As for being cowboys...if (as reported) the Chief of the Australian Defence Force has said that, and bearing in mind he is a distinguished military fast jet pilot, is quite a remarkable statement. Given he has the investigation report and full resources of the Defence Force available to him, his opinion here must carry considerable weight. Who's to say otherwise?
From the outside looking in, and being someone who was once on the inside looking in, I can't see the point of entering into a training regime that is so likely to result in an accident simply because you might have to do that on operations. No training is so important that a safe way to do it can't be found.
I think it is agreed that a mistake was made here, compounded by systematic deficiencies, and an accident resulted. Certainly the pilot didn't set out that day to have a prang or imperil the aircraft.