Opinion Matthew Nicks: Adelaide's Coach

[Interloperer]

My current pet theory is that Nicks doesn't believe on-ball/inside midfielder is a specialist position.

Anyway. My problem from the start with Nicks is that he was way too much of a true-believer in what the club was doing and how it was running. Even though it was in full-damage control mode at the time and football goals (short term or long term) were way down the priority list.

 

[119others]

New habits were created during Covid .....many got used to staying home (had to) & watching the game live on TV

Then they realised how much they were saving ......now in very tough economic times; petrol prices, mortgage rates, rental increases and power costs .....many in Sth Aust have continued the Covid stay at home trend

Victoria is a different demographic mix, and are naturally sports attending population ......Adelaide is an older population, and has always reacted negatively to price / cost pressures.

So what has the Adelaide Oval Management done .....sat on their hands ???

all seems logical and correct to me.

Add that to the Crows member demographic and this structural drop in crowds - esp this year - is really concerning considering we are a young exciting team on the way up playing fast attractive footy with natural entertainers (Rankine, Rachele, Tex etc) and normally performing very well at home. I imagine our dwindling crowds this year under the prevailing circumstances is causing a lot of concern within the club - well it should be.

Part of the issue - without any hard facts to back it up besides logic and 'eyesight' - is our members seem definitely older relative to Poort and probably every other club. When we joined in 1991 as an inaugural member there was a waiting list of MANY years (5+) to become a new Crows member. Therefore renewal rates were very high overall for the first 20+ years of our existence. But the core members who were say in the 25-50 year age bracket when we came in are now clearly 55-old. Many are dropping out of membership due to age and CV has shown this demographic that watching sport on TV is easy and enjoyable without facing crowds, transport, peripheral cost of attending, weather issues. As a society we are getting 'softer' and this may also impact the older demographic even more so from attending.

 

[119others]

I think most are on the same page that Sloane should not be playing anywhere near as much onball. I don't know the facts (only club insiders would) but have the young guys hit the wall physically? It seems this is likely IMO. Soligo and Rachele both have had big form drops the last mth or 2. Pedlar in his first real year may struggle to play more than a 'bit part' onball. I certainly hope thats the case and why the club is choosing (or forced to) not play these very talented youngsters instead of Sloane who is clearly past it. Happy for him to be delisted or at best put on a 300k salary playing 75% in SANFL next year for leadership of the young brigade and the odd top up in emergency for the Snr side

 

[1970crow]

Laird has been AA twice at half back. Sure, he doesn't have the vision/disposal of those other guys but he's an excellent interceptor for his size and clean at ground level


Maybe give Mark Neeld a buzz this week?

He was at his peak physically, a few years of playing your entire TOG in the stoppage rotation wears the body down. And that's when you have to start relying on your other attributes to influence games.

 

[119others]

Yeah, also probably co-incided with me having long drinking sessions at pubs less too.

Hard to mentally justify a $12 pint, when $9 jug nights was only what, less then a decade ago?

Leave that to the young bucks who don't know any better.

$12 pint? 'Luxury' y'

 

[rabidcrow]

Absolutely and fans are doing this more in Adel than in Melbourne and Perth (with terrible Eagles form).

Why is this trend more pronounced in Adel?

Our time slots haven’t helped. Have a few mates that come from country regions that just can’t get to 2-3 games due to times. That was less regular pre Covid

Lack of success long term

A media hatred campaign that ran for several years jaded a number of people from football in general

Habit. People got out of the habit of going. It’s interesting that season tickets still seem to sell at similar numbers though

Adelaide Oval members. The members area always looks empty these days




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[GreyCrow]

I think most are on the same page that Sloane should not be playing anywhere near as much onball. I don't know the facts (only club insiders would) but have the young guys hit the wall physically? It seems this is likely IMO. Soligo and Rachele both have had big form drops the last mth or 2. Pedlar in his first real year may struggle to play more than a 'bit part' onball. I certainly hope thats the case and why the club is choosing (or forced to) not play these very talented youngsters instead of Sloane who is clearly past it. Happy for him to be delisted or at best put on a 300k salary playing 75% in SANFL next year for leadership of the young brigade and the odd top up in emergency for the Snr side

I look at it the other way

The big form drop could come from playing bit parts across the flanks. Its harder to get into the game and get disposal numbers.

Rachele kicks all the goals instead of points and suddenly his form isnt an issue and he isnt tired.

