Quote Dave Lister="Dave Lister"All this about putting players in the wrong positions is just making excuses to cover up the fact that the players aren't good enough. Brian McDermott is doing the best he can with what he has, which isn't a lot, and I trust his judgement as an experienced professional.'"
I take your point that many of the players we have aren't good enough, but doesn't McDermott have some say in the recruitment?
The cap and the quota seem to be badly managed every year and this year is no exception. The decision to forfeit two quota places for the good of the British game I firmly believe has had an direct impact on our ability to be competitive this season.
As for the cap: Bannister, James, Kaye, Barker, Nanyn, Gardner (I'm sure everyone on here can think of their own examples) — you don't have to be very bright to work out filling the squad with players who will barely play a game and will do almost nothing to increase competition for places (especially when you are going to bring in loans like Mills anyway) is just a waste of money.
As for all the “bad luck” we have had with injuries and players leaving: Robinsion, Wells Villasanti, Fa'afili, Faumuina etc. etc.
Bad luck or bad judgement or a bit of both? These are questions McDermott will ultimately be judged on. That and his 38% win percentage (26% this year). But we know Mac isn't one for reading league tables, statistics or any other objective method used to measure success. He's all about “performance”
I'm done with the McDermott era and I really hope he is gone by the end of the year. I'm sure it won't solve all the clubs ills (far from it), but we need to get some better players and have a happy team that is at least a chance of winning most of its home games.
We don't need a coach who is “very happy, really happy” that Salford have just done the double over us.