Friday Knight Lights wrote:Barclay's time at Edinburgh is a strange one though. Missed the first year with the nasty injury but when he returned was starting 6 and Ritchie/Bradbury/Crosbie never got a look in other then rest periods. One of the more frustrating games of Cockers' time here was that extremely winnable Munster Champions Cup QF where Barclay and the team were obvious goosed by 70 but he didn't put Ritchie on. Ritchie was clearly the better option that whole season.
He shouldn't have been in the starting 15 IMO. He didn't live up to his reputation after injury, but Cockers was gave him every chance. Was a poor signing in hindsight for Edinburgh
Also not sure when noted snake and awful man manager Scott Johnson froze him out is an indictment on Barclay. Barclay then was vice captain for Scotland's renaissance...
Not bigging up SJ, but no smoke without fire, part of our unhappy camp at world cup too, every one assumes it was just Russel being disruptive.
Not that his piece isn't a hit job, I think it's quite disappointing he wrote it. But not much actually seemed unfair and not much wasn't said on here as a fan looking in. It was the tone as much as the content, came across very personal and a bit nasty. Timing a bit to eager too.
I do wish Cockers well though and agree he deserved to be thanked and praised for his job. I really enjoy reading and listening to sports coaches stuff particularly in the NFL/NBA/football and even Alex Sanderson's great interview on Alex Shaw's rugby podcast. It's become clear the hard man disciplinarian is being phased out for a more holistic inclusion and empowerment approach with effort as a bottom up rather than top down approach. Also rugby tactically is moving on from 10 man rugby and we went closer to 10 man rugby. Cockers needs to adapt or I fear he'll be left behind. I always liked him as a person and figurehead, I hope he does change and improve.
[color=#8000BF]Agree re: 10 man rugby game, there was times I thought he loosened the reigns a bit, but when it went wrong he reverted back. Not convinced the Scottish fish bowl of player, or our culture, is suited to the collegiate style of coaching. I hope Mike asserts himself and doesn't try to be the players mate, as I think that would be a disaster. I'm not against Cockers moving on, and have my fingers crossed that we can build on what he achieved, but develop a more rounded entertaining game. I just think the timing was poor, and I would have liked him to have left with a bit more appreciation of his achievements. not sure where we would be today if he hadn't fancied the challenge, Edinburgh was far from an attractive option back then. /color]