I think we dont persist long enough with Soligo et al in the midfield - and thats on VB

 

[Betts are off]

$12 pint? 'Luxury'View attachment 1742376y'

That's actually ridiculous. $17.40 for a Stone and Wood. A case of Stone of Wood is on $76. So the beer price per bottle is $3.16

Which means the Byron Hotel are slapping on 450% on the stubbie price (not even the keg price).

If you're throwing 450% on a drink it better come in a Wooly Mammoth's Tusk

 

[footy4ever]

I

There’s so many contributing factors but the older fans dropping off and not being replaced by younger fans is probably the simplest to fix.

I’m a diehard and willing to fork out $$$ for a membership. But most people my age aren’t and just simply can’t afford to go to the footy that often.

The cheapest adult ticket for the Gold Coast game is $40. That’s ******* outrageous.

Make the tickets cheaper and stop charging $10 for a drink and watch the younger crowd come back.

I don’t know if the SMA can afford to do that but if they can I guarantee it’ll work.

It doesn't effect me, but I often marvel at how, for eg., a family of say, four, with everyone decked out in Crows gear, with a mortgage and a car loan, can afford to cart the entire family off to the footy every 2 weeks. (Unless dad's a tradie )

I just checked general admission - $175 for a family of four. Or $85 per adult to sit in the nosebleed section of the southern stand.

That's an expensive day out for a young family - understatement.

And a young say 16 - early 20something year old would probably want to spend $85 on more relevant things like weekly gym memberships, iPhone payment plans, a bit of smashed avvo, alcohol...by that time there's nothing left for recreational drugs... what's a young person to do?

 

[NSolis]

I look at it the other way

The big form drop could come from playing bit parts across the flanks. Its harder to get into the game and get disposal numbers.

Rachele kicks all the goals instead of points and suddenly his form isnt an issue and he isnt tired.

I think we dont persist long enough with Soligo et al in the midfield - and thats on VB

In both of his years so far Rachele has had his best performances in the first month of the season. Last year he kicked 12 goals in the first 5 games and 5 for the rest of the year. This year he kicked 10 goals in the first 5 and has 7 since. 3 out of his 4 20+ possession games this year were in the first 6 weeks, the only other one was against North. Same story last year.

I think at least some of this is just a natural element of a player being 19-20 years old in his second year. Players who are able to have consistent impacts throughout a whole season at that age/with that experience profile are extremely rare. This is true even for generational superstars, and I think for Rachele specifically his tank/fitness are not his strongest point compared to some other players.

Obviously if you think the coaching staff are utterly hopeless I guess you can find ways to blame it all on them, maybe they should be playing Rachele three games out of every four and resting him the 4th week for instance. But I think there is a totally reasonable explanation in there which is just that some of these young players are struggling with the workload. Rather than leaving them out of the team entirely, we are exposing them to games but either limiting their on field time as much as possible (for instance Thilthorpe is consistently among our lowest for time on ground) or giving them less physically demanding roles, like playing Pedlar and Rachele in the forward line.

Either way, I firmly believe that next year we will see significantly more midfield time for Pedlar and Rachele, assuming they aren't injured or anything.

 

[MatthewB]

Buy 5 beers get 1 free

need that for the test match

 

[WheresGroomgone]

I would like a journalist to ask Nicks;

1. Why as a club in rebuild have we played one of the lowest numbers of players in the league?
2. Why have our potential young midfielders been given little to zero opportunity in the centre?
3. How do you justify dropping Schoenberg after a 9 disposal quarter of football but retain Murphy after a 4 disposal game?
4. Do you think Sloane looks fatigue?
5. Against GWS why did you not make any changes in the last qtr, particularly to the midfiel?
6. In you presser after the GWS game you said early in the game we owned the aerial contest but dropped away why then did you sub out Mcadam rather than Sloane, Keays who were struggling?
7. Can you see any players in the SANFL squad who may get a game at some point?

 

[beartoo]

I think most are on the same page that Sloane should not be playing anywhere near as much onball. I don't know the facts (only club insiders would) but have the young guys hit the wall physically? It seems this is likely IMO. Soligo and Rachele both have had big form drops the last mth or 2. Pedlar in his first real year may struggle to play more than a 'bit part' onball. I certainly hope thats the case and why the club is choosing (or forced to) not play these very talented youngsters instead of Sloane who is clearly past it. Happy for him to be delisted or at best put on a 300k salary playing 75% in SANFL next year for leadership of the young brigade and the odd top up in emergency for the Snr side

Sloane would make a good SANFL captain if Matt wants to pull the pin.

On SM-A115F using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Bearded Clam]

Sloane would make a good SANFL captain if Matt wants to pull the pin.

On SM-A115F using BigFooty.com mobile app

I’m starting to think sloanes too slow for even the sanfl..

