St Helens v Leeds Rhinos: Happy Brian McDermott plans on sticking around for the long haul

McDermott takes his side to St Helens tonight for the BetFred Super League opener at St Helens as he begins his seventh season in charge at Headingley.

In terms of longevity, the former Great Britain prop overtakes the legendary Syd Hynes (1975-81) who served the blue and amber cause as coach for six years.

Only the pioneering Roy Francis (1963-69 and 1974-75) has managed Leeds for longer, racking up six-and-a-half seasons during his two spells which included the famous 1968 Watersplash Challenge Cup final win at Wembley.

However, by the end of this term, McDermott will have overhauled him, too.

Since joining from Harlequins ahead of the 2011 season, he has won three Grand Finals, two Challenge Cups and a World Club Challenge to see him become Leeds’s most decorated coach yet.

Admittedly, the 46-year-old has just endured the most difficult campaign of his coaching career to date after Rhinos, having just won an historic treble, spent most of 2016 at the bottom of Super League.

For the first time, they failed to reach the play-offs and McDermott, understandably, came in for plenty of criticism.

Bouncing back from that is sure to be a challenge in the campaign ahead but the Yorkshireman insists he – and his squad -–are as invigorated as ever.

Indeed, although it is sometimes argued coaches should move on every four or five years to prevent staleness, the former Bradford Bulls star hopes to push on into double figures at Headingley.

Asked if he ever contemplated a new direction, McDermott told The Yorkshire Post: “It’s an interesting question.

“You can ask that of somebody who’s in the building trade or works in another industry and people will think ‘I don’t like doing this any more’ or ‘I’m going to have a change of company’.

“It’s a hard one to answer as a coach. What I can easily say is Leeds is a great club with great people. It has got fantastic people to work with, real honest people who will tell you if it’s not right.

“That’s not nice at the time, but you know where you are.

“The players are great, too, and the ones we’ve got at the moment are up for the challenge more than any squad I’ve ever seen.

“The staff are all very experienced and while it is a really enjoyable place to come to work, my task as head coach is to keep challenging everybody, making sure nobody is sat there on the gravy train just enjoying the ride.

“It makes me unpopular at times but I enjoy doing that, improving as a coach and making my staff improve as coaches.

“If you are asking me if I was here in five years’ time coaching at Leeds would I be happy then, yes. I have no desire to leave.”

But ahead of tonight’s game, when scrum-half Rob Burrow makes his 500th career appearance, McDermott maintained he would never take anything for granted.

“I don’t think you ever get comfortable at Leeds,” said the coach, who signed a rolling contract with no end date in February 2013.

“I never would and I won’t allow anybody else to either.

“When we won everything in 2015, pre-season – this is before the floods hit our training ground when I was blissfully unaware of what was going to happen – I thought that was a very challenging pre-season.

“At no point did I think in 2016 I’d be afforded some margin for error. I knew as soon as we lost a game or two questions would be asked. But that’s the rollercoaster we ride. I love my job.”

Leeds now feel better prepared to return to their former glories and McDermott sees the trip to Saints is an ideal start.

“We get to test ourselves against an extremely good team, one that will be there at the end of the year in the mix,” he said.

The hosts suffered a setback last month when England scrum-half Matty Smith – their big signing from Wigan – broke a leg.

McDermott added: “It will certainly disrupt them, but Saints have a successful history of winning Super League titles without half-backs.”