Yes well done Seth.

I too have backed Brian Mac against the persistent snipers. I did this mainly because I felt the critics were being impatient, unfair, naive and in many cases showing a complete lack of understanding and respect.

But don't hold your breath waiting for the 'know-all' keyboard coaching experts to finally see the light. I predict they will heap praise on the team and give faint praise to Brian Mac. They will yet again moan on and on about the "dross" of some earlier games which, in their flawed opinion, was all the fault of the coach. Some will still talk of "lacking technical skill" or "lacking structure" as if they really understood coaching.

It is true BM inherited a very special set of players (some of whom he helped develop under Smith) but he took charge at a time when some of the key players were past their peak and the team were showning clear signs of a decline under Bluey. He also had to start without two of his top players out with long term injuries. With other clubs recruiting strongly Leeds had harder competition from 4 or 5 other teams.

Not only has McDermott achieved most of the club's goals in his first 2 years (finals and finances) but he has quietly overseen some of the transitional work that was needed. He brought into the first team, Bish, Watkins and Hardaker as regulars. He converted Delaney into a very successful forward. McGuire's injury forced Sinfield to SO but BM kept him there and found a way to include Burrow when McGuire was fit again. He produced a resurgent Bailey and changed the pack structure to get his first choices on the field for the most time. He has also brought into the squad young Ward but has not over exposed him.

He has shown that he knows how to get his charges physically and mentally prepared and motivated for the big important games and he has shown a canny tactical nouse. He is his own man and makes selections and substitutions that sometimes give amunition to his impatient critics yet eventually produce the goods.

I don't buy this taking it easy business in the regular rounds. To peak on three separate occassions in the season means the coaching staff have to ease off at other times. I am sure the team and coaches plan to win every game, but a lack of form can hit even the best players and when this strikes several at the same time then you are going to have some nightmares - that's sport folks!

Well done once again Brian. Big man in every sense and currently the best coach in SL

A truly outstanding achievement by ALL involved i wont go over my comments when we hit the slump because at that time that was my opinion.
We aren't always right all of the time and i'm chuffed once again the Club have achieved success from an "outsider" bet and once again to a man they ALL stood and were counted when it came to the big one.
Well done to the Coaches ,Team ,Staff etc etc and thanks for delivering ANOTHER GF win!!

Well said.

In Wayne Bennetts book, Don't Die With The Music In You, he says you're better to have a great captain than a great coach. I haven't got the book with me but from memory the quote is something like, a great captain with an average coach makes the coach look good, but an great coach without a great captain is struggling.

I think this is the case with Leeds with not only McDermott but McLennan.

You are Admiral Hanson and I claim my £10

2 seasons 2 GF wins. No-one can argue with the excellent record of Brian McDermott.

No doubt though the usual murmours and criticisms will resurface if or when Leeds have a poor spell next season.

At the start of last year I said BMcD was out of his depth.

I also said that Ryan Hall should have spent another year in the Academy and that Lee Smith should have been our first choice winger.

What the f*ck do I know?

Not much, though well done for admitting that

Looking back through this thread I'm surprised someone's not had it deleted, truly embarrassing, and funny!

you buy terrible 'Champions- special edition' shirts?

Special [iAddition [/isurely?

I buy sh[size=100i[/sizet and talk sh[size=100i[/sizet - but at least I'll admit it and not go into hiding every time I get it wrong - hey Jeff



Oh... anyway you bought that terrible Stade Francais shirt didn't you?

Yeah I bought two of them

but I was mortalled, what was your excuse?!

I like page 7 of this thread the best

The visionry words of DHM stand out amongst some of the nonsense, it was good to see him back on here yesterday

I especially like these few comments:

The man continues to baffle me but then he clearly is a better thinker and stratergist(sp) then many give him credit for.

Finished as a competitive entity..........then wins 2 super league titles.

Only got tp page 24 so far but delighted with my intelligent and reasoned contribution to a thread that should be an embarrassment for some posters. The above was from May this year. I see the cracks continue to be papered over but the trophies are not slipping down them.

As I said early on....



Certaion posters never learn. Not even from 2011 to 2012. Still one day Gotcha and Sal Paradise will be proven right. If only we'd listened and broken this team up well before the last two titles.

And Lawrie shouldn't be smug. He was joiningh the chorus of sack the coach in 2011.

Joining in the chorus? Is he one of these that goes to games just to sing songs?

Many of us had negative views of what the team/coach were producing at that time G and imo i stand by it at that time.
In fact our form this last month has once agaian proved that the team were capable of much much better than some of the drosss they were serving up even the players and staff themselves admit as much.
I'll never demand/expect to win a game a of RL but i do think even now we could have competed better during that form slump and the questions you yourself raised over selection ,squad use etc etc still remain and i for one hope they are addressed next year.

How about acheiving the goal he told you and I he wanted to acheive last November, greater consistency in the league season. I'll take that, not that I wouldn't take another year like this one. Do you remember or were you counting the cieling tiles whiulst he was speaking?

And for Juan Cornetto and Seth whilst the knee jerk sack the coach rhetoric is plain dumb the coaches tactics have been validly open to question this year. His use of substitutes being baffling. Feeling the need to explain it and the explanation made matters worse.

This forum is for discussion of all such matters, negative or positive. Contributors don't need to display their coaches badges to post an opinion. I've meet many people who hold copaching badges who are as clueless as the likes of Gotcha and Sal Paradise.

Seth and Juan should have applied for the cheerleaders but they will have missed the auditions now I fear. I've met Seth and he'd look good in hot poants. Don't know about Juan.

And for the record Soprano, the thread drift you started on pg 34 was the best part of the thread. I bet it was what attracted the new poster, Ian Scott.

Even McDermott said when being interviewed on Saturday night that they "were games when you couldn't tell what we trying to achieve". When a coach admits that then it's only natural for fans to be critical too throughout the season. And whilst he's got it right come playoffs I don't like to bury my head in the sand about some of the clangers he dropped during the season.....unused hookers on the bench against Wigan Away and Saints Home are still very poor decisions regardless of what happened Saturday night. For me the real annoyance of the season has been the poor use of the subs bench. Lunt, Clarkson and Griffin have all shown what they can do with more game time but too often this year were getting ridiculously short mins.

I'm also happy to praise him too though and have said a couple times over the last few months that his out-of-left-field selection of Bailey at Loose Forward has been great.

2 SL titles out of 2 is consistent enough for me

The thread drift was the highlight of southstander this season

thanks for pointing that out G!
you have to give credit to BM although some of the things he does still leave me baffled.
i stand by what i said though. there was cracks and the regular season this year was just as shocking. even BM said he watched some games and struggled to see what we were doing.
i'll be honest. i have to give the coach fantastic praise for winning back to back titles but i'm fooked if i know how he does it with lack of rotation, flogging the older players and a real lack of nous at times.
i think some times people like tony smith can over coach. BM seems to have the same ability as say bluey and john kear for getting players up for big games and i think while he puts basic plans into place he is lucky to have a special group of players to implement them.