Matty Wright would be quicker.

I want sloane out of the AFL 22 and away from the club altogether.. cut the cord.

Now tex walker when he retires.. i’d love to see spend a year or two in the sanfl team as our marquee player to teach the kids a thing or two.

Ben keays should be back there right now in the sanfl showing the youth what giving a 1000% and never giving up on a contest is all about.. just tell the young lads to not take any notice of ben’s disposals!..

We have matt crouch back there which is an issue.. all Matt teaches is how to stat pad.

Madgen as our marquee player is a bewildering choice.. surely we couldve found better?

 

[Mutineer]

So Laird is 11th in the comp for score involvements - but has no impact? Above Dawson even?
The issue is not just the centre square and not just our 3 main mids. Dawson and a Laird are a great duo but both lack speed. Our 3rd mid - whether Sloane, Keays (too slow) or Peds/ Rachele (fatigues for effort) - and doesn’t provide enough. Our wings are not particularly quick and RoB is a spud. GWS played on so much - as did Essendon - and we can’t cope with so much speed on the ball

We need pace

As we saw this year, replace 2-3 players with better versions and you get major improvements


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Not sure if serious?

ROB is a spud?

ROB is not a spud, he may not be among the elite rucks in the comp but he isn't a spud, far from it as rucks go.
Laird and Dawson are a long way off slow too...

 

[WetCrow1991]

The centre bounce set up in the last quarter on Saturday is all you need to know about Nicks. Desperate.

 

[WetCrow1991]

Murphy getting 16 games so far this season is another strike against Nicks. Murphy tries hard, has fluked the odd goal on a tough angle too, but beyond that he has no weapons and at 92 games and turning 25 this year there really is no scope for improvement. He shouldn't be playing 16 games. He should be on 5-8 games, coming in as injury coveage when needed, not being played week in week out when we have almost no injuries.

He like McHenry (who is better) just run around.

Murphy's terrible disposal killed us on the weekend.

Too many small honest triers being carried in the side.

 

[relapse]

Bit hard to develop the midfield when you're essentially running with the same people in the middle.

Here are the CBAs from 2021



Now lets look at the CBAs from Saturday night



Here are we 2 years later still running with the same midfield (aside from Dawson)

The pretty much says it all about the lack of development with our midfield, 2 years on and the only person that's been permanently added into the midfield is a player recruited from another club.

I think the real issue is that the club seems to be in complete denial over the midfield and not think it's a problem even though it's been blatantly obvious to people for a while now.

 

[NSolis]

Bit hard to develop the midfield when you're essentially running with the same people in the middle.

Here are the CBAs from 2021

View attachment 1742588

Now lets look at the CBAs from Saturday night


Here are we 2 years later still running with the same midfield (aside from Dawson)

The pretty much says it all about the lack of development with our midfield, 2 years on and the only person that's been permanently added into the midfield is a player recruited from another club.

I think the real issue is that the club seems to be in complete denial over the midfield and not think it's a problem even though it's been blatantly obvious to people for a while now.

Looking at the same website will show you that there has been a significant change to the midfield rotations since 2021. The rotation is deeper, with less emphasis on a consistent group of three. Sloane and Keays both have significantly reduced midfield time, with the gap filled with Dawson and a mix of young players who are being rotated through the centre bounces.

In 2021, Laird attended 80% of potential centre bounces, Keays 79%, Sloane 78%. That's for the whole season, in the games those players were selected.

In 2023, Laird has attended 78%, Keays 31%, Sloane 34%. Yes, this weekend those three guys attended most of the centre bounces, it's definitely not true that we are using the same group in general or that there's been no effort to move away from those guys. I think the move back to those guys was a response to the fact that the previous week against Essendon we started the game with kids in the middle and they got belted. Criticise the conservatism by all means, but it's not true that this is what has been going on throughout the year.

Here's our list of CBAs for the year, excluding rucks and people who have only attended 1 CBA, with the percentage of total CBAs they could have attended in the games in which they were selected:
Laird 386 (78%)
Dawson 330 (66%)
Sloane 167 (34%)
Keays 153 (31%)
Rachele 138 (28%)
Soligo 106 (22%)
Pedlar 65 (14%)
Berry 65 (56%)
Schoenberg 46 (32%)
Rankine 11 (2%)
Crouch 11 (38%)
Brown 7 (23%)
Jones 7 (2%)

Compare it to 2021:
Laird 475 (80%)
Keays 471 (79%)
Sloane 375 (78%)
Shoenberg 204 (34%)
Berry 76 (16%)
Seedsman 71 (12%)
Fogarty 42 (10%)
O'Connor 30 (54%)
Hately 24 (28%)
McHenry 9 (2%)
Pedlar 3 (7%)

More players used, less reliance on a core group of 3, more midfield time for new players. One problem which does stand out is that some of the younger midfielders who got a run in 2021 (Shoenberg and Berry) aren't in the side this year.

