irrespective of the coach, one thing we need is something to try and replicate the intensity and quality of Origin games to some extent. The RFL could make a start on that by abandoning the wacky weekend and replacing it with, say, an England v (rest of) Super League game - or even a "probables v possibles" match, much as I hate to copy Yawnion.

If he comes in and turns around the whole set up from grass routes to international level, (he should, for 48 weeks a year he'll be sat on his thumbs) and makes us better, then I will, for what its worth adimt I was wrong, however I bet in ten years time, we are still bemoaning, poor technique, poor rugby and worse coaching from our international coaches.

If you want to be the best you have to get the best, and english coaches are not the best! Not even close! The NRL is where we needed to be looking.

Mclaren had a good record in qualifiers?