hugh_woatmeigh wrote:Edinburgh need a better 9, 10 and potentially 12 to run the attack & bring the strike runners into the game. But as others have already pointed out the fundamental issue is the lack of an attack coach and/or plan. I know it's apples & oranges but being coached primarily by Toony and then Rennie vs Hodge & Cockerill are going to yield two very different results attack-wise. The right personnel & vision is key.
I'd also probably swap Kinghorn & Graham around next season. Kinghorn is great but his runs from 15 are often ineffective IMO.
I think Graham needs to be managed carefully next season. Second* season blues is a real risk especially as he'll have a few weeks off then enter a RWC camp where he will be exclusively a winger then have to come back with maybe a few weeks off before entering the cycle of Euro games, 1872 games, euro games and 6N. Post WC years need to be managed carefully. On one hand the lack of the big euro cup should be beneficial to the Edinburgh big lads and Graham being properly rested for the league and 6N.
That and now teams will have plenty of information about him to play to his weaknesses which teams have started to do with Kinghorn.
*Technically will be his 3rd year but this season was his 1st as 1st choice.
Yeah. I see what he means about Kinghorn running it back, but I'm sure that wasn't always the case and he may himself have been pretty heavily marked this season the way Graham should expect to be next.
Also don't seem to see much of Kinghorn as a second playmaker recently but he's surely more suited to that, and especially with two runners in the centre and a fairly limited 10.
Do we know who they 9 on their way is yet? Has Hickey got more to offer? He looked kind of promising at first then seemed to fade as VdW took his spot back.
hugh_woatmeigh wrote:Edinburgh need a better 9, 10 and potentially 12 to run the attack & bring the strike runners into the game. But as others have already pointed out the fundamental issue is the lack of an attack coach and/or plan. I know it's apples & oranges but being coached primarily by Toony and then Rennie vs Hodge & Cockerill are going to yield two very different results attack-wise. The right personnel & vision is key.
I'd also probably swap Kinghorn & Graham around next season. Kinghorn is great but his runs from 15 are often ineffective IMO.
I think Graham needs to be managed carefully next season. Second* season blues is a real risk especially as he'll have a few weeks off then enter a RWC camp where he will be exclusively a winger then have to come back with maybe a few weeks off before entering the cycle of Euro games, 1872 games, euro games and 6N. Post WC years need to be managed carefully. On one hand the lack of the big euro cup should be beneficial to the Edinburgh big lads and Graham being properly rested for the league and 6N.
That and now teams will have plenty of information about him to play to his weaknesses which teams have started to do with Kinghorn.
*Technically will be his 3rd year but this season was his 1st as 1st choice.
Valid points and Edinburgh have bizarrely gotten rid of Tom Brown who comfortable covers both positions to a very good standard. Hugely underrated player.
hugh_woatmeigh wrote:Edinburgh need a better 9, 10 and potentially 12 to run the attack & bring the strike runners into the game. But as others have already pointed out the fundamental issue is the lack of an attack coach and/or plan. I know it's apples & oranges but being coached primarily by Toony and then Rennie vs Hodge & Cockerill are going to yield two very different results attack-wise. The right personnel & vision is key.
I'd also probably swap Kinghorn & Graham around next season. Kinghorn is great but his runs from 15 are often ineffective IMO.
I think Graham needs to be managed carefully next season. Second* season blues is a real risk especially as he'll have a few weeks off then enter a RWC camp where he will be exclusively a winger then have to come back with maybe a few weeks off before entering the cycle of Euro games, 1872 games, euro games and 6N. Post WC years need to be managed carefully. On one hand the lack of the big euro cup should be beneficial to the Edinburgh big lads and Graham being properly rested for the league and 6N.
That and now teams will have plenty of information about him to play to his weaknesses which teams have started to do with Kinghorn.
*Technically will be his 3rd year but this season was his 1st as 1st choice.
Valid points and Edinburgh have bizarrely gotten rid of Tom Brown who comfortable covers both positions to a very good standard. Hugely underrated player.
I believe there is a highly rated crop of back 3 players coming through. Blain and McLean IIRC. Haven't seen much of them but Blain is particularly well thought of in some circles.
At 29 it was maybe a case of value and how much they were willing to pay v how much Brown wanted.
Big D wrote:
I think Graham needs to be managed carefully next season. Second* season blues is a real risk especially as he'll have a few weeks off then enter a RWC camp where he will be exclusively a winger then have to come back with maybe a few weeks off before entering the cycle of Euro games, 1872 games, euro games and 6N. Post WC years need to be managed carefully. On one hand the lack of the big euro cup should be beneficial to the Edinburgh big lads and Graham being properly rested for the league and 6N.
That and now teams will have plenty of information about him to play to his weaknesses which teams have started to do with Kinghorn.
*Technically will be his 3rd year but this season was his 1st as 1st choice.
Valid points and Edinburgh have bizarrely gotten rid of Tom Brown who comfortable covers both positions to a very good standard. Hugely underrated player.
I believe there is a highly rated crop of back 3 players coming through. Blain and McLean IIRC. Haven't seen much of them but Blain is particularly well thought of in some circles.
At 29 it was maybe a case of value and how much they were willing to pay v how much Brown wanted.
Blain has been training with the squad and said that his aim is to break through when players are away during the RWC. He looks big, fast and strong for the U20s but then so did Jamie Farndale at that level.
I disagree a bit on Kinghorn. Last season it felt like he was our only attacking weapon and he broke the line fir fun from fullback. Even in the run up to the AIs he was causing the occasional havoc. You don't shift a player with that potential just because they hit a bit of a tougher patch and has been targetted more. Him and Graham should be able to dovetail nicely with Kinghorn at full-back, with a more inventive attack coach.
No comments on Hodge and Macrae extending fir two years? Great on the later but resigned to the former. I guess it's another two years of relying on individual brilliance and having no attacking shape. Guess cockers is happy with it though
Eugh, at some point they will, through the law of averages, have a season where they look good in attack. They will then claim it was a masterstroke keeping Hodge.
Nice interview with Matt Scott here. Interesting to see that he recognises that he was too heavy last year but perplexing that the conditioning coaches didn't spot it earlier.
Good stuff. I can see why he might have wanted to give himself a point of difference but he definitely did look sluggish at times at the end of the season.
Gutted he didn’t manage to have a clean season and make a real push for the World Cup squad, but if he’s fully fit and over his injuries now that’s the main thing.
Ok.