For me he's got the hardest job in SL.

He's got a team of ageing former champs. 3 years ago you couldn't touch guys like Peacock, Senior or Webb and now simply age had caught up with them. Also key guys like Burrow and Maguire have had some serious injury problems which doesn't help.

You start to look at quality players like Maguire, Burrow, Webb, Senior, Peacock and others comming into the side then getting injured and then comming back and you realise how difficult it is.

He's in a no win situation. If he does well with the squat he's got and get says 4th place then he's still gonna get shot down as the fans expect them to be champs.

I disagree to some extent because i think that Leeds have had enough quality in the side this season to be in a much better position than they are and tactically they have got things wrong.

I remember watching Leeds in the earlier rounds and watching in amazement as players were off-loading and forcing the pass in ridiculous situations - they have been throwing games away and have continued down this path to the point when i have been certain that BM would go - yet still he remains in the job.

Didnt BM state that Leeds would play a more exciting style of rugby this season under his guidance? im not quite sure that this is what he had in mind.

Leeds have been very poor this season.

It can't help that his assistant is jimmy lowes. Two bitter yorkshire gits. The fact he claimed he jumped up and down after getting the job proves how shocked he was. What a goon. English coaches are shocking, its so bad you could argue Nobby is the best around, and i wouldn't have him back at Wigan in a million years. Agar, Steve Mac, Lowes, Harrison, Kear are so far behind the aussie coaches its unreal. Lets hope we are not adding Wane to the list next season

He looks like someone pretending to handle the pressure well. I don't think he can.

Leeds are finally getting what they deserve

No they don't. Not the fans who've been around for the two decades of winning the occasional Yorkshire Cup anyway.

But after Leeds lose to Wigan and Catalans over the next two weeks, we'll be EIGHTH. Not fourth, eighth. And the squad, though aging, is nowhere near that mediocre. On paper, I'd say it's a little bit behind Wigan and Wire, but not that far behind that a good coach wouldn't have them competitive and expecting to win games, rather than saying, as he did in that interview, "If Wigan play well, the result takes care of itself". Even if true, what about formulating gameplans to *stop* superior opposition playing well? The guy is completely out of his depth.

If Leeds, or Wigan for that matter, are as low down as 8th position at ANY point, even in the salary cap era, it's sure that there's something seriously wrong with the coaching at the club.

Any team spending to the full cap hanging around that low in the table must have something wrong.

Very well put.

The standard of British coaching at pro level is terrible across the board. Noble is easily the best, and even he couldn't get a job in Australia.

I'd go as far as to say that, while the likes of Murphy, Fox, Laughton and Karalius were technically poor as coaches, they were probably much better leaders than men like Agar, McNamara and Kear, none of whom seem to have any kind of aura about them.

The whole attitude of guys like Agar and Kear is wrong, before you even start to consider their technical and motivational abilities. Instead of being content to blame others all the time, they should be analysing every aspect of their own teams, and trying to maximise their efficiency. It isn't exclusively a British thing - Dorahy was famously dire, and the likes of Potter and Matterson are every bit as bad as their British counterparts, but that's probably why they're coaching over here and not Down Under.

Michael Maguire should be the benchmark for a modern coach - taking a thoroughly professional attitude, leaving absolutely nothing to chance, making man-management as important as fitness and conditioning, etc. Yet, this benchmark was set in the past by the likes of Lowe and Monie, and a few years later we suddenly had Eric Hughes in charge, a man who could give even the Yorkshire coaches a lesson in bitterness.

The British game's ultimate downfall will be that it never seems to learn from its mistakes.

I think Potter actually did a fantastic job at Catalans, nobody can really deny that. He was superb at saints as well IMO, he had a team in slight decline but still managed to keep up final appearances. He is a simply awful team at Bradford but they are still pushing for the play-offs.
Matterson can't spend to the cap at Cas and has to put up with playing loads of young players along with average poop like Mathers but he has them playing some entertaining stuff through Chase and Orr and they sit 7th in the table above a few teams with better squads and just 1 point below ex champions Leeds. Everyone says Catalans are having a great season, Cas are only 3 points behind.

