I thought the article was good and spelt out a few home truths including the travelling circus. Drop the one eted anti aussie sentiments and Cockrill is correct. There is a difference in being prudent and being tight.
I would hope that he would at least give some context around the travelling circus, like Westpac Stadium was not available for I think 3 of the 4 away games. That the FFA want a better TV audience and the Phoenix building their brand around the country is meant to help. That the terrible kickoff times is meant to help with our ratings in Australia but hurts our attendance. He knocks Morrison regarding the Petone stadium when one of the biggest issues was the Phoenix getting a 20yr licence to make the investment worthwhile. That our memberships, in the context of memberships in NZ, is very good (Hurricanes only had 4520 members last season and that includes finals tickets which, due to the FFA running the finals, we can't offer). I would have no idea how he would know what marketing the Phoenix would be doing, unless he has been in Wellington and been totally oblivious to the MANY billboards and buses or social media campaigns. I don't know if the Phoenix get any promotional money from the FFA but it would be a bit unfair if the Phoenix have to burden the entire marketing cost of the league in NZ when Fox and the FFA do so much more in Australia than Sky or the FFA do here.
Cockerill talks like he knows things, which is dangerous because it can sway opinion on the 'Nix in a negative way, but is based on "picking up stompies". Can't even research that we don't have a "Luke Rogerson" in our squad.
He is getting to the point of the Daily Mail and should not be used as a credible news source.