Said bloke had similar thoughts about checklists.
Heresay is not the business of the ATSB. Its not a knitting circle. If they can't demonstrate it, they shouldn't say it. Period.
And, I'm with Groggy. The issue in flashing lights is "why didn't it still climb?"
Lets just say the pilot missed the rudder trim. The ATSB's own simulations show that at climb speed he would have directional control, The aircraft should have still climbed to an altitude which would let the pilot do some diagnostics and find the error.
Why didn't it climb? Why didn't the ATSB investigate why it didn't climb?