gowrie wrote:Reading a bit about what Leicester/AP fans are saying about him, I'm not too keen on the idea. His big drawbacks seem to be:
- Unable to keep up with modern tactics and changes
- Poor rotation and not paying enough attention to player welfare
Maybe up here where he'd be somewhat out of the spotlight and facing a whole new set of limitations on budget and squad he'd change his ways, but it seems like a big risk to me.
I can see why some would like it, he's got a winner's hunger and consistently seems to be able to get as much out of his players as you can get, which are huuuuuuuuuuuge problems for us.
But overall it just sounds to me like it'd be a repeat of the Solomons era, with maybe marginally improved results.
I disagree with the criticisms from fans:
1 - Cockerill plays a pack based territory game; Sarries play that way and won the competition, Exeter play the same way and came second, Leicester came top 4, Saints and Sale play the same way and made the top 6. Wasps were more expansive for sure but any team can play that way when you have the back line they do. A tight set piece oriented game is how you win in England. It's exactly what Eddie Jones does with England and they think he's the messiah!
2 - Injuries often come down to bad luck plus the SRU will rest Scotland players when they want.
I think the main problem with Sollyball was the coaching and attitudes in the squad - Solly wasn't a guy you'd run through a wall for but Cockerill probably is - or he'd chase you through it. Sure, he'll TonySpreadbury players off but if someone isn't willing to give it 100% we don't want them at Edinburgh. Solly's legacy is also recruitment based around Sollyball - it doesn't make sense to suddenly completely change the style as we have square pegs in round holes doing that.