Most Parramatta Eels fans would not know the name Brian Mcdermott, most would definetely not know his credentials within Rugby League. Perhaps its time we unmasked the name that keeps popping into some conversations as a Head Coach.
Here is a snippett from one of Leagues real thinkers Gus Gould talking abput Brian McDermott.
Gould may have discovered the next head coach in waiting.
Brian McDermott - who spent time in the Super League with Leeds and now works at the Newcastle Knights as an assistant - recently met with Gould and left quite the mark on the long-time rugby league co>
Brian McDermott during his time with Leeds Rhinos.
"He was brilliant - he reached out to me wanting to talk footy," Gould said on Wide World of Sports' Six Tackles With Gus podcast.
"He is very impressive and the reason I took the time to do it was because Andrew Johns told me he's made a big difference at Newcastle. He came there last year when they had that big run into the finals. They speak very highly of him at Newcastle.
"Not that I'm telling Souths how to suck eggs - but on the conversation I had with him, I was very impressed with him. His thoughts on football, he has done a lot, he has achieved a lot … he's had success coaching in the Super League.
There's a bloke who could be available to any of the clubs that might be looking for a new coach. I probably shouldn't have spoken about it, but I'm glad I did.
"He looked like a bloke who would certainly drive culture and his ideas on rugby league I really enjoyed."
McDermott played 250 professional games for the Bradford Bulls and represented Great Britain on four occasions, before moving into the coaching ranks with Leeds, where he spent eight seasons and won four Super League titles in a dominant era for the club.
club.
Brian McDermott celebrates Leeds' World Club Challenge victory over Manly in 2012. Getty
As well as his deep resume in rugby league, McDermott also served in the British Army and fought as a professional boxer, receiving high praise from Andrew Johns as well.
"He was so impressive at Newcastle," the Knights legend said on Wide World Of Sports' Freddy and The Eighth.
"I was there the first day, he was doing the defence and he addressed the players … he put a couple of them on show. The way he delivered it and his presence - he's as tough as they come. I could see him coaching in the NRL."
Gould claimed that the Knights are hopeful of keeping McDermott on their coaching staff next year, but could risk losing him for a higher-ranking role at another club.
As we look forward to a new era at the Eels, The more and more I feel we need a strong leader that has won at a high level, even if it was in England. I'm further convinced that right now a Rookie coach experiment is perhaps not a path I'd like to see our club go down. The length of time for a Rookie coach to learn and get it right, may take too long for my liking to see a grandfinal. Every Rookie coach goes through this, and a couple of years down the track whilst makng their mistakes and learning from them, they invariably state. Ive learnt a lot over the last few years as a head coach but I would do things differently now. For me that rules out Ryles and Hannay.
Maguire has the experience, but with him, I feel we get a gruff coach that is similar to BA but without the man management skills required for a 3 year term. Maquire appears to get his players offside whilst getting his playing message accross.
For me I would love to see the Eels interview Mcdermott for the job, he has the runs on the board, has done it previously in England, has the admiration of Gus Gould and Andrew Johns.
Could he be our man.
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Personal information
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| Full name | Brian Gerrad McDermott[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 16 March 1970 Wakefield, West Riding of Yorkshire |
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Playing information
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| Position | Prop | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Coaching information
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As of 26 September 2022
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Brian G. McDermott (born 16 March 1970) is an English professional rugby league coach, currently assistant coach at Newcastle Knights in the NRL. A former professional rugby league player, he won three Super League Grand Finals as a Bradford Bulls player and has won four Grand Finals as head coach of Leeds Rhinos.[2][5]
He was previously the head coach of Leeds in the Super League and of the USA national team.[6] Nicknamed 'Big Mac', McDermott was a Great Britaininternational forward who played his entire career at club level for Bradford, winning Super League Grand Finals and Challenge Cups with them.
He began his coaching career in 2003 as an assistant at Huddersfield, taking his first senior coaching role with Harlequins RL in 2006, before joining Leeds as head coach in 2010. McDermott coached Leeds to several major trophies including the 2011, 2012, 2015 and 2017 Super League titles, the 2012 World Club Challenge, and the 2014 and 2015 Challenge Cups.
Background
McDermott was born in Wakefield, West Riding of Yorkshire, England. He played amateur rugby league as a junior for Eastmoor RLFC and was a Royal Marine for five years before becoming a professional player.[citation needed]
Playing career
1990s
McDermott joined Bradford Northern (later Bradford Bulls) in 1994, where he stayed for 10 years. He played for Bradford at prop forward in their 1996 Challenge Cup final loss to St. Helens.[7] He played for Bradford Bulls from the interchange bench in the 1999 Super League Grand Final which was lost to St Helens.
