A FRESH START
Gilchrist is happy to see Edinburgh move on without Cockerill as capital club was in need of ‘change’
ALTHOUGH he chooses his words carefully, you get the impression when talking to former Scotland captain Grant Gilchrist that neither he, nor the rest of the Edinburgh squad, shed any tears when Richard Cockerill left the club to be replaced by Mike Blair.
Gilchrist made crystal clear they had not pushed for Cockerill’s removal but had made their views known on his coaching methods, which included his reluctance to give more responsibility to the players on the pitch, when officially asked to do so by senior SRU figures.
‘We were involved in a feedback process at the end of the season,’ said the second row. ‘We didn’t know what was going to be done with that — we weren’t involved in any kind of decision-making with that, but it was clear from the review process that we needed to change a few things.
‘As a player group, we had a good grasp of what we all felt. We speak a lot as players — that’s normal at any club. We’re a tight-knit group
— there were no
There was some feedback the players gave that we all felt was important
factions with certain guys feeling one way and certain guys feeling differently. We were all pretty clear on what feedback we gave and certain things that needed to change and certain things that were fine.
‘In professional sport, that’s what happens if you’ve had a poor season. There was some feedback that we gave as players that we felt was important. The union had their own review and we are where we are now, with a new coach.’
Gilchrist, asked whether player power had played a part in Cockerill leaving, replied: ‘We didn’t want to delve into things that are not our job. It was important as a playing group all the way through that we fed back on things that we felt needed to change and that were within our control, and we did that always in the right way.
‘We spoke directly to Cockers as a head coach and we made sure as a player group that we didn’t want to be involved in anything political around suggesting these things. We all were giving feedback on how things needed to change.
‘The foundations have been set by Cockers in his time at the club and we obviously want to evolve from that. We’ve had success and last year highlighted that we need to evolve, whether that was with Cockers or without Cockers. It’s turned out that it’s without, and we’re in a great position to evolve.’
The man who has spent ten years at Edinburgh didn’t agree with his former club team-mate John Barclay that Cockerill had become a ‘malign presence’ at times but did concede his attitude occasionally had left the players frustrated.
‘My experience was different to that (of John’s),’ he said. ‘There were certain things that Cockers wouldn’t budge on, but if that was the case, we would keep having open dialogue with him.
‘Certain things he was open to. Maybe a slight negative was that wasn’t across the board. We would push for more and more responsibility as players, which wasn’t always given. It was his style and it had merits, it had success. But it had to evolve, and when it didn’t, there had to be change.’
The 31-year-old, who has been capped 45 times for his country, went on to suggest Cockerill’s game plans were too rigid. Asked if the players sought responsibility to change the game plan themselves out on the pitch when things were not going well, he replied: ‘Yeah. A lot of it was just wanting to be able to... It’s hard. As such a strong leader, he led on every area.
‘In my area of the game, the line-out, I would keep pushing, but that’s not in everyone’s nature. So some people took a back seat and let Cockers lead on everything. As players you’ve got to be really involved in your area and in the whole game plan, and that’s maybe what was missing.
‘After four years of one style, it feels fresh and new under Mike and that can be exciting. I think that has rejuvenated the playing group, especially some guys who were maybe feeling worse than others. Sometimes that fresh approach is needed and can breathe a new lease of life into guys.’
Gilchrist believes that, despite coming off a poor season when they failed to qualify for the European Champions Cup and finished second bottom of their Pro14 conference table, Edinburgh are in decent shape with the start of the new campaign just four weeks away.
‘I think overall we’re in a good place now and I want to talk about the future,’ he said. ‘Cockers has done a good job in setting us up. We weren’t able to evolve the culture and the game plan to a place where we could kick on, and I think that’s where Mike has come in, and we’re really excited by a former player, someone who’s got a respect for the work that’s been done and understands the value in what’s been done — but also the things that have to be better.
‘And that’s not any slight on Cockers, that’s just the fact that there’s a lot of things we need to do better having had a poor season. That balance of keeping those fundamentals but also bringing in a freedom, bringing in a confidence to the way we attack, is really exciting the boys. They’re lapping it up.
‘There is no doubt Mike has got the respect of all the group.’
Gilchrist — along with hooker Stuart McInally — are the only two players left on Edinburgh’s books who played with Blair before he retired. He added: ‘I was a young lad when Mike was here and he was one of the leaders. I’ve also been under Mike at the national team.
‘Mike’s not had to crack the whip too hard. He has an eye for detail and he drives high standards. In training he’s not a shouter, he’s not going to be the kind of guy who is berating people but you certainly know what he expects from you.’