it doesn't help the situation when a younger member of our 1st team squad calling our head coach a wa##er in town on sat night.

I thought I was seeing things when I saw that stamp!! No-one seemed to react at all?

At the time when Shaun McRae was appointed most of the fans that I know(Big Pev apart) were all for him coming on board and I myself was unsure about what his impact would be on the team.

He certainly gets us publicity from his Sky appearances etc and whenever I ask him a question he always spends time giving an answer and he has on occasions put me right with his reply as he knows what should have gone on during the match whereas I can only summise what should have happened.

On the salary cap we must be the lowest in Superleague taking into account our crowds etc and he is having to work within a much lower budget than other clubs are.

With regards last Fridays performance although it was a much better one than the last home game against Crusaders some of the players must take responsibility for their performances and ultimately the result.

You cannot give away stupid penalties in key positions and hope to get a win against any Superleague team as we did on Friday night.

You cannot continually play with a poor kicking game, which we did on Friday night, and expect to win the match.

The performance against Bradford was an improvement but the penalties and the poor kicking game cost us dearly and this is down to the players.

Not changing our play, as we didn't do on Friday, at 7 nil down with 10/15 minutes left was either down to the coaching staff not seeing what was going on or the players not implementing what was required, or should have been told to do.

With regards the crowds there has been no "special offers" as far as I know, and I for one do not need any "special offer" to come and support the club and for the "fans" who have stopped coming if you really need something extra to give your support, how do you think that the people who have kept the club going are feeling at this time?what if they had decided to stop supporting the club?

If we cannot improve our support we are on a sticky wicket when the franchise test comes around and if we are unsuccessful will we have the people who are complaining now and refusing to attend games whinging even more?

How do you know that and who was it?

Sadly, with the exception of the inclusion of Mr McRae's name and Crusaders this posting could have been made any time over the past 20 years - it's gone on and on like this for ever. I have been Home and Away for more than 40 years prior to this year FWIW so despite my decision to stop this season I still feel I have a vested interest in the club I love.
When you state "...and for the "fans" who have stopped coming if you really need something extra to give your support, how do you think that the people who have kept the club going are feeling at this time?what if they had decided to stop supporting the club?

That is my point my friend - many of them have! That is the worry and as has been said before; I still believe the Season Ticket changes this season were wrong in principle. It may have still only been a small financial increase but the creation of a 'family club' that to have any value one must join was a gaffe of hideous proprtions IMHO in the depths of a financial recession. As we all know the whole point of the Forum is to discuss opinions.

Name names or stop stirring.

I call my boss a wa##er all the time, doesn't mean he's bad at his job (nor does it mean I have the God-given right to pass judgement on the quality of his work, particularly when he's far more experienced and knowledgable than me)

Don't remember anyone saying Noble was a good coach when he was in charge of GB?

McRae's record is arguably as good as Millward's and only one of them managed to get a job in the NRL.

I'm not McRae's biggest fan but I reckon you're even more full of it than he is?!

No, not at all, please state it more often.

It gets more interesting to read every time.

For me mcrae still has a lot to prove but until the players and us fans buy into his methods and get behind him 100% i feel it will be a uphill battle for him.

He has achieved the same as harrison 3 years into his rein with the minimum of fuss and a lot less money with developing players rather than harrison who in the main had the finished article.

Harrisons teams were built purley on team spirit and we all know what happened in the end you can only get so far up but you can fall a long long way when it goes wrong.

Tactically mcrae is spot on, he knows his teams limits and plays to their strenghts he'll win and win ugly in a heart beat, for it too work it needs the same level of performance we have seen from the players in the last two weeks, when the foot is taken off the gas by the players usually in may/june/july thats when he'll probably be most vunrable

IMO that says as much about the youngster than it does about our coach.

Sorry but what tactics are these and more importantly what wins!!!

he looks like the pringle man and walks like a slug

peace

Slugs dont walk you numpty!

Mcrae dont walk he rolls.

But agree with you on the Pringle man point!

Exactly my thoughts mate. Also why am i stirring by not telling you who it was? all i'm going to say is that it was one of our young members of the 1st team squad.

Don't you think you have over stepped the line with personal insults to our head coach?...Call his tactics but being personal is below the belt, so just grow up .

I just feels he looks at what he has and knows at this point in his teams development we dont have the firepower physically and mentally to destroy teams.