 

[Bearded Clam]

Looking at the same website will show you that there has been a significant change to the midfield rotations since 2021. The rotation is deeper, with less emphasis on a consistent group of three. Sloane and Keays both have significantly reduced midfield time, with the gap filled with Dawson and a mix of young players who are being rotated through the centre bounces.

In 2021, Laird attended 80% of potential centre bounces, Keays 79%, Sloane 78%. That's for the whole season, in the games those players were selected.

In 2023, Laird has attended 78%, Keays 31%, Sloane 34%. Yes, this weekend those three guys attended most of the centre bounces, it's definitely not true that we are using the same group in general or that there's been no effort to move away from those guys. I think the move back to those guys was a response to the fact that the previous week against Essendon we started the game with kids in the middle and they got belted. Criticise the conservatism by all means, but it's not true that this is what has been going on throughout the year.

Here's our list of CBAs for the year, excluding rucks and people who have only attended 1 CBA, with the percentage of total CBAs they could have attended in the games in which they were selected:
Laird 386 (78%)
Dawson 330 (66%)
Sloane 167 (34%)
Keays 153 (31%)
Rachele 138 (28%)
Soligo 106 (22%)
Pedlar 65 (14%)
Berry 65 (56%)
Schoenberg 46 (32%)
Rankine 11 (2%)
Crouch 11 (38%)
Brown 7 (23%)
Jones 7 (2%)

Compare it to 2021:
Laird 475 (80%)
Keays 471 (79%)
Sloane 375 (78%)
Shoenberg 204 (34%)
Berry 76 (16%)
Seedsman 71 (12%)
Fogarty 42 (10%)
O'Connor 30 (54%)
Hately 24 (28%)
McHenry 9 (2%)
Pedlar 3 (7%)

More players used, less reliance on a core group of 3, more midfield time for new players. One problem which does stand out is that some of the younger midfielders who got a run in 2021 (Shoenberg and Berry) aren't in the side this year.

Geezuz mate..

Of course the number for sloane and keays are down since 2021..

End of last year and first half a dozen to a dozen games this year sloane and keays were getting **** all CB’s/midfield minutes..

The problem is that this is no longer the case and they have now gone back to sloane and keays getting all of these CB’s/midfield minutes again.. and our results have dropped off.

We were nearly home free and rid of them.. but the morons have crumbled and gone back to them.

 

[NSolis]

Geezuz mate..

Of course the number for sloane and keays are down since 2021..

End of last year and first half a dozen to a dozen games this year sloane and keays were getting * all CB’s/midfield minutes..

The problem is that this is no longer the case and they have now gone back to sloane and keays getting all of these CB’s/midfield minutes again.. and our results have dropped off.

We were nearly home free and rid of them.. but the morons have crumbled and gone back to them.

This isn't true though. That's my point. Last week against Essendon Sloane got 22% of CBAs, Keays got 6%. The week before against North Sloane got 31%, Keays got 3%. Against Collingwood Sloane and Keays were largely in the middle, especially Keays, and the week before that against West Coast Sloane was back to 26%, with Keays at 55%. You'll see a similar pattern throughout the year with our midfield rotations varying between weeks aside from Laird and Dawson who are always in there (except for rounds 1 and 2 when Dawson and Sloane were both not in the middle). Typically Sloane does between a quarter and half of centre bounces, Keays either does most of them or hardly any, and Rachele/Soligo/Pedlar get what is left unless someone like Berry or Schoenberg is in the side.

The fact of the matter is that we have a deeper midfield rotation with reduced midfield time for Sloane and Keays and we're specifically getting Rachele, Soligo and Pedlar some midfield time. It is not true that we have the same rotation as 2021 plus Dawson, and it's not true that we've gone from not using Sloane and Keays in the middle to using them there all the time. We've mixed and matched throughout the season, which is something we were not really doing in 2021 as you can see from my post above.

 

[Bearded Clam]

Bit hard to develop the midfield when you're essentially running with the same people in the middle.

Here are the CBAs from 2021

View attachment 1742588

Now lets look at the CBAs from Saturday night

View attachment 1742590View attachment 1742591

Here are we 2 years later still running with the same midfield (aside from Dawson)

The pretty much says it all about the lack of development with our midfield, 2 years on and the only person that's been permanently added into the midfield is a player recruited from another club.

