Seems like Brian Mac is up for the Rugby League International Federation Coach of the year award. Seeing as when its handed out, and who its up against, itd be a real achievement if he did win it. news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_l ... 538092.stm

Seems like Brian Mac is up for the Rugby League International Federation Coach of the year award. Seeing as when its handed out, and who its up against, itd be a real achievement if he did win it. news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_l ... 538092.stm

Sinfield for the loose forward award even though he has played alot at stand off.

Despite my previous unreserved apology for being too critical of him, this seems a step too far to me....

I admire, and am somewhat amazed at, what happened through early October, but surely it can not be that McDermott has done enough to justify this nomination!?!

This.

Not sure what I think to that. First reaction was "hang on, he was cr@p for 2/3 of the year", but then you realise that turning a mid table(ish) side into a champion team in a matter of months must take some doing.

If he wins then we'd better close this forum down.

Not sure I'd say that. He was implementing new ideas that naturally take a bit of time to bed in. It's just that maybe it was too much too soon.

I think it's safe to say that he's the third best coach on that list.

if tony smith had been the only coach nominated from super league we'd be moaning that he won nothing so didnt deserve the nomination
it looks like the selectors just got lazy

Hang on a minute, you cut the rest of my post off that basically summarised what you just said...

I really, really hope he wins it. It'll be bloody hilarious.

Do Wally Trollies still run RL specials ?

In terms of achievements this season I think he deserves it. Given the timing of the SL awards he was never going to win it, but this is feasible for him to pick up.

If you look at the end product. A challenge cup final and a grand final win. Then it is feasible he might win it!

This.

When McDermott came in he and most likely others decided to have a complete overhaul of the playing systems that had been in place for a long time. The players looked clueless in attack for large parts of the year and were obviously struggling to adapt. Who do you blame for that? They got there in the end. In a season of blooding lots of youngsters mostly as a result of a hefty injury list, we had a decent cup run and came up short as a result of a slow start and bad ref calls. We then hit peak form and won the GF. I think he deserves to be there tbh.

Macca's achievements this year make him an even money bet.

As previous posters have said the coach had new systems to implement, but it's worth noting that he did so in really adverse circumstances.
Pre-season was ill-prepared at best due to McClennan's late resignation. This gave even less time to implement new plans.
On top of that we were missing our key 'go-forward' player in Peacock, and a star back in McGuire. Right through to the latter end of the season Leeds had a massive proportion of the salary cap sidelined or returning from injury.
Given those circumstances I think the coach deserves whatever accolades are thrown at him.
He turned a disorganised team, lacking in confidence, into a team capable of winning back the trophy, whilst bringing out the best in a number of players whose performances (IMO) had started to wane in the previous season under McClennan (Bailey, Ablett and Burrow to name just three). He was also prepared to take and persevere with risks which came off (Sinny running the game from half-back, Burrow exploding off the bench, etc), despite very vocal criticism.

For me, the bottom line is that whatever reservations any of us may have had for much of this season, McDermott has proved himself to be a Champion Coach.

Two months ago I joked that it would laugh my cock off if Saints and Leeds got to another GF.

Des Hasler won the award.

A travesty ... McDermott should have won it for his interesting selections and spectacle at Harlequins the week before Wembley ( long after the " turning point " at Catalans ).

How's that working out for ya?

Thank you for that but we all are aware of your consistent poor judgement on this subject.

Just this subject?!!