Managing player's egos is his job that is what he gets paid for. What he does at press conferences is to suggest any criticism of him is idiotic e.g. use of substitutes. His stubbornness and spitefulness e.g. Baldwinson non selection does him no favours when the going is tough and you need a few friends. As the saying goes "what goes around comes around"

Stubborness and spitefulness regarding Baldwinson???? You ever thought he just doesnt think he is good enough????

Admit it Sal you are a serial moaner as are the other usual suspects and you are enjoying this role much more now than you did last year when we won the treble. Yes the coach is paid to get to get performances on the field but to waft aside so easily the serious set of negative circumstances that landed on him so far this season and to continually call for his replacement is both unreasonable, unfair and is either a knee jerk or agenda driven solution.

But you could still say he's showing a certain level of stubbornness. He seems unwilling to give him a chance despite good reasons to do so, such as him being championship young player of the year, and the fact that the first team have been utter dogsh/te.

...or a clearly thought-out, reasoned opinion of a coach's ability based upon what is seen consistently over a lengthy period. You pays your money, you takes your choice.

Exactly. It is this sort of emotional language in making judgements when not in possession of the facts that renders certain posters opinions as highly questionable. Baldwinson looks like another overrated prospect who so far as not justified the hype. How did he do in Featherstone's heavy defeat at Blackpool?

......which over this lengthy period since 2011 has been proven to be wrong so many times!

The same coach who thought Joe Vickery & Ben Cross were good enough?

Perhaps then this is the problem:

BMD is just the man you need when your team is full of internationals, who already have a fantastic track record of huge success, including having SL's best ever captain, & also its best ever prop & pack leader/England captain. And with only a small smattering of injuries which do not disrupt too much to make the coach have to come up with ingenious plans to cover.

On the other hand, if you have an average side (for SL), for instance Leeds 2016 & London 2006-2010, then perhaps you need a motivator, tactician, someone who can instigate defensive & offensive structures to dig you out of the mire.

Who signed them McDermott or Hetherington? Who coached Leeeds to so many finals and trophies since 2011 and coached the treble winners last season?

One - if he never gives him a chance he will never know - let's be honest here neither Mullally or Singleton are pulling up any trees as justification for not giving him a go.

Two - If the coach doesn't think he is good enough then why is he even in the squad?

Three - This player was one of the stars of his group - England captain IIRC - so why has he failed to deliver his potential under the McDermott regime. The same could be said of Sutcliffe too.

There are always two sides to any argument

Did GH insist that BMD play them? If he is such an astute identifier of talent that he knows Baldwinson is not good enough, then how did he arrive at the conclusion that these two were?

Each made 10 appalling appearances for Leeds before the penny dropped.

Nobody is wafting anything aside - I am not asking for him to go, personally I can't see that happening.

All I am asking is given everything is the team performing to its potential? If it is McDermott has nothing to answer to, if it isn't then surely McDermott must take his share of the blame?

So I ask again do you think - most points conceded, least points scored, bottom of the table - is the best the McDermott could have achieved in the circumstances?

Quite simply sinny and peacock coached us to success while Mac sat back. Think it shows don't you!

So I take it Hetherington picked these players too - come on you cannot defend the indefensible

I actually think you think McDermott can walk on the surface of the River Aire

He appears in your eyes to be completely blameless for the current appalling position.

And correct so many times too!!

Whats fascinating about some fans with McD is that he had nothing to do with winning 3 Grand Finals, 2 Challenge Cups, 1 Shield and a WCC that was all down to the players but loses are simply and solely down to him. How does that add up?

To use words like spiteful for not picking a young prop with no evidence to back that up seems ridiculous to me.

As for Vickery and Cross and probably many others we could all name yes McD picked them the same way every other coach has picked players we dont agree with but he is paid to select what he thinks is best team available. He isnt doing it out of spite FFS.

Given the success he has had i reckon he has made more right decisions than wrong.

Given the team he inherited they have made the right decisions on the field more often than not. Take them out and you get what we have now a shambles on the field.

BM took over a side in decline who were poor the season before. Most of the golden generation were past their prime when Mac took over with world class players like Ellis, Buderus, Webb and Ali gone or on their way out too. Coach of the year Mac has shown he is a winning motivator, tactician with the proven abilities to produce great defensive and offensive performances.

I think for you to state we only have " a small smattering of injuries which do not disrupt too much" shows the paucity and inaccuracy of your arguments.

McD watches Baldwinson every day in training and im sure he watches his performances and gets reports from Fev as to how he is doing and on that basis forms a decision as to whether he is ready at this stage to play at a much higher level. Whether you or I or anyone else agrees that is McD's decision to make.

If he decides the answer is not yet does that mean he is doing it out of spite??? Its ridiculous to say yes and there is no evidence to say yes.

As to why is he in the squad, quite simply as with a few of the numbers 20-25 they are lads with potential but not quite ready yet.

Graham Murray didnt used to pick Sinfield often when Sinny was squad number 30. Was that out of spite??? Why was Sinny in the squad??? He was England academy captain so why wasnt he ready????. It was all simply because the coach at that time believed he wasnt quite ready at so young to play SL.

grix is available at the end of this season?? ferres and mullally done a great job so why not

No I don't agree with your allegations. We are missing those two players and their leadership on the field but to suggest Mac sat back without evidence is why I rate your views on this as ridiculous.

2015 McDermott with Sinfield, Peacock = LLS

2016 McDermott without Sinfield, Peacock = currently adrift in 12th

The results speak for themselves and in business/sport nobody cares if you used to be good.

Dont worry fella Ferres and Mullally are now getting used to playing in front of a crowd so will improve soon. After years of playing in front of your silent 200 the switch to Leeds was a bit noisy for them.

Bottom of the league v Catalans and 14k turn up. What did you lot get when you topped the league??? 116 was it???

We seem to have very polar opposite view here either he can do no wrong or everything is macs fault. The truth lies somewhere in the middle. The success we have had he has a part in equally in the decay he also has a role