Mercer axed only three months into contract as Carnegie look to halt run of dismal displays

Yorkshire Carnegie’s grand plan to get back to the Premiership has suffered a major setback with the dismissal of head coach Gary Mercer.
BAD START: Friday night's struggles against Plymouth were further proof of Yorkshire Carnegie's struggles this season under Gary Mercer. Picture: Bruce Rollinson.BAD START: Friday night's struggles against Plymouth were further proof of Yorkshire Carnegie's struggles this season under Gary Mercer. Picture: Bruce Rollinson.
BAD START: Friday night's struggles against Plymouth were further proof of Yorkshire Carnegie's struggles this season under Gary Mercer. Picture: Bruce Rollinson.

The 48-year-old former New Zealand rugby league international and Scotland age group coach is understood to have been relieved of his duties after Carnegie’s wretched start to the season, though club officials have yet to make an official announcement.

Mercer did not take training yesterday and forwards coach Tommy McGee is expected to be in charge for the trip to Aberavon in the British & Irish Cup on Friday.

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Mercer was less than three months into a two-year contract having only taken over team affairs on September 1, six days before the start of the Championship campaign.

It took Carnegie nine weeks to name him as head coach and successor to James Lowes, who quit in June to take over Bradford Bulls. During that time, Leeds became Yorkshire Carnegie with Mercer seen as the ideal candidate to help the club realise their dream of creating a county-wide set-up that could support a sustainable Premiership club.

But with just two wins out of eight Championship games and none at home, and with the club sitting third-bottom, Mercer has been axed.

The tipping point was last Friday’s dire 19-19 draw with bottom-club Plymouth Albion, who had not won for 17 games and had only 12 men standing when Carnegie’s Christian Georgiou raced over to score the game-tying try deep into stoppage time.

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A drastic dip in attendances – more than half the number that saw Carnegie nilled by local rivals Rotherham Titans two weeks earlier returned for the draw with Plymouth – is also thought to have been taken into consideration, particularly with the current board trying to attract significant new investment.

Leading voices in the dressing room had spoken out at Mercer’s stewardship, with captain Ryan Burrows telling The Yorkshire Post that the players sat down with the coaching staff and told them that they wanted to play attacking rugby, rather than focus on defence which was the rookie head coach’s instruction.

Leeds Rhinos’ head coach Brian McDermott, meanwhile, has insisted he will not be increasing his advisory and occasional coaching role with the Super League club’s sister operation.

“I certainly will be helping out, offering advice and lending a bit of support,” confirmed McDermott.

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“But what I want to make really clear is that has always been the case ever since I’ve been head coach of Rhinos.

“When I was assistant coach here I took a lot of defensive sessions under Phil Davies when he was the union club’s coach.

“I have probably stood in front of the current Carnegie squad on six or seven different occasions.

“Quite often I have a fair amount of dialogue with the players and I have a hell of a lot of dialogue with the coaches.

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“My involvement has always been high and there’s always been a lot of synergy between the two clubs. It’s nothing out of the ordinary, it has always gone on.”

Senior Carnegie officials Sir Ian McGeechan and Gary Hetherington refused to confirm Mercer’s departure last night.