What we do well is spoil, play percentage rugby, complete our sets, smother our opposition and eventually sqeeze the life out of them.
It aint very attractive to watch or even to play i can image but its all about durability.

Our last two games the players have stuck to the game plan very well, in the post match interviews mcrae was spot on in what went wrong (leeds - failing to complete the 1st 4 sets resulting in being pinned in our half so leeds scored just after half time) and (bradford - we basically bombed the chances that came our way because when the pressure was on we turned over the ball)

Nothing to do with mcrae and his lack of tactical knowledge (without any big units @ his disposal both @ leeds and bradford his tactics when attacking our opponents last 3RD has been very good, our problem has been in our inability to break out of our 30m) just our players struggling to cope with the pressure cooker atmosphere of superleague.

I feel the players will benefit from this in the games to come as they now know they are able to perform @ this level consistanly, with a bit of luck and personal development ie not making the same mistakes again and again our players will take the next step and cross the thin line which seperates a winner and a loser.

Sorry Rob that that is simply seeing things rose tinted specs.

Our tactics are poor, McRaes post match interviews are insulting to the paying public.

Our forwards take the ball standing still, we don't have any dummy runners. We are predictable and the worst tactic of all is allowing Alker to play at dummy half. He is beyond slow, and the contributing factor to why we can't get out from our own line. Defensive teams know what we are going to do and close us down the receiver aided by small 10 metres. the only way we make any metres is when we play off the cuff and Holdsworth is backed up.

I'm not a great one for slagging the coach but I don't see what improvements he has brought to the team, I can't see his vision for the future or the structures he is putting in place for that development. Under Harrison at least you could see the progress and see where the improvements and changes benefited the team. Harrison had many faults and maybe stubborn and not adapting led to his downfall.

McRae isn't improving this team and isn't managing it either. I wonder who is in control. Situations such as the turner one should not get to the point where a player leaves becasue of it.

RW your second paragraph is spot on.

Your last paragraph is incorrect as I understand that Jordan Turner left due him being unable to work with our ex assistant coach(Jordan had signed for Hull FC unaware that the coach would be leaving at the end of the season)

I wonder what someone like Noble could get out of our current squad? he seems to be doing a good job getting the most out of a group of players pretty much on a par with our own, maybe he is more astute when formulating a game plan for each team they play where as we seem to do the same thing week in week out and this obviously makes us very predicatable. Rush defence for the first 4 tackels when we are in our own first quarter and then drop the wingers and full back as far back as possible as the long hoof downfield is standard fair.

I'd have prefered to see us chip the ball over the top a couple of times early on against Bradford in the hopes that it would put them in two minds as to what they need to expect at the end of each set of 6, we need J Smith in at dummy half after 25 minutes and then play Alker for the entire 2nd half in the back row and most importantly for me have Matty smith at 7 and then allow Houldsworth a free roaming role to go and do what he likes as he looks like our best attacking option. Also as said elsewhere playing Parker at prop is utter folly as he is never big enough, Cashmere, Boyle, Lou Lou and Sidlow are more than capable of covering the front row and if possible I think Lou Lou is the best to bring on with 10 minutes to go first half and run himself into the ground as he can be very destructive (I think a little motivation from the shed would fire Phil up as he seems the type who would feed of the positive energy).

Remember McRaes first game in charge ?
Possibly the worst game of RL ever a no try bore against Catalans.
Cue 3 years later a one try bore against Bradford.
In 3 years we have not improved and apart from the very very odd occassion when the game plan is thrown out of the window we still play the same boring predictable rugby.
No wonder crowds are down.
Alker being made assistant coach was the worst decision ever (cue the Alker brigade)
He has been captain of 3 relegated sides and surely the time was ripe to say thanks Malc but we need a change.
I would have kept Robbie on to do coaching at least he has been in winning teams.
You can give me all the statistics you want on Malc but the reality is he is too slow and the team are suffering because of it.
Teams must love playing us even we know all the plays.

My comment is valid. If the Coach had managed the situation then Turner would not have been in a position where he felt obliged to leave. As a Manager McRae should take control and has a reposnibility to prevent it. Naylor should not have made life so difficult for a youngster.

All the personal remarks about mcrae are well out of order. Yes hes not done/doing the best job in the world but leave out the personal stuff eh

We better watch out for legal action