Re: England beaten by Italy : Mon Oct 21, 2013 12:42 pm  

Rogues Gallery wrote:

His management of the 2008 World Cup team was appalling. Anyone who went out to Australia, and particularly anyone who was lucky!!!! enough to be in the same hotel as the players would know what I mean.

We (England) are still lacking players good enough in key positions #6, #7, #3 and #4.

Maybe.
But it doesn't excuse appointing McBanana who is a joke.

Re: England beaten by Italy : Mon Oct 21, 2013 1:08 pm  

Lets see what the weekend turns up before we all go jump on the England are a 2nd rate team bandwagon.

It's a warm up game, nothing more. If they get bounced by the Aussies I will agree but as our pre-season showed, warm ups and friendlies tell you very little.

Re: England beaten by Italy : Mon Oct 21, 2013 1:51 pm  

saint at wire wrote:

Maybe.
But it doesn't excuse appointing McBanana who is a joke.

McNamara had two things going for him.
He's British and, at the time, there were fewer top lever British coaches.
When his team had lost, he'd give a very thoughtful and considered interview.
At the time, that was enough to get the job.

These days, with Wane, Anderson, McDermott and even the likes of Daryl Powell about, I don't think anyone would choose to have McNamara and at the time Nobby and Kear had already had a go, so it was only Paul Cullen as competition.
Let's also not forget that, in terms of employment, the international job might not be that attractive. I bet its not worth mega bucks.

Re: England beaten by Italy : Mon Oct 21, 2013 2:12 pm  

bewareshadows wrote:

Lets see what the weekend turns up before we all go jump on the England are a 2nd rate team bandwagon.

It's a warm up game, nothing more. If they get bounced by the Aussies I will agree but as our pre-season showed, warm ups and friendlies tell you very little.

Fair enough, but I've been moaning about McBanana since he was appointed, so this is not a new whinge.

Re: England beaten by Italy : Mon Oct 21, 2013 3:01 pm  

bewareshadows wrote:

Lets see what the weekend turns up before we all go jump on the England are a 2nd rate team bandwagon.

It's a warm up game, nothing more. If they get bounced by the Aussies I will agree but as our pre-season showed, warm ups and friendlies tell you very little.

It was a warm up game in poor conditions but this result one week before we play Australia is extremely alarming. There is simply no excuse for that result, we should be winning comfortably.

It's done nothing for our confidence and unless we improve dramatically we won't compete with Australia never mind beat them.

Re: England beaten by Italy : Mon Oct 21, 2013 3:18 pm  

Offside Monkey wrote:

McNamara had two things going for him.
He's British and, at the time, there were fewer top lever British coaches.
When his team had lost, he'd give a very thoughtful and considered interview.
At the time, that was enough to get the job.

These days, with Wane, Anderson, McDermott and even the likes of Daryl Powell about, I don't think anyone would choose to have McNamara and at the time Nobby and Kear had already had a go, so it was only Paul Cullen as competition.
Let's also not forget that, in terms of employment, the international job might not be that attractive. I bet its not worth mega bucks.

It is hard to see how it is a full time job after the World Cup really. I could just about see the benefits of having someone focused on it full time in the last couple of years (regardless of whether McNamara is the right man or not), but in reality any of the coaches you name could do it part time at the end of a normal season. All their scouting and analysis of players would be done during their day job (at the clubs' expense).

Re: England beaten by Italy : Mon Oct 21, 2013 3:19 pm  

Blobbynator wrote:

It was a warm up game in poor conditions but this result one week before we play Australia is extremely alarming. There is simply no excuse for that result, we should be winning comfortably.

It's done nothing for our confidence and unless we improve dramatically we won't compete with Australia never mind beat them.

Indeed - I cant understand how anyone is not majorly concerned by this result and performance. It is about the worst possible preparation for facing the Aussies next week.

Re: England beaten by Italy : Mon Oct 21, 2013 9:21 pm  

saint at wire wrote:

The England squad looks OK with quite a few good and classy players.

However, the problem is McBanana; he is as clueless as he was at Hudds and got the England job a week before they were going to sack him.
Can't figure out why it was taken from Smith; its not exactly a full time job is it?

It was bradford he was at ,but your spot on mcbanana is clueless,the worst coach in sport. On the bookies handicap italy had 56 pts start and there wasn't a price for them to win.

Re: England beaten by Italy : Mon Oct 21, 2013 10:03 pm  

Offside Monkey wrote:

Ablett in the centre!? Jeez Louise.
Did he spend the whole game there?

Watkins came off the bench, so I think Ablett moved to the second row.

Interestingly enough, Hardaker seemed to be played at centre for the Knights to look at him for the game on the weekend. He looked a little shaky defensively, but really tore them apart with the ball. Makinson - who was playing FB - went off after about 20mins (?) so Hardaker went to FB and had a fantastic game. Never seen him play so well and he was the standout player of both matches.

Re: England beaten by Italy : Tue Oct 22, 2013 6:51 am  

I think McNamara is a poor coach but I like some of the ideas he out forward and put in place.

The England knights is a very good idea if used properly for the youth players that are on the brink of the England team.

The England squad meet up more than they did with other coaches which is needed. We can't expect players just to slot into a team that only meet two weeks before the comp.

The exiles was another good idea but it seems to have run it's course now. The idea of having a few competitive games is good but now to many players are dropping out, it changed to a one game series and the fans look bored of it already. The idea was good tho.

Maybe the is a job for him in the England set up but not coaching the team.