for me the GF is the top one. that is the one to aim at. if the draw is kind then yes i would love to win the cup but not at the expense of the GF.
the WCC i would love to win but i won't be gutted if we don't. it's a game played for nothing more than commercialism and bragging rights

For me in the SL era the CC has become a distraction.

Its ill timed and no longer suited in its present format to the modern championship style tournement.

Sure its a trophy..more for the players than anything. Its a fun day out for the fans but thats about it really.

What devalues it and places it as a minor event along side the GF is the fact that with luck you can be in the semis without facing any strong SL opposition and then you are one good game from a trophy but these days not one of any real value IMHO

Teams that play in the Challenge Cup play one game a week, teams that get knocked out get the week off.

Properly managed a Challenge Cup run needn't be at the expence of SL GF success.

The problem appears to me to be more in the mind when you get knocked out of the prestigious tournament, that's when you see some flat performances in the week/s that follow.

pretty much my thoughts. The CC hasn't really changed since the year dot. SL has just gotten better and the playoffs out kick it by a ways. Can't say I care for it much these days. Nice to win it but not fussed if we don't. In fact would rather win WCC than CC

Me too. I have a habit of such thing in finals.

On moving the Magic Weekend to the start of the season:

Wouldn't that cause a problem in that the only grounds big enough to host such an event will be hosting either football or Six Nations rugby at that time of year, and aren't going to want 7 games in 2 days chewing their pitch up?

Sorry to bring this old one up chaps.........

But i feel that this accolade should have already been awarded to him, Whatever bad press he received in his last season should surely not tarnish his record of delivering 2 back to back SL GF wins should it not?

Will Bluey now be awarded his place in the SS.COM hall of fame?

If not,then why not?

Thoughts please.........

yes, of course he should

Yes he should. Can't see why not

Leeds went backwards every year he was coach

He should be in there no doubts at all the only coach to win back to back SL titles and also win the WCC and GF in the same season it shouild'nt even be a question of whther or not he deserves it he should already be in there.

It's a shame that his tenure ended as it did, but his record is there for all to see, and he should definitely be in there.

I have pm'd SS.COM to ask his personal feelings regarding this matter

He has subsequently replied and has said that it sounds like a reasonable idea, but that it depended on the consensus of opinions from posters on here

Does Bluey deserve to be in the SS.COM Hall of fame?

YES!

Still the only coach in Super League history to win back-to-back titles, and the only one to win the WC and GF in the same season.

There’s that and then there’s the ‘hard to please’ persona us loiners have to live up to. Considering how he left the club, Including Bluey in the hall of fame would be seen as going soft by outsiders looking in.

A man who wins two Grand Finals back to back should certainly be included.

Bluey should be in the hall of fame imo,his record of winning back to back titles should be remembered by rhinos fans,and what better way than in the hall of fame

You cannot forget the back to back GF wins but one thing Bluey did was kill 50% of our attacking flair. He didn't turn Leeds into a team of meat heads playing one out rugby but he did kill a lot of the flamboyant rugby. In 2009/2010 Leeds turned into a team that stopped using dummy runners. When attacking the opponents line we saw Leeds just basically passing the ball along the line in the hope of a missed tackle or creating an overlap, no decoy runners to make the defence think was used what so ever. This was during a time when Warrington, who of course are now coached by our former coach, have turned into the masters of dummy runners and blitzing teams outwide - including ourselves in CC final. Leeds have a team full of ball players and speedy back rowers to hammer the opposition line from all angles. Brian Mac knows this and is trying to bed that style back into the team. Leeds we're just so easy to defend against at times under Bluey.

Except of course when we reached 2 GF's won the LLS and a WCC!!!
The rest is irrellevant we won 4 trophies and appeared in another CC final in his 3 yrs at the helm and that's where he deserves to be in the Hall of Fame and the rest like i said above is completely irrellevant as is 06 under Tony Smith.

Whoa there.

Much as I agree with your general approach, you can't just ignore bad seasons and only focus on the winning ones when determining how good a coach was.

You need to look at their entire spell at the club, warts and all.

McLennan took on a successful side and at best maintained it at its previous levels - IMO Smith is ahead of him in the pecking order due to the improvement he brought both in terms of performance and results.

From what Senior said on Sky last night and Reading between the lines of what he kind of implied as well then it would seem the players were not all that impressed with him

It would appear not.



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Coach McClennan's record speaks for itself. The 2nd and 3rd club Championships were massive achievements (no matter what the performances were or were not like over those seasons - who really cares) as was winning a WCC and SL in the same year also.

What was the question again?

It is too simplistic to judge Bluey soley on the silverware that the team won and assume that this was all down to the coach. He inherited the top team in the competition with a settled side of established stars who had momentum and were on a winning run. It is possible that we would have won the same trophies with almost any coach such was the advantage displayed over most other sides at the time.

I am sure he made some positive inputs into getting these results but he also had some negative inputs which were apparrent in way the quality of rugby deteriorated under has tenure. The evidence was there on the pitch and the views of the players are now beginning to surface to back this up.

IMO he came over as a nice guy who couldn't quite believe his luck in landing the best job in SL because he knew he was slightly out of his depth.

The question was, should he be inducted into a fan based Internet Web Site's Hall Of Fame?

Having supremacy over 'most other sides' doesn't earn a Championship. If it did Leeds would have been Champions more frequently then they have been in the past, not least in 2005 during the SL Era.

If that is what the majority want then so be it. For me it depends on the criteria. If purely being the manager when the team wins a lot of silverware then Yes. If improving the standard of play then No.




Equally we do not know that it was the presence of Bluey that made a difference. You could also say that with another coach we could have won more trophies.