Brian McDermott getting some good plaudits for his work at the Knights.

Time to start a McDermott back thread? I noticed him the coaches box at the Nights last week. He’s done it all in SL yet still feels that he can get something out of the game, good on him.

Getting all bleary eyed for mcdermott, yeah he started this rot...

I always used to say that McDermott just loved creating adversity where is wasn't really needed sometimes, flogging certain players, completely ignoring others (remember his name a player on the bench but don't bring them on move?)

remember v Bradford a young Walters being thrown about like a rag doll in the centres. he could have moved delaney there but left Walters on. we got beat. he said Walters had to learn to cope with it. ridiculous

He was a guest speaker at a rugby dinner I attended and he told us that in his opinion the starting 13 should be fit enough and tough enough to play a whole 80 mins no subs every one in the room laughed his face was like thunder the compair cut in and said if they were as hard as you Brian you'd only need ten! True story.

We used to have a few forwards like that (Peacock, JJB, Ablett)
No wonder we were that good!

To be fair to McDermott, when you've been trained as a marine and been shot at, 80 minutes of playing pro rugby league probably feels quite recreational.

I remember Handley saying that McDermott said to him I don't care how well you play you can score an hatrick but once Briscoe is fit you are out of the team.What sort of man management is that.

Terrible, but it worked for his favourites I guess….

His man management and in particular how he spoke to Junior players was appalling. The man's an ego maniac.

At some stage he passed from being a slightly odd, highly driven character with immense self belief into an aggressive loon who clearly believed in his own mythology. The current situation we're in started well before the end of his watch, with the laughably amateur treatment of junior development. It was clear he really had no idea what to do to replace the Golden Generation, and our decline since then until he left is as much his fault as Hetherington's.

If he seriously thinks every player should be capable of 80 minutes then he's a fool. Big bopper forwards train to do short bursts, and even those with amazing stamina can't generally do more than 50-60 minutes a game, and most far less. If they trained to play 80 minutes they could, but they'd be far less dynamic.

hetherington putting brian mac, then barrie mac then Morley in charge was terrible judgement

Completely agree about Barrie. Morley was not there long.
As for Brian Mc, I know he was could upset people but for the most part he got results, more SL titles than any other coach and I know he asked for certain people to be signed at end of the golden period and did not get them.

He was not daft , he knew what big gaps were being left in particular when McGuire left.

McDermott used league games at times to test and stretch players , sometimes it looked nuts but he was all about getting them capable of going above and beyond when push came to shove in big games. I don’t recall him doing the unused sub routine in big games unless we were winning by plenty.

He could do this type of thing because he had a hardened core of quality players.

He used some league matches to test and trial and push players and see what reaction he got. His job was not youth development that was Barrie McDermott. For mine that’s where we went wrong.

I was not a big fan myself but he was good at pushing some players buttons and getting responses. He also pushed players to come up with answers themselves in games.

I don’t think it would work with this group but his record speaks for itself.
I’d add he left in 2018 and we are now 5 years on, I don’t think he carries any blame for current state.

Anyone else feel that the daily clips from the glory years on the Rhinos twitter page are a bit naff given the current context?

don't do social media myself but I guess some might like it

It's a bit Bullseye, as in look at what you could have won... Tone deaf.

You do realise you’re on social media right now? Lol

but I'm really not.....lol

Yep, its absolutely tone deaf, making me mad and totally turning me off watching this current shower..

You really are looking for anything to moan about



Its a clip of a try from the same day on a previous season, not always a winning season, its content. Dont be so upset about everything

Get a grip

Its great to look back on the history etc but yeah, its very grating and the adverts for merch have begun again trying push the unsold tripe weve been lumbered with from Oxen. Things are returning to normality I guess.

So should the club just stop publishing any content and engage with old and new supporters, should it not try and sell merch just because weve lost some games?