I think Madge would be doing a better job than either of them but they are not in the same league as their 'British Counterparts' I think they are doing a decent job under the circumstances.

Finally, the part in red could not be more right. I would have offered Madge 5 years had he wanted to stay over here. The speed at which he turned our team around with just one extra signing from the drivel we watched under Britains most succesful coach says it all.

Leeds with their squad should be comfortably 4th or above imo. If they had Maguire or Smith as coach do you think they would be in the top 4? I do.

One word. Pressure.

Never liked the guy since he tried to stop me going up for a chicken dinner with rice and Broccoli in the players lounge at Quins in 2008.. starving i was!!!

He's hapless at best in the Leeds job!!

Leeds fans on Facebook were calling for his sacking last night........but what if its reverse psychology and Leeds actually beat us??

Then I'd hazard a guess that the players had decided to start playing again and McDermott would live to fight another day. Can't help but wonder if certain players have decided he isn't the right coach and are happy to do their bit to ensure he doesn't last much longer? Looks out of his depth, maybe it's young British coaches that we should be sending to Australia rather than players?

Someone mentioned Potter, he did a fantastic job at Catalans and got a Saints team with no halfbacks to the grand final. He hasn't become a poor coach since then IMO!

really? i don't think their squad is near the quality of Wigan/Wire/Hudds/Saints,

they may have some decent 'names' but it's not impressive any longer

The squad available to McDermott at the beginning of the season:

Fullbacks: Webb, Jones-Bishop
Wingers: Hall, Smith, Jones-Bishop, Hardaker
Centres: Senior, Watkins, Delaney, Smith
Halfbacks: McGuire, Burrow, Sinfield
Props: Peacock, Leuluai, Burgess, Bailey, Cross
Hookers: Buderus, McShane
Back Row: JJB, Ablett, Lauititi, Clarkson, Hauraki, Delaney, Sinfield

No reason that squad, coached properly, shouldn't be competitive with the four sides you mentioned.

Complete bluff. He will have them firing on all cylinders tomorrow and wigan better be on top form.

He is just trying to detract some attention from his team.

Wigan better be aware of the wounded rhino tommorrow

Then he's an idiot just the same. A coach who gives the impression that losing is okay, as opposed to unacceptable, isn't likely to take his team to dizzying heights. If your coach, of all people, doesn't expect much of a performance from you then you may well start believing there isn't much to expect.

Tbh I am sure Madge isn't stupid enough to react to this one way or another.

The team will be prepared as if it's just another round (which of course it is).

Let's hope the players take notice of him.

I agree. I think all that matters tonight is how Wigan play.

No matter how motivated Leeds are or aren't, if Wigan play as well as they can, they should win.

It's that old question though - which Wigan will turn up?

Nothing wrong imo. As Gaskell and others have said, he believes that if leeds begin to perform then results will come. I agree. When Leeds turn up they can beat anyone.

Nothing wrong? Honestly? How would you feel if, in the lead to our away fixture at Wire, Madge said it wasn't about winning but hoped that we came away from Warrington having had a good crack at it? Of course, We know he won't, and that's one of the reasons we're champions. IMO, any coach who gives the appearance of accepting defeat so readily should be asked some serious questions by the fans and anyone else with an interest in the club, and it's one of the reasons I'm so glad we don't have to put up with the apathetic and totally uninspirational Noble anymore.

It's the way he phrased it...

"it's all about the performance, which has been lacking recently. If we put in a good performance, regardless of the result, i'll be happy"

NOT

"we're not going there for the win, it's not about winning"

Once concentrating on how they'll perform, the other is admitting defeat before you start.

To be 100% fair to McDermott, he said what he said in the context of the Bradford game. He agreed fully that Leeds were very poor against Bradfart and with the amount of possession they had, should have won easily. The next question raised by sky's interviewer was about the Wigan game and McDermott answered it by saying that as long as they play well, he isn't bothered about the 2 points. The big thing he wants from the Wigan game is to come away with at least something to build on, which is precisely the opposite of what he got from the Bradfart game. Still a mad thing for a coach to say, even one under so much pressure. Must admit, they do look a disorganised shambles at times, Leeds that is.