Think you could be right Les. I forgot about the Danny Orr business.

Think the full story will come at some point.

No wonder everything had gone quiet at the club.

Will Quins get any money for Brian? He had another year left on his contract, didn't he?

ominous times i think. DH has a plan. im not sure it is going to be beneficial or london rl. this could be a defining moment for the club. mac going is a victory for some, as some of the results and style of play were unacceptable. he has gotten london lads in the side though, and he has to be congratulated for that. its make or break now. if a big name coach is annouced, then you can be sure there will be some money for players and the youth development continues. if not, then its going to be a very tough 3 years, and a very, very rocky road.

there is a very good coach already within the ranks at Quins - Phil Jones has been doing a good job with the youngsters and as the team will now be the youngsters - QED??
Not much time to makeup ground before the new franchises so it will test Sky and the RFL's committment to 'needing a team' in London.

this made my day



i'm hoping willie poching will replace him

Poaching and Cummins maybe

Someone with a track record please: Steve Folkes or Graham Murray. Maybe even karl Harrison?

But if the money isn't there then an up and coming coach like David Faileigh who did a fantastic job with the Cook Islands last year.

Jason Taylor please, budget permitting. Very concerned though about the future.

Good call about Phils track record with the youth development, often overlooked as the "BIG" name took the glory.......not 100% sure he would want the first team coach position though.

Excellent news, sorry Brian but you've been taking us backwards these past 2 seasons - replacement? An NRL assistant coach looking to make a bit of a name for himself.

Glad of the change, but at the same time it would be nice to hear whose commited to the club for next season/joining it.

All this news of people leaving...anyone getting onboard, or is this indeed the metaphorical sinking ship?

Good luck to the man, I wish him well and thank him for his efforts.......but I will not be shedding any tears over his departure. Hopefully the move back up north to friends and family will help soften his general demeanour and he will be able to drop the seige mentality he has developed while at Quins.

He is sure to do better with the pool of talent available at Leeds, but to read their message board you would have thought they had just signed Billy Slater. He (along with much work by Phil Jones) has helped to bring through local youngsters and given lesser known talents a chance (much of it driven by lack of finances) but let`s not forget that the team/s we have had during his tenure are his teams and our performances and win rate year on year have been in steady decline since his arrival. I think he is probably more suited to the assistant coaching role on offer.

Should he inherit the head coach job at Leeds it will be interesting to see how long the policy of homegrown talent and reduction of overseas players lasts........I suspect about the same time as IL`s intentions once he bought Wigan.

No idea who DH has in mind to replace him...........Paul Cullen anyone?....he has been through difficult times and is worthy of a return to SL, perhaps we could offer him a fresh start down south........plus he could provide some much needed free promotion of the club on SKY......a bit like Harris and Robbie Paul do for their clubs on the BBC Super League show.

You would think the messiah was on his way back reading SS.com, wonder how many were blasting BM when it looked as if he was in with a shout of the England post.

You REALLY hate us, don't you?

Yeah, wouldn't mind Paul Cullen at all.

Brian Mac softening his demeanour? No chance!

I will miss the good natured banter of Brian and his gentle mickey taking of Quins fans capacity for beer.


(well, this Quins fan anyway)

You can have Terry Matterson if you want, i'll even drive him down for you!!!!

He has had players sold over his head in football terms, or in rugby league terms not had the players he wanted retained.

He has left a sinking ship that is flawed as the Titanic, and the water is flowing over the first bulkhead. Brian Mac has got to safety, which is his prerogative as a man with a family, but Quins will die a slow death, especially after reading Hughes statement about us playing kids, kids and more kids.

I don't think Phil Jones is the actual coach of any of the junior teams but rhe development officer.

Personally sad to see Mac go - I thought he had bought into "project london" as I think of it. Yes it's hard work supporting a (mostly) losing team but to my mind we are one of the few clubs who have bought into the franchising system and I would rather support our club doing that than going for short term (not guaranteed) glory of trying to bend the rules or be reliant on the overseas player.

Yes it is a chicken and egg situation in that a winnng team will presumably attract more punters but IF we can stick around there is a good pool of talent being defeloped.

Things could be worse - look at Bradford Se Eagles and I find Hull KRs attempts to get players off quota so they can bring in more mercenaries pathetically laughable.

