Jockybadger wrote:Good retort Joe,
Are you saying if Edinburgh signed Russell / Price there would be no discernible improvement as the malaise @ the club is to deep/embedded?
The confidence generated by a gallus Russell/Price @ Glasgow is there for all to see (indeed the psychological effect on opponents is probably equally as important) . I think the opposite is the case @ Edinburgh.
The 1st half Weir knock-on on Saturday was a great example of his limitations.
Edinburgh could sign Carter and Gareth Edwards in their prime and it would make little real difference, it might paper over a few cracks for while, that would be it.
2 seasons ago SHC was everything Price is now, plus he kicked goal for fun. Now form is temporary, but he has had a long run of shall we say far less than top form. Now is he just lost it, did it go to his head, was it a poor environment and culture, or was it feeling he had to force it when he got the ball, and trying to force it when the ball is slow and rare? Probably a mix of at least a couple, but the last one is certainly in the mix and there is nothing SHC can do about it. Weir not the same level, but again a player having to force it with rare and slow ball too often, coupled with a service that is sometimes less than perfect from a scrum half similarly under pressure.
For the Weegies if you have watched Russell behind a retreating and beaten pack (for them or Scotland), he looks a lot less gallus. Their game on Friday is still on iplayer I think -watch it (again) and take of note the defensive line speed, the support of the ball carrier and clear - old and fat as I am I would be pretty gallus behind that lot playing like that.
The malaise at Edinburgh is deep seated. It isn't irredeemable but the longer it goes on the harder it gets to sort. No excuses for favourites, no entitled to a chance because of injury. Earn their place or out the door. Cockerill is in a very strong position to change this, and while he can't do it overnight he must deliver on what he says or players will "have heard it all before" and we are no further forward.
Blaming the half back's failings is treating the symptoms not the disease