Is it time for a new England coach? : Sun Jun 17, 2012 8:36 am  

Personally I think its time to get shut of Macnamara. Fed up of seeing players playing out of position.If we play southern hemispere teams like this we'll get hammered. Time for a change.

Re: Is it time for a new England coach? : Sun Jun 17, 2012 8:49 am  

Not just the coach, the RFL too and then kick all the average overseas players out and bring back team GB.

Re: Is it time for a new England coach? : Sun Jun 17, 2012 9:08 am  

javachick wrote:

Personally I think its time to get shut of Macnamara. Fed up of seeing players playing out of position.If we play southern hemispere teams like this we'll get hammered. Time for a change.

Lets be honest McNamara should never have been given the job in the first place. He hadn't proven himself at Bradford as a coach and should never have been a candidate for the England job. But as we know the RFL do move in mysterious ways at times.

Re: Is it time for a new England coach? : Sun Jun 17, 2012 9:25 am  

It's a bit of a poisoned chalice really. Any coach with an eye to a future career wouldn't set themselves up to fail by taking the England job.

Re: Is it time for a new England coach? : Sun Jun 17, 2012 3:29 pm  

I think the processes that McNamara has put in place have been pretty good. There seems to be a bit more enthusiasm from fans and clubs alike about getting players into the England and Knights squad. Certainly more than what I've seen before and there seems to be some disappointment when certain players aren't picked.

I think the England job has become a poisoned chalice because we change personnel so much at the top. The players haven't had the time to spend with the coach, get to know him and also spend time with each other. I'm certainly willing to give him time now that we're seeing some younger players come through but sooner or later I feel he has to start backing them over the tried-and-tested has-beens.

Re: Is it time for a new England coach? : Mon Jun 18, 2012 1:41 pm  

I agree he should never have been given the job although it seems these days that it's the job for failed club coaches.

I watched about twenty minutes of the Exiles game the other night. The standard was so poor and the match so boring that I switched over to the Euros thereafter.

Re: Is it time for a new England coach? : Tue Jun 19, 2012 9:27 am  

I cannot believe some of the selections made for Saturday's game.

1) Carl Ablett is not an international quality player nevermind an International centre ahead of Shenton, Cudjoe, Bridge, Yeaman
2) Kevin Sinfield is not a stand off
3) Rangi Chase is a stand off
4) Danny Brough is the best scrum half we have
5) Luke Robinson should be in the 17 every day of the week
6) JJB is about as good as Carl Ablett

Re: Is it time for a new England coach? : Tue Jun 19, 2012 12:17 pm  

Agree Fumper with some of what you say - Playing Sinfield and Ablett is very much a statement of trying to be difficult to beat as opposed to play the best team.
(Before anyone gives me any grief Kevin Sinfield is just about the best England elligible player, role model for the sport and ambassador, he would be my loose every time)
BUT - Starting Brough and Chase in the halves, Sinfield at loose.
I would have played JJB though, he is a single use item - on to the ball at pace and quick PTB - that is what you are picking him for.

Re: Is it time for a new England coach? : Tue Jun 19, 2012 12:35 pm  

Plus JJB has a magnificent beard, which is worthwhile being on television alone.

Re: Is it time for a new England coach? : Thu Jun 21, 2012 5:24 am  

Seems to me that McNamara is doing a very good job in terms of getting structures in place, seeking to widen the play pool etc. He also has a tough job made more difficult by the fact that a good core of his best team aren't available mid-season, and the fact that fans always seem to blame our national coaches for failure when the reality is that they face a near-impossible task of trying to match Australia.

Having said that, I'm not entirely convinced his selections are that great, or that he's necessarily a great coach. Sadly, unlike Australia, our lads actually need coaching to play for England. Tony Smith had to do extra training sessions with the squad in Australia because they simply had no idea how to defend against some fairly bog-standard NRL plays (partly due to rule differences).