Bullseye wrote:
I'm not sure you can lump Kear and McDermott together as they are generations apart. Both can be a bit prickly if asked what they consider to be a daft question but McDermott retired in 2002 and Kear some time in the early 80s if memory serves.
Kear gets some stick for his sides being overly forward orientated but I often think you can only work with the tools you have. From what I've seen he has a very professional approach which is what we needed with a young side and with a club with an owner as flaky as Chalmers. Experience counts for a lot when dealing with people and Kear has plenty which is a real asset. He'll have learnt a heck of a lot over the years. I guess the problem emerges if you become out of touch with modern methods or become unable to communicate with younger players. I've no reason to think either McDermott or Kear are in that situation.
I expect Kear and Wood will have had discussions about what happens in 2023+. Kear only has 2022 on his contract with us. If Kear were to retire I'd hope we're very careful about who we appoint and don't just go for an ex-player from the golden era just because we remember him being good on the field.
Kear is no doubt a very shrewd coach with tons of experience, however I do feel that in many ways the game has left him behind and I do question a lot of his methods and tactics. Whilst he has never been given huge sums of money to spend on a squad, he hasn't been too badly treated in that respect and on many occasions we have badly performed when compared to other sides with even lower spending power.
My honest feeling is that his teams since arriving have been woefully unfit and this results in fewer 80min performances with mistakes creeping in due to tiredness. His unwillingness to play off the cuff rugby has also seen a number of players leave an go on to embarrass us when they return with new clubs.
I accept that it is probably where we are as a club, but even with significant investment I don't believe for one minute that Kear is the man to lead us back to SL.
For me if this was his last year, I wouldn't be overly disappointed, but the next appointment would say a lot about what direction the owners were taking the club.