McDermott won a cap for England in 2001 against Wales,[3] and won caps for Great Britain in 1996 against Fiji, and 3 in 1997 against Australia (Super League).[4]
2000s
McDermott played for the Bradford Bulls at prop in their 2001 Super League Grand Final victory against the Wigan Warriors. As Super League VI champions, the Bradford Bulls played against 2001 NRL Premiers, the Newcastle Knights in the 2002 World Club Challenge. McDermott played as a prop forward in Bradford's victory. He also played for Bradford from the interchange bench in their 2002 Super League Grand Final loss against St Helens. After ending his playing career in 2003, McDermott moved into coaching.[citation needed]
Coaching career
Harlequins RL
McDermott had spells on the coaching staff at Super League clubs Huddersfield and Leeds before accepting his first top-flight head coaching role at Harlequins in July 2006, replacing Tony Rea. McDermott won his first match as a head coach against Castleford. He went on to claim five wins and four losses in the remainder of 2006.
McDermott remained at Harlequins for a further four seasons but the team decreased in performance. The team which had been in the top 5 in the year before McDermott's arrival finished 7th, then 9th then 9th again. Harlequins RL went on three long streaks of very poor form in the last season and a half of McDermott's tenure.
The 2009 saw a second half of the season collapse with the team winning only 1 of its last 12 games and finishing 11th.
The 2010 season saw an early win against Catalans Dragons, but again only one win in the first 11 games.
McDermott in charge of Harlequins Rugby League in 2010
There were quite a few big losses by scores such as 62–4, 58-0 and 52–12. After a midseason streak of four wins in five games, the team again returned to losing form, losing 7 out of the last 9. McDermott had not secured the team's better players to new contracts, such as Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Will Sharp, Danny Orr, Oliver Wilkes and Luke Williamson and the team had finished 11th and 13th in successive seasons.[citation needed]
Leeds Rhinos
McDermott left Harlequins and returned to Leeds as Assistant Manager at the end of the 2010 season. On 25 October 2010, following the resignation of incumbent coach Brian McClennan, it was announced that McDermott would take over as head coach at Headingley on a three-year contract.
McDermott coached Leeds to the 2011 Challenge Cup Final defeat by Wigan at Wembley Stadium.[8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22]
However, McDermott guided Leeds to 2011 Super League Grand Final victory over St. Helens at Old Trafford,[23][24] after finishing in 5th place in the league. McDermott replicated the same feat in 2012, where Leeds won the World Club Challenge against Manly.
He coached Leeds to their 2012 Challenge Cup Final defeat by Warrington at Wembley Stadium.[25][26][27][28]
Two months later, the two sides met again in the 2012 Super League Grand Final which Leeds won for the sixth time in nine years with the victory over Warrington at Old Trafford[29][26] and making it two out of two for McDermott in his first two years as head coach.
By coincidence, on 12 April 2013 Leeds United announced their new manager as Brian McDermott, meaning that both the rugby league and football teams in the city of Leeds had managers with the same name. Both sides also had players by the name of Ryan Hall at the same time, one a 25-year-old winger for the rugby league side, the other a 25-year-old winger for Leeds United.
In 2014 McDermott coached Leeds in the 2014 Challenge Cup Final victory over Castleford at Wembley Stadium,[30] their first Challenge Cup win since 1999. They were knocked out of the playoffs against Catalans Dragons after finishing 6th in the league, their worst position since 1996.
In 2015 McDermott coached Leeds to a historic treble, winning the Challenge Cup 50–0,[31][32][33] scoring a last second try against Huddersfield to win the League Leaders' Shield, and beating Wigan in a major final for the first time by 22–20 in the 2015 Super League Grand Final victory at Old Trafford.[34]
McDermott was a nominee for the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Coach Award at the end of the season. Leeds endured a difficult season in 2016 as they were flooded out of their training ground for the first half of the season and suffered a run of injuries that left them having to fight against relegation in the Qualifiers. At the start of 2017, with only the addition of Matt Parcell to the Leeds squad from the previous year, they finished runners up to Castleford in the table. They then beat Castleford in the 2017 Grand Final at Old Trafford, with long-serving players Rob Burrow and Danny McGuire leaving the club as champions.[35][36][37]
After a run of seven losses in a row, the club sacked McDermott as head coach in July 2018.
United States
In 2015, McDermott was named head coach of the United States national team, combining the job with his role at Leeds.[38] His first outing as coach of the USA Hawks was in the 2017 Rugby League World Cup qualifiers, in which he guided the United States to victories over Jamaica and Canada, and subsequently qualified for the 2017 World Cup. After qualifying for the tournament he announced he was to stay on as the US coach until at least the end of the 2017 World Cup.[39]
Toronto Wolfpack
McDermott took over at the Toronto Wolfpack ahead of the 2019 RFL Championship season.