Wonder what this bit of the statement means?



more testing than normal?

No one is jumping up and down! in fact no one likes to lose a coach as it loses momentum, but then again it is the right choice for Brian, he could go no further and though he may be a player's coach, I feel his true level is as an assistant coach, everyone wants to be a coach both for the salary and the level you have attained, but not everyone has got it!

Super League has been so strange this season the number of announcements of coaches and players leaving and signing for other clubs before the end of the season, this is the one of the faults with the licence system.

Is it a fault though? at least those clubs who are losing/gaining coaches can plan & recruit accordingly.......oh and PS I am jumping up and down, as our momentum could scarcely get any slower really.

I would like to thank Brian for his efforts and his achievement in developing the London youth set-up. Having said that I think he had run out of ideas in terms of pushing QRL up the table. Lets hope we get a high profile media savvy guy who can bring the players and the crowds in. If we go internal Latham Tawfai should also be in the mix.

Is Dave Rotheram still one of the RFL's national player development managers?

No idea, but IIRC Whitehaven fans hated him when he was coaching them. Might be worth a shout as an assistant.

Brian has been looking for a new job for at least the last six months with his wife relocating many months ago back to the north. He was declined by Bradford so Leeds was probably his only other viable option as he is still perceived as being prestigious in some ways to these clubs.

With the other roles being filled in Super League his other options may have been to become a Head Coach at a lower league club in Yorkshire where he is still well recognised or an Assistant Coach at a Super League club, so he has done well for himself. In many ways, such is the playing roster at Leeds that it is almost a no-fail role so I am sure he will provide adequate support.

His role was no longer viable at Quins as he lost the support over the past 18 months, bar a tiny minority whose mind is filled with his one good half season which ended in June 2009 rather than the reality of losing something like 30 out of 37 games.

His role became untenable when It made it impossible for David to yet again re-sign older players or even back his judgement given Mac's record of paying David's money as a pension or pension top-up to people who were finished or terminally in decline and who had an appalling injury record over many years. Danny Orr was caught up in the mess - when he was not to blame and has played well but it shows that trust had gone and David would not be bitten yet again.

I personally feel that he is bad at identifying talent and that this is his single biggest failing as a Head Coach. It is very hard to really see in 5 seasons what he has bought that has improved the team. In many ways most of the better players are in fact still those acquired when Tony Rea was in direct control or 'tipping' Brian off as the Director - e.g. Chad Randall, Karl Temata, David Howell and of courser Louie, Tony and Will.

I would argue Mac has largely failed to replace the likes of McLinden, Haumono, Hopkins, Paul and many other players with anything approaching an equal standard whilst he has burnt Quins badly with signings/renewals of older players incapable of playing or doing anything much beyond getting paid. He has also failed with many youngsters e.g. Tootill, Bannister, Esders, A.Smith, Kaye, James, D.Williams, May, Grayshon, Barker etc. Perhaps more importantly he has lost some of the London jewels in Sharp (who was offered just a one year deal when Wells got two years) and Louie.

Where he has done better is in the signings of Jones-Bishop, Dorn, Golden and Gale but for every good signing there has been two or more bad signings/re-signings and time and time again the overseas register has been empty with players of a National League standard signed or resigned prior to all joining Widnes!

If Leeds were to consider him and overlook his win record then he will need to present a less unacceptable face to the public and move away from making negative and at times inappropriate comments after each performance if he is not to be perceived badly, like Mick Potter is at St Helens and he was at Quins.

I am sure that he has every chance of being in the running for Head Coach at both England and Bradford Bulls once they are available again in two years if he is willing to change, and maybe at Leeds, but I do not think he will change so I do not wish him well for the future as I have not enjoyed his tenure and think he is sure to fail unless in a no-fail role - Leeds are a great club of champions and who could not assist Bluey and still win games? I note that Mac as assistant at Huddersfield when the club was struggling did not move things on.

Funnily enough as a Bolton Wanderers supporter he reminds me of Gary Megson in his approach.

With kind regards
Mark

Would pretty much agree with all of that except to say that I see even less in terms of his good signings if you take on BJB being offered to us on loan, and Dorn resigning after not being offered a contract by.......err BM.