Rumour 2024 Rumours and Speculation Part 2

[Scorpus]

Spoiler: Older Rumors

I've deleted confirmed information

Rumors from September 30

• FiveAA claims we are after Scott Borlace, current Head of Development at Brisbane (link)
• Claims of Rory Sloane
  9

  Rory Sloane

  Age

  34

  Ht

  183cm

  Wt

  87kg

  Pos.

  Mid

  Career

  Season

  Last 5

  D

  23.7

  5star

  K

  11.7

  4star

  HB

  11.9

  5star

  M

  3.5

  4star

  T

  6.6

  5star

  CL

  5.7

  5star

  D

  15.3

  4star

  K

  7.3

  3star

  HB

  8.0

  4star

  M

  1.3

  1star

  T

  3.3

  4star

  CL

  4.2

  5star

  D

  22.2

  5star

  K

  8.6

  4star

  HB

  13.6

  5star

  M

  3.2

  4star

  T

  6.0

  5star

  CL

  4.6

  5star

  heading to Melbourne Demons as a development coach, but maybe not before asking for a job at the Crows first?
• Inside Trading suggests we are interested in Gold Coast's pick 12 (link)
• Inside Trading also suggests Clayton Oliver
  13

  Clayton Oliver

  Age

  27

  Ht

  189cm

  Wt

  88kg

  Pos.

  Mid

  Career

  Season

  Last 5

  D

  27.8

  5star

  K

  9.5

  4star

  HB

  18.4

  5star

  M

  3.2

  3star

  T

  6.3

  5star

  CL

  6.3

  5star

  D

  25.1

  5star

  K

  11.1

  4star

  HB

  14.0

  5star

  M

  3.6

  4star

  T

  5.6

  5star

  CL

  5.9

  5star

  D

  19.2

  5star

  K

  4.6

  2star

  HB

  14.6

  5star

  M

  2.0

  3star

  T

  4.4

  5star

  CL

  3.8

  5star

  is possibly back on the trade table, but doesn't link him to any specific clubs

Rumors from October 1

• We have offered Darcy Fogarty
  32

  Darcy Fogarty

  Age

  25

  Ht

  194cm

  Wt

  100kg

  Pos.

  Fwd

  Career

  Season

  Last 5

  D

  8.5

  2star

  K

  5.7

  2star

  HB

  2.8

  2star

  M

  3.7

  4star

  T

  1.7

  4star

  G

  1.2

  4star

  D

  6.3

  1star

  K

  4.0

  1star

  HB

  2.3

  2star

  M

  3.0

  3star

  T

  2.3

  3star

  G

  1.0

  4star

  D

  8.0

  2star

  K

  5.4

  2star

  HB

  2.6

  3star

  M

  3.4

  4star

  T

  2.6

  4star

  G

  1.0

  4star

  a five year contract extension early ahead of free agency (link)
• We are attempting to lure Graham Wright to our football department (link)

Rumors from October 2-3

• Graham Wright, who we are chasing as a head of football, is also being chased by Carlton for a CEO position (link)

Rumors from October 4-5

• Gettable claiming pick 25 for Neal-Bullen and a future 2nd for Peatling (link)

Rumors from October 6

• Tom Morris claims we are open to splitting pick 4 (link)

Rumor summary October 8

• Jon Ralph claims we are not prepared to use a future 2nd on Peatling (link)

Rumor summary October 9

• Graham Wright will not join Adelaide, instead taking up the Carlton CEO role (link)
• Tom Morris claims the Peatling trade will involve future 2nd and 3rd round picks, and we have offered him a four year deal at about $600k per season (link)
• Riley Beveridge claims we asked GWS if they were interested in one of our players in the Peatling trade (link)

Rumor summary October 10

• Collingwood are interested in Justin Reid as their new head of football (link)
• GWS want our future 2nd and pick 46 for Peatling (link)

 

[Vader]

What elements of toxicity has Nicks specifically resolved?

I would argue the biggest issue with our culture prior to Nicks - a culture of entitlement among senior players - is largely unchanged

I would also say our public condemnation of Rachele is one of the most toxic and divisive moves we have made as a club and that under Pyke we never did things of that nature

And thirdly I'd say under Nicks we have the biggest culture of accepting/tolerating losses that we've ever had as a club in our history

At the time we had players all but going on strike on the field, barely going through the motions of playing. We had players leaking information to the media (Josh Jenkins - I'm looking at you). We had a bitterly divided group, following the fallout from the camp. We had players bailing on the club left, right and centre.

