The second-year head coach is feeling as much heat as his misfiring players as the Highlanders seek to halt a five-game losing slide against the Force in Dunedin tomorrow night.
Asked if this was the most challenging period he had faced as a coach, Dermody replied: "Yeah, I think it is.
"As a team, we are still really connected, and the boys are still working really hard, which is pleasing.
"What we are missing is probably a bit of confidence from where we started the season.
"That now looks like a lot of effort in the wrong areas on the pitch. So we’re putting a lot of effort in but not getting reward, and when we make mistakes, we drop our heads.
"This week it’s been about a bit of a mental refresh and being able to move on from those mistakes so they don’t bog us down and we can get back on task."
The Highlanders started the season with some promise, winning two of their first three games and showing a bit more pep and spark than last year.
Confidence levels then dipped with heavy losses to the Hurricanes and Rebels before outright diving after a 31-0 shocker against the Reds.
"We just haven’t played well in the last couple of weeks.
"We had patches against the Rebels and then none at all against the Reds. Heaps of opportunity but that looked like us just one-off carrying and trying to run through a big team, and it didn’t work."
Dermody is no island at the Highlanders.
He has a good support structure around him, including director of rugby and former coach Jamie Joseph.
While Joseph is forever revered for leading the Highlanders to their sole championship in 2015, it was only two seasons earlier that he had a star-studded team that plunged to eight consecutive losses.
"Jamie has helped. He’s been good in the last couple of weeks", Dermody said.
"He’s been through a lot. We’ve talked about 2013, and what he learnt, so we were able to put in some strategies straight away that worked for him after that season.
"We’ve been really proactive as a coaching group to try and fix it and get back to where we were at the start of the season."
There is a temptation to highlight the Highlanders’ youth and inexperience across the squad as a reason for the season collapsing.
Dermody acknowledged it was a factor but said everyone was aware there would be a settling-in period for fresh faces.
"It’s really important that those guys get experience. They’re not just training bodies.
"So the positive out of the last two or three weeks is that most of our squad has had experience, and while we haven’t been winning and playing well, game experience is really important."
The Highlanders have focused on fundamentals, including the kicking game and set piece, ahead of the Force clash.
It is a dance of the desperates — the Force were having a terrible season before thumping the Crusaders last week — and Dermody expects a physical encounter.
"We’re fully aware of what the Force are going to bring. They had an outstanding win last week.
"It’s Anzac weekend, and I know for a fact the Australian teams really get up for it.
"We will, too."
