I WAS glad to see Brian McDermott appointed as the new England coach by the RFL last week.

The former Leeds coach showed his credentials to win big games while he was with the Rhinos from 2011 to July 2018, leading them to tremendous success, including the treble in 2015.

It was interesting to see that his former captain Kevin Sinfield was a member of the appointments panel, which no doubt allowed the other members to have some significant insights into McDermott’s qualities.

Kris Radlinski was also a member of the appointments panel, having replaced Abi Ekoku following Ekoku’s move to become the chief executive of St Helens, combined with the fact that one of the applicants for the job was St Helens coach Paul Rowley.

So the obvious thing to ponder is whether McDermott is the right man for the job.

While he was a Royal Marine in the first Gulf War McDermott was dropped, with his colleagues, behind enemy lines. He has some fascinating stories about that campaign.

And he was also the Royal Marines heavyweight champion in the boxing ring, which is perhaps why he often uses boxing analogies when talking about his approach to coaching.

So now, as the assistant coach of the Gold Coast Titans to Josh Hannay, it looks as though McDermott is once more behind the enemy lines, although in this case the enemy isn’t carrying guns, just rugby balls. But he will certainly have a close-up view of the players who will be opposing us in the World Cup, not just for Australia but also for the South Pacific teams.

There are some pundits who are unhappy with McDermott’s style in dealing with the media. He isn’t always the most cooperative coach and sometimes makes his feelings known when he is asked a dumb question.

Nonetheless, his objective now is to win the World Cup, even if that looks an impossible task.

But if any coach can pull this off, I suspect that he can.

And I think he made a good start in last week’s media conference by speaking positively about Jake Connor and making it absolutely clear that Connor would be a strong candidate for selection in the World Cup squad.

I always found Shaun Wane’s refusal to consider Connor too dogmatic. And McDermott makes it clear that the door will be open for any player to force his way into the squad, including players from the NRL who might qualify on heritage grounds. If they satisfy the international regulations and they are good enough, McDermott made it clear that they would be considered for selection without prejudice.

He also said that George Williams would be his captain, as George was for Shaun Wane.

But at that time I assume he wasn’t aware of the possible extent of George’s neck injury, which could mean that he will have to select a new captain.

Our best wishes go to George and we hope he recovers in time to play an active role in the World Cup.

So who should replace George as captain, if he doesn’t recover in time to participate in the World Cup.

My suggestion is Jake Connor, who McDermott is likely to bring in from the cold.

We all know that if Connor plays, he will constantly talk to the referee.

So let’s make that official. Give him the right to address the referee on the pitch as the team’s captain.

Connor is a great talent, but an eccentric one.

But I think that the responsibility of captaincy would be the making of him.

And on that note, you’ll see that we are inviting our readers to nominate a potential new captain in this week’s Readers’ Poll.

I’ll be very interested to see what the result of this week’s poll throws up.

The 400 club

IT’S always a notable milestone when a player reaches 400 career appearances and we love to celebrate their achievement.

But we have just had a remarkable situation of four separate players all achieving that milestone on the same weekend.

I can’t imagine that has ever happened before.

The four are Josh Charnley, who gave a great interview to Sky Sports on Thursday night after Leigh’s victory over Huddersfield, Paul McShane, Liam Watts and Matty Ashurst.

Congratulations to all of them.

The thought struck me when watching that Charnley interview, and then seeing Matty Ashton interviewed after the Wigan game, that we don’t make enough of our players’ personalities.

To see a football player interviewed after a game is normally to be assailed with clichés and a lack of humour, which contrasts markedly with Rugby League players.

It’s just another example of how our sport doesn’t use its resources wisely.

Super League in 2027

ONE thing that is quite obvious from the current Championship season is that London Broncos have a squad that could have competed quite effectively in Super League.

And they will surely be in Super League in 2027. But which club will make way for them? 

Hopefully none!

The Super League clubs have the power to decide how many clubs will be in Super League on a yearly basis and I would suggest that they should get together as soon as possible and declare that next year they will have 15 clubs.

To demote a club to make way for London Broncos would condemn that club, whichever it is, to Armageddon.

That surely can’t be allowed to happen.

The enigma of Hull and Castleford

HOW on earth can a club like Castleford win so impressively at Wigan one week but then lose so disastrously at home the following week?

The Tigers pile so much misery onto their supporters at home.

But why does it happen?

And how did the Hull players respond so well to losing their coach last week by posting 50 points against the Tigers?

None of it really makes sense.

And that is one reason why the 2026 Super League season is such an interesting one.

Can the Crusaders be saved?

I WOULD hate to see North Wales Crusaders go to the wall.

But apparently their current owners are demanding a sale price of £50,000 if they are going to sell the club, with the purchaser accepting the liability of all the club’s accumulated debts.

I’m afraid that such an attitude will lead to the club’s demise.

No one will take over the club on that basis, when it has no assets to speak of.

I hope that common sense can prevail.