Fast forward to today, and we have a unified playing group. We have youngsters from non-SA clubs signing on to long contracts, committing themselves to the club for the foreseeable future. We have non-SA players willing to be traded to the club, or coming via FA. We have a team who are pushing themselves to their (limited) limit, right to the ends of games, in (failing) attempts to win.

Where before we had the senior players running rampant, today we see them getting dropped to the SANFL when their form drops away. They may feel a sense of entitlement, but this is not treating them as entitled beings any longer.

 

[FullyBigKPro]

Just got back from a Japan trip - what have I missed!?!

 

[GreyCrow]

I never argued that the culture is the "feels".

I think our club has always been considered very professional but conservative and cold.

We've had issues with staff retention because many haven't felt loyalty to each other and to the shared mission they're on.

I think Nicks has done a lot to change the internal culture. There are no issues with retention, and we seem to be attractive to external players.

I think Nicks has driven a change around prioritising others and the greater good, and the players have largely committed to it. This is DRAMATICALLY different to where we were.

I don't think he survives this year, but I actually think his side of the rebuild has largely been positive.

I'd need some clarification on what you mean by staff?

Our line coaches and senior staff seem to be here a while

Hamish , Reid, Harper,

Francou , Mattner did leave because of our conservative cold nature but I dont think we changed but we find people who go along to get along

I think Nicks has driven a change around prioritising others and the greater good, and the players have largely committed to it. This is DRAMATICALLY different to where we were.

This is the biggest crock of shit ever posted on here - we only need to see the recent club pile on of Rachele to know this. We dont prioritise others - we make them prioritise us

As to the player retention - thats a knee jerk reaction to the 2018 fall out

Both Greenwood and Keath wanted more security and left for it. Others were pushed out ie Jenkins and Betts

Then suddenly a club who never offered more than 1 year deals to players over 30 was falling over itself to hand out 5 year+ contracts to anyone willing to sign - thats not retention thats extortion

All in all Nicks is a con artist supported by others because its a house of cards that would take one strong individual to knock over

Sure the problem then becomes do we start again and those same people dont have the stomach - to admit or enact - these changes

 

[dogs105]

Just got back from a Japan trip - what have I missed!?!

Roo ****ed the club

 

[GameofSloanes]

I can’t think of too many games under Nicks where we’ve had a lead to blow.

I do recall many come backs that invariably fall short.

We often get in front in this scenario, then try to protect the lead, and always lose from this position. If we could change just that, we'd win another 2-3ish games per year imo even with everything else staying the same. Nicks' plan for what to do when we have a small lead near the end of games is so consistently bad it's incredible.

 

[GreyCrow]

Yes absolutely, obviously the culture is good or as we've experienced in the past the interstate draftees tend to head out, some quite early on for whatever reason.

Can you provide a list of those who left

Other than Greenwood and Keath who both wanted to stay here

 

[GreyCrow]

We can speculate all we want about it now, but it its probably something we wont know until well after Nicks has left the club. Like the culture Blight left us in 1998, evaporated over time and was long dead by 2010. And well we know our culture grew more toxic as the years passed. A culture can die quickly if it isnt fostered and that like Vader said, is where the jury is going to be out for awhile.

I could argue that the culture Blight left us led us onto a senior clique ensuring another Blight doesnt have as much sway

 

[LoBu]

Where are you drinking tonight?

At home in his basement of course

 

[George Kramer]

Anything that anyone say except you the throw away line is its bullshit gp look at the rankine thread and you will see people like birdman 24 saying we giving pick 5 for a small forward he isnt worth a top 15 pick but of course that would be too hard to check facts for yourself

On SM-G996B using BigFooty.com mobile app

Try next time with sentences and I’ll read it.

 

[jackster83]

At the time we had players all but going on strike on the field, barely going through the motions of playing. We had players leaking information to the media (Josh Jenkins - I'm looking at you). We had a bitterly divided group, following the fallout from the camp. We had players bailing on the club left, right and centre.

