he probably means it has never been beneficial because Nicky rides like a dirtracker. All the rest of the guys ride the front end. Nicky stiffens up the rear to artificially bring "feel" to the front end that's not there. He wants the back end to be loose but short wheelbases and the chassis design of these bikes don't allow them to be fast like that or they severely shred the rear tire like Nicky did a few times last season.
when you have someone that's riding the bike in a way that it doesn't want to be ridden, and he's setting up the bike and requesting changes be made according to his style, of course a more modern style euro rider isn't going to be compatible with it.
