Lets be honest nobody really knows how good or bad an assistant coach is. All we judge them on is false criteria. Remember when Salford had a good season when Lowes was there, and we were all saying Paul Darbyshire must be crap as an assistant coach because he'd not won any major trophies as a player, and we needed someone with experience in winning things?



It looks like everybody just wrote Lowes off because he comes over badly in the media and I agree he didn't help himself, looking scruffy and then trying to give smartbooty answers. He was a clever player though so I'm sure he has a good RL brain and must have something to contribute.



Remember how bitter the Leeds fans were about Poching, they told us that he'd made their junior team rubbish or something like that. Nobody really knows anything about how good an assistant is unless they are actually training with them. I remember there was all that talk at Leeds United about how Dennis Wise was being carried by Gus Poyet who was his genius assistant, because Leeds went downhill as soon as he left, but then Poyet went to Tottenham and they ended up bottom of the league, was Poyet a good or bad assistant? Who knows. Having said that he is doing well as a manager with Brighton.

That's how I see it.



He made me sad when he was head coach, he was so bad. As assistant we won two Challenge Cups at a canter, which he must have contributed too, also Smith doesn't suffer fools and he was very keen to have him around so all this seems a bit unfair to me, even if he is a complete weapon.

From what I remember, Sal, Lowes was never in charge of Salford. Wasn't he just Harrison's assistant, and then spat his dummy out when he got overlooked for the job, when Harrison got the push.



Maybe, nobody trusts him to be a head coach. Maybe he's found his level as an assistant. I can't see a SL club giving him a head coach job. Does he have to drop a division to serve his apprentiship (sp)?

The death knell of Lowes for me was when we'd just conceded a glut of soft tries on Sky, and post-match he told Bill Arthur "I thought we defended quite well today". The guys in the Sky studio did well to keep their eye brows visible.

He will never get a head coach's job again, not in SL anyway. His spell at Warrington put pay to that. At least David Plange saw the writing was on the wall after he got sacked from us and went into his own business and ended up doing well if I remember rightly. He knew that you never get another go and he would have had to drop back down to NL1 and stay there. Look at how Steve McCormack did well at Widnes and Whitehaven but he never got considered for SL again after that half season or so at Salford. The other Tony Smith (the Cas, Wigan and Hull halfback guy) got one shot at Wakey and then disappeared, as will Agar after he has been sacked by Hull. Usually to get a second chance in SL a coach has to have won something.

I think its because he lost us most games when he was in charge

Starting the season in '09 with so many players not having been given any game time was a massive mistake. The whole side looked undercooked and clueless. Given that we finished '08 with 3 straight losses (I think), a bad start to the next season would inevitably lead to him being removed.

Bad appointment to start with imo.

Just out of interest where do you think McRea will end up?

Greggs..or Sayers.

McDonald's, saying "do you want fries with that" whilst wiping relish off from where his mussie used to be

McRae probably won't get a head coach's job again. He is getting on a bit and seems to have health problems.



He might stay around in the game though, he's good at media work and I would actually quite like McRae involved as an administrator of the game, he's a good bloke, down to earth, means well for the game.



It has become fashionable to make fun of McRae now he's at Salford, but he was the coach who finally broke Wigan's long reign of terror by getting Saints to that first double in 1996 (or maybe that's why we don't like him, because he started off Saints era of success...). He also did a good job at Hull when you think of where they were the year before he took over, and I remember him standing up and speaking out about the thug element at Hull in the early days which Shane Richardson seemed to largely root out.

I just don't get the "love-in" for McRae

He was a lucky man at the right time to get the Stains job. The players were allready in situ, and Stains had hounded out McLennan, when they were really progressing.

Wigan's empire was showing the first signs of cracking

The Bradford juggernaut was getting into 4th gear

Leeds weren't THAT good at the time

....and we finished 5th that 1st year of Super League

Within 2 years, Stains had imploded to a certain degree, until Hanley then Millward came in.

After that, he's treaded water with GatesHull, then he's been swimming for his life ever since.



To be fair, everybody connected with Rugby League, means well for the game, doesn't mean he needs to be employed.



Maybe I've got primrose and blue tinted specs on, but I've had a dislike for him since Stains beat us in the cup, away, in '98, by something like 20 points (this was after we'd gone there in 2 previous years and had 80, 56 and 60odd put past us), and the fat one's interview to the camera was "well, if that's RL, I want out, Warrington were lying on all game, and it's a disgrace". WHAT THE F DID HE WANT US TO DO, IN A KNOCKOUT GAME, AT A GROUND WHERE WE'D HAD 3 KICKINGS WITHIN 2 YEARS....ROLL OVER, AND LET THEM RUN UP ANOTHER CRICKET SCORE. RL got precious little mainstream coverage then, and having the Fat One belittle the game on national TV, didn't do us many favours. Maybe Lowes should go to Salford (where he should have got the job in the first place - and it would have saved him from coming here)