Fast forward to today, and we have a unified playing group. We have youngsters from non-SA clubs signing on to long contracts, committing themselves to the club for the foreseeable future. We have non-SA players willing to be traded to the club, or coming via FA. We have a team who are pushing themselves to their (limited) limit, right to the ends of games, in (failing) attempts to win.

Where before we had the senior players running rampant, today we see them getting dropped to the SANFL when their form drops away. They may feel a sense of entitlement, but this is not treating them as entitled beings any longer.

I think it's improved but we still have a way to go.

Senior players pressuring for and getting their gold watch contracts is still not a good sign.

 

[George Kramer]

I think it's improved but we still have a way to go.

Senior players pressuring for and getting their gold watch contracts is still not a good sign.

Nor Nicks and senior players burning a young player

 

[MRB37]

We often get in front in this scenario, then try to protect the lead, and always lose from this position. If we could change just that, we'd win another 2-3ish games per year imo even with everything else staying the same. Nicks' plan for what to do when we have a small lead near the end of games is so consistently bad it's incredible.

I remember Chris Scott saying recently so much of footy today is about momentum and just riding that wave in a game as long as you can.

I think the problem with us is, especially in closer games with 5 or less minutes left we handbrake our own momentum once we get up or the game gets tight, which often works against us. So many times it feels like we stop playing the game and the opposition doesn't and we get punished for it.

Like how often do we kick a goal to get the lead back and then give one back within the next 60-90 seconds? We just go into that defensive "own the ball" style which we really aren't good at and eventually just bomb it and lose it.

 

[MRB37]

I think it's improved but we still have a way to go.

Senior players pressuring for and getting their gold watch contracts is still not a good sign.

Nicks wants/need for experience directly works against culling the senior entitlement at times because he overlooks a lot of things he doesn't seem to tolerate from others if they're in the top 25-30% of our games played.

Like would Brodie Smith have been given as much rope as he was this year if he'd played 26 games instead of 262?

 

[Vader]

I think it's improved but we still have a way to go.

Senior players pressuring for and getting their gold watch contracts is still not a good sign.

I agree that JR is prone to handing out unacceptably long contracts, particularly to players approaching the ends of their careers. The current Smith & Laird contracts are both disturbing examples of this.

Happy to agree that there is still a way to go. The toxicity has been removed, but they still have to implement a culture of success. Basically, we've moved the needle from -1 to 5, but we need to keep moving it to 9 or 10.

 

[Scorpus]

At the time we had players all but going on strike on the field, barely going through the motions of playing.

We have that today to some extent too with the performances of Laird and Smith

We had players leaking information to the media (Josh Jenkins - I'm looking at you).

Is this drastically different to Rory Laird going to the media and effectively leaking the club's internal displeasure with Rachele?

Remember the guy that blasted Lever and Greenwood in the media after they left is still at the club as well.

We had a bitterly divided group, following the fallout from the camp. We had players bailing on the club left, right and centre.

Fast forward to today, and we have a unified playing group. We have youngsters from non-SA clubs signing on to long contracts, committing themselves to the club for the foreseeable future. We have non-SA players willing to be traded to the club, or coming via FA.

I don't think there is strong evidence this is attributed specifically to Nicks. It could be, but it equally could be due to our increased ability pay players the salaries they want because our squad is worse and we have more salary cap space. Some of the players that left after the camp we deliberately pushed out and wanted to stay (eg Brad Crouch)

We have a team who are pushing themselves to their (limited) limit, right to the ends of games, in (failing) attempts to win.

I guess so but there have also been examples where we come out looking flat, and there's a clear pattern of us underperforming in games where there are increased expectations on us to win

Where before we had the senior players running rampant, today we see them getting dropped to the SANFL when their form drops away. They may feel a sense of entitlement, but this is not treating them as entitled beings any longer.

This is pretty rare and for most players doesn't last more than a couple of games. Smith is probably the only senior player I can recall having an extended stint in the SANFL and this took until Nicks' fifth season. I guess Gibbs as well.

We still have senior players using the media as a bargaining chip in contract negotiations.

And quite plainly, I think the gains Nicks has made in player retention or happiness is offset by breeding a culture where performance is a secondary objective. Where losses are allowed and acceptable. The fact the club has signed up our worst ever coach (on results) after