My level of confidence in those matters is driven principally by the words of highly qualified informants who have comprehensive SAR flying experience and experience of flying the AW189 prototypes.
Do you not think that these guys might have an interest in speaking positively about their new baby? Of course they're going to big it up.
None of us have first hand experience of its performance (and more to the point, its quirks) so declaring it, 'the only show in town' is crazy. What's it like when winching? How does the downwash affect what's on the cable? Does the hi-line have a habit of being pushed towards the tail rotor? Can the cable get inadvertently wrapped round the FLIR/nightsun/undercarriage/aeriels etc? What about at night? Is the illumination sufficient 200' below the aircraft? How much height does it lose on a downwind flyaway? And we haven't even started to talk about its overwater performance.
You don't know the answer to any of the above questions so don't declare it the only show in town. It has to prove itself in many, many ways. Trouble is, in theory it's only got six months to do it.
By the way, love the belly fuel tank for SAR variants, thus reducing the ground clearance even further. Stroke of comic genius that one. It justifies virtually every emoticon in the panel!
: )