I do agree with you in many of the things you say.
A couple of points though, I think your assertation that all fans know little is a load of ******. The fairweather fan maybe, but most on here are extremely knowlegeble, and prove that regularly.
Yes, Gats and other will have access to some stats and data that we don't; but we can still see which players are playing well or not, or who's injured or not match fit. There have been so many examples of times where Gats (and other coaches) clearly get it wrong.
One example from one of his more successful periods of coaching Wales. How long did Gats tell us that Navidi was 'too small for international level', despite consistently performing well for Cardiff and fans calling for his inclusion? Shock horror, when he was given his chance finally he became a mainstay of the side, and one of our best performers!
You highlight Rhodri Williams' selection, and a need to pick on form. Well I will continue to point out that RMW has been the form 9 in Wales for at least 24 months! At 26, he's the perfect age too. You will continue to tell me he's not good enough, and I will continue to say that is rubbish! Easily capable of stepping up with a great all round game, and having big moments for Ospreys on a regular basis. Surely he's the better option given his age? And if box kicking is what you want, then Aled Davies is head and shoulders above other options in Wales in that regard.
I guarantee that Tomos will look **** for Wales anyway as he's forced to play a game oposite to his strengths as an attacking 9. That's why he's looked great for Gloucester after all.
I'm not arguing there are levels of knowledge, but you can be the most knowledgeable person on the planet, and still not know which player attitudes are bad, which players enjoy late night gaming sessions, which players are beating their wives, or have sleep deprivation, or alcohol issues etc...
We also don't know what what long term plans look like, what stage of perdiodaization the plan is in, what the KPIs of the EPDP players are, or even the very ounce of knowledge of culture, chemistry and power struggles.
Have you ever seen any pro coach slate another pro coach? You won't see it because they understand judgements don't matter when your on the outside.
Where Gatland gets it wrong is probably the opposite of that situation. In Navidi he saw a quality underpowered back rower, and he was bang on. Navidi responded to that by becoming bigger and more powerful, probably to the detriment of his longevity. I disagree with Gatlands loyalty to players, if you remember the Cuthbert years, he just got worse and worse, and constantly was selected. Same with Costelow, we all see how bad a player he is, and his head has dropped as he's been played over the last 18 months.
But I suppose for every failure, there are probably a dozen players who have played through a slump, Wainright is probably a good example about 3 seasons ago.
I wouldn't have been devastated by RMW being selected, I don't think he's up to much, box kickingbis awful (even worse than Bevans) but his delivery isnok, and he has a bit of Tomos about him. As an all rounder though, I'd put him on par with Varney, he's not young enough to still be making the mistakes he does, andbis playing behind easily the best club pack in Wales, say what you want about Booth, his attacking breakdown structure was good, allowing a good platform, and making RMW and Edward's express themselves... it's a shame about their back 3 and Keiran William's butchering everything.
What happened to Keoran William's, he looked so good a few seasons ago, and now just trucks everything up without thought?!
Tomos will obviously look harnessed for Wales, he doesn't have the luxury of a competitive pack, a platform, or the autonomy to give things a crack, mostly because high risk rarely acheives high reward in international rugby (certainly not for the lesser teams like us).
Like you I want to see Wales open up, use Tomos as a wild card to disrupt defences, and play an expansive game offloading out wide and scoring tries... the reality though is that we would ship 50+ against any team with a decent scramble and a counter.
Would you want to see Mee and Murray play total rugby with Penaut, Biabiary, and Dupont out there licking their lips? And who's the 13 link man there to conjure this? Robert's?
Realistically, our game plan will be 9 man rugby, the pack plus Tomos. Outside of that we have massive problems, new inexperienced 10, a centre at 10, young inexperienced centres and back 3 options, or elderly returnees out wide.
