I thought my post was/is fairly clear where I stand on this subject.



I don't think the Aussies would ever appoint Andy Goodway but I reckon he would have a good chance of winning a series. The fall-out would be a laugh to witness though.

Just to let you know this mod is staying out of the M@slebugs/FA/ME handbags at paces.

I'm pretty sure it's only you three reading it anyway

If the disparity between one team and the rest is so great that it doesn't much matter who coaches them, in the sense that they are so much bigger, faster, stronger and fitter that they are effectively on another planet, then they will tend to win most games. As for example the professional Wigan team playing against the part-timers. That's a pretty rare situation, though, and not a coaching issue; Angelo Dundee could coach Warwick Davis to be the best dwarf boxer there's ever been, but you'd still fancy Tyson Fury to take him out.

This Australian team is not that much head, shoulders and waist above everybody else, and I suspect if Goodway were their coach, they'd be in a bit of trouble. It's an interesting point, and we'll never know, but they're not the invincibles of old; they may well win, but this job has not been a doddle for Sheens, and he has e.g. had them winning against NZ where coaches with a bigger rep and a better squad have been losing.

John Dorahy was sacked by Wigan after doing the double in 93/94 after losing the dressing room. I think it was more getting slaughtered twice by the mighty Cas myself like.

Aye. A stunning performance. The only two tough fixture he has, he gets a pumping. Still, home wins against the mighty Wales and a severely deplete NZ squad clearly show signs of his coaching abilities eh?

He is a dud a club AND country level and there is absolutely no case for the defence.

McNamara is a plonker I hate the bloke. Couldn't work with he best players England have..says it all really

Crabtree, burgess, lomax, burrow think may of made a difference..the chase experiment didnt work..good club man but thats about it..deffo not world class.

Still shocked he picked Bailey for the four nations squad. Why oh why did he drop crabtree and LM scarsbrook for Bailey...dear oh dear! McNamara is clueless and absolute muppet

Well, last night's England performance was very reminiscent of McNamara's time at Bradford.

Try and power it up the middle of the field, run out of ideas in the final 20m of the pitch.

But the trouble is, as it was at Bradford, who do you replace him with? Though, tbh this was probably one of the best England sides that could currently be put on the field. I'd love to see what a Smith or Noble could do with that sort of squad.

I thought the decision to go for the two points at 6 - 8 was a bad decision and showed a lack of confidence (something we saw at Bradford quite a lot). At that stage we'd been hammering the Aussies and could have done with making sure the ball stayed at that end of the field more than the two points. Taking possession back in our own half after taking the lead with a try would have been a bit different.

I don't think we managed to get out of our own half for the rest of the match after that.

Too much panic rugby.. not enough building of pressure and controlling the ball. England seemed to looking for the miracle ball or play each time we got close to their line. We didn't make the Aussies do enough work or put them under pressure anywhere near long enough. Unfortunately it was pretty easy to predict the outcome of the match very early in the 2nd half.

Also it'soff topic but does anyone else think Elland Road is a crap ground. I'm five foot nine but can't fit in the seats. It's absolutely disgusting the leg room there. I paid extra this time to sit in the East Stand thinking it would be better but it wasn't. No other complaints it was a great day out yesterday and the shuttle buses were excellent. The atmosphere is superb but it's well past it's sell by date.

Agree with most of that. He seems to have instilled a system where everything in attack revolves around getting the ball to Kevin Sinfield, it is reminiscent of his Bradford teams that seemed to be similarly based around Deacon - neither being up to the task at hand.

I think he's actually done some good in his current role, the increased training camps, the Knights idea and the exiles game may all be beneficial to the squad and future development however, when it comes to the actual important bit on the field he is found wanting.

Maybe he is actually the best young British administrator in the game - as we've seen in the past if it gets said enough the label will no doubt stick.

First time I'd been there in ten years or so, and it was the first time I sat anywhere but in the corner where away fans are put for the football - I presumed elsewhere in the stadium would be better but I was wrong. I'm a similar height and my knees were killing me after a couple of hours sat there.

It probably goes a long way to explaining why so many Leeds United fans have posture problems though - you do often note that many are permanently slouched with there knuckles scraping the floor.

Elland Road is a terrible stadium.

It just seems they've crowbar'd in extra seats rather than do something sensible like build a new stand. I mean, it's not like there's anything but industrial wasteland round the stadium is there?

I'm 6ft2 and I can't say I noticed it being any worse than most seated grounds to be honest.

They seemed far too nervous and I think that led to the panic rugby and them losing energy in the 2nd half. There was some good scramble defence but we were always second best. Our senior players seemed to lose composure just by walking out in the final.

I think it's over simplifying to blame it all on the coach. Past coaches have experienced the same thing with England and GB.

I just thought there was no 'Plan B'.

The aussies seemed to have sussed the attacking plays (each time the ball was sent wide, the dummy runner was ignored and they targeted/rushed the deeper man).

Due to this, the players had no second option. The weeks of drill practice (where everything looked pretty) was wasted as everything was far too predictable.

TBF to macca, i think this England team performed better than recent teams, they seems to have an element of self belief. The only thing i worry about now is if he perseveres with the Morley's and the Peacock's. There's nothing to play for now until the World Cup, and i wouldn't think these type of players will be first team selection at 35?

I don't think its confined to just Elland Road, football grounds in general are like that, specialy premier league stadium. Old Trafford's a nightmare and I'm only 5'8"!

Noble and Smith did have similar teams in finals at international level both got beat, At least McNamara's team was still in it at half time, unlike his illustrated predecessor at Odsal!

Old Trafford is bad as is Anfield. I went to see the Great Britain test at the City of Manchester stadium and that ground is smart. Went to see the record breaking HTFC play Arsenal in the cup last year and have to say the Emirates has the best seats of any ground in Britain. It just lacks any atmosphere like most of the new grounds. I reckon that Stamford Bridge is the best I've been to in terms of atmosphere and comfort.

Read a few comments around that say the John Charles stand is the best and that's the oldest part of Elland Road. The sorry thing is though where else could they have it? None of the SL grounds are big enough and I can't see Manchester City allowing another RL match there. Similarly Old Trafford is used for the Grand Final. Would we be able to get a decent turn out anywhere further afield? The Wembley Double header did ok I suppose so maybe St James' park or Villa Park? Possibly even Wembley again?

What the sport really needs is a proper ground with a Rugby League heritage, able to match the traditional ground's atmosphere but with modern facilities, a community project and a beacon for the city is based in. With great access to the country's motorway network at site somewhere near something like the Staithgate Roundabout. Sounds impossible that though.

How we were within 2 points at half time was beyond belief. There seemed no plan or structure to our attack. International players supporting the ball player then dropping the pass because they were not expecting it. Whereas the Ausies attack at pace was awesome.

Not entirely the coaches fault though. As the man on the pitch if you see this happening you do something abouit it by occasionally giving the ball to the dummy runner.