McDermott in charge of Toronto in 2019
Oldham RLFC
On 5 July 2021 it was reported that he had joined Oldham as a coaching consultant to Brendan Sheridan, following the departure of former head coach Matt Diskin in June.[40]
Featherstone Rovers
It was reported on 22 October 2021 that he had taken over as head-coach from James Webster[41]
Newcastle Knights
McDermott became assistant coach at the Newcastle Knights in November 2022, ahead of the 2023 NRL season in Australia.[42]
Replies
Could he be our man? Absolutely he is The One!
stands so far out in a bag of inexperienced L platers it's not funny!
Agree 100%. He has experience and has been successful with good playing squads. Will be much better than Ryles who strikes me as a boofhead
I do not know why, i have this feeling with the way the media are pretty much spit balling who it could be and saying there is a list when apparently there is not but the one who is not officially on the list but is in a chance is McDermott and now he's being talked about a lot recently, i have this feeling he is who we will get.
Now he came to Australia to coach in the NRL, that we all know. He did the right thing being an assistant and learning the league here. Defence is what we should build our teams off and seems his structures suit the NRL.
Parramatta are a club that do a lot behind the scenes without anyone knowing, nobody guessed they talked to coaches behind BA's back and they did. Nobody guessed they were close to sacking BA, but they were. Ryles and Hannay being thrown up, i think their man is one nobody will predict and that is McDermott.
Does he have concerns? Of course, not such thing as a perfect hire. He got sacked from Leeds a year after winning a title after a stretch of losses. Why sack him that quick after a title? Did he lose the dressing room? Also, his stint at Toronto was great in year 1, but year 2 was abysmal. Now there are factors such as COVID hit, travelling to UK, the squad not being up to scratch.
But there are a string of positives. He has taken time to sit back and study the game instead of jumping into a role from another head coach role. His defence works and we need help with defence with better players than Newcastle. He has respect and would be able to get some decent assistants along with him. He speaks well to the media and displays a personality, there was an interview where the mic didn't work so they gave him a mic with a handle and started interviewing the interviewer, showed he can joke around and is not just a pain in the arse all the time. Also, a lot of experience in both playing and coaching, he can walk into this squad and know what he is doing and have that respect with the Super League and Challenge Cups he's won. He is a gruff coach but has more personality to get away with it. But defence, that is the key for us moving forward. I do not care if we play boring footy due to being a defensive juggernaut, if we win games from it that is all i care about, our identity shift needs to be defence and McDermott has shown he can take an average roster into a top 4 defensive outfit.
Is McDermott my no.1? No, Willie Peters is my no.1 pipe dream hire, but McDermott has become my no.2. I was never sold when others mentioned him, but more i have looked at it, the more i like him.
It's a shame, and maybe a bit telling actually, that we didn't develop a number of assistant coaches ready to step in to a Head Coach role. We need to get to a stage where we have a few coaches in waiting ready to step up when required - the best clubs do this well. It seems our best coaches are in the lower grades and do this as an aside to their day job. Maybe an experienced coach such as McDermott is exactly what we need, and someone of his experience could also have the ability to develop young assistants into future NRL coaches. This will attract more talent into the club, especially with the Centre of Excellence coming along too. A win/win.
There is NO WAY IN HELL BA wanted to be training a coach in waiting LOL !!! He saw himself as the life coach of Parra and wouldn't have wanted anyone showing him up or questioning him .....,
I think deep down he's prob pretty insecure no matter how much bluff and bluster he has presented at times
but I agree it is a shame
Leaders need to be self assured to also bring someone else along for the betterment of an organisation imo
Believe this to be an exact comment Carlo .
Coach chooses his assts I believe.
funny over the years I've seen very little convo between coach and assts in our box but have noticed there to be convo between BA and TB ...maybe TB was arguing we need Hands :)
I don't think it was he didn't want someone to upstage him as if you get an assistant to help you win you will keep your job anyway. Never do you have an assistant named as the main reason for a premiership win.
But him wanting assistants that go by his philosophy and who he can sort of lead. I do not think he wanted anyone to outside what he believed in. But also, naturally a coach despite the team or HC gets noticed, we make numerous finals appearances and a GF and not 1 assistant is considered for HC? Something is wrong.
I think that was BA's downfall, ie my way or the highway. That's not a leader's mentality. He wasn't prepared to hear another point of view or to try new things. As with anything in life, if you are not innovating you are going backwards.
Clearly what Newcastle are/were planning to do there Longfin!
Hes a bit like mal Reilly he won't take shit from the players
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