I think the real issue is that the club seems to be in complete denial over the midfield and not think it's a problem even though it's been blatantly obvious to people for a while now.

Some of us have been saying this for two years..

 

[footy4ever]

This isn't true though. That's my point. Last week against Essendon Sloane got 22% of CBAs, Keays got 6%. The week before against North Sloane got 31%, Keays got 3%. Against Collingwood Sloane and Keays were largely in the middle, especially Keays, and the week before that against West Coast Sloane was back to 26%, with Keays at 55%. You'll see a similar pattern throughout the year with our midfield rotations varying between weeks aside from Laird and Dawson who are always in there (except for rounds 1 and 2 when Dawson and Sloane were both not in the middle). Typically Sloane does between a quarter and half of centre bounces, Keays either does most of them or hardly any, and Rachele/Soligo/Pedlar get what is left unless someone like Berry or Schoenberg is in the side.

The fact of the matter is that we have a deeper midfield rotation with reduced midfield time for Sloane and Keays and we're specifically getting Rachele, Soligo and Pedlar some midfield time. It is not true that we have the same rotation as 2021 plus Dawson, and it's not true that we've gone from not using Sloane and Keays in the middle to using them there all the time. We've mixed and matched throughout the season, which is something we were not really doing in 2021 as you can see from my post above.

Facts?

You're using facts?!

Sheesh matey, that sure goes against the vibe.

 

[119others]

That's actually ridiculous. $17.40 for a Stone and Wood. A case of Stone of Wood is on $76. So the beer price per bottle is $3.16

Which means the Byron Hotel are slapping on 450% on the stubbie price (not even the keg price).

If you're throwing 450% on a drink it better come in a Wooly Mammoth's Tusk

absolutely agree - its ridiculous catering to the cashed up tourist crowd. And did you notice the Peroni pint was actually $19.20 !!!

 

[relapse]

Looking at the same website will show you that there has been a significant change to the midfield rotations since 2021. The rotation is deeper, with less emphasis on a consistent group of three. Sloane and Keays both have significantly reduced midfield time, with the gap filled with Dawson and a mix of young players who are being rotated through the centre bounces.

In 2021, Laird attended 80% of potential centre bounces, Keays 79%, Sloane 78%. That's for the whole season, in the games those players were selected.

In 2023, Laird has attended 78%, Keays 31%, Sloane 34%. Yes, this weekend those three guys attended most of the centre bounces, it's definitely not true that we are using the same group in general or that there's been no effort to move away from those guys. I think the move back to those guys was a response to the fact that the previous week against Essendon we started the game with kids in the middle and they got belted. Criticise the conservatism by all means, but it's not true that this is what has been going on throughout the year.

Here's our list of CBAs for the year, excluding rucks and people who have only attended 1 CBA, with the percentage of total CBAs they could have attended in the games in which they were selected:
Laird 386 (78%)
Dawson 330 (66%)
Sloane 167 (34%)
Keays 153 (31%)
Rachele 138 (28%)
Soligo 106 (22%)
Pedlar 65 (14%)
Berry 65 (56%)
Schoenberg 46 (32%)
Rankine 11 (2%)
Crouch 11 (38%)
Brown 7 (23%)
Jones 7 (2%)

Compare it to 2021:
Laird 475 (80%)
Keays 471 (79%)
Sloane 375 (78%)
Shoenberg 204 (34%)
Berry 76 (16%)
Seedsman 71 (12%)
Fogarty 42 (10%)
O'Connor 30 (54%)
Hately 24 (28%)
McHenry 9 (2%)
Pedlar 3 (7%)

More players used, less reliance on a core group of 3, more midfield time for new players. One problem which does stand out is that some of the younger midfielders who got a run in 2021 (Shoenberg and Berry) aren't in the side this year.

Yes we've given stints to other players, but it's all been very spasmodic and random to the point of where it doesn't feel like there's been any real consistency or planning with around it. One week Rachele will spend some time there, the next week Rankine, then Pedlar etc.

My issue is that aside from Zac Taylor, our midfield is pretty much injury free and has been for most of the year, so with almost the whole list to choose from the coaching group decided that Sloane, Keays, Laird and Dawson in the middle was the best midfield structure going into the GWS game.

Two years on and the coaching group still believe that this is the best option we've got, the fact that we've not been able to develop someone who is a better option than a completely cooked Sloane or Keays is embarrassing and a fail by the coaching group. The club has been negligent in trying to actively develop midfielders by only giving players token stints while their go to when the chips are down is to go back to the same failed midfleiders who have been getting torched in the middle for the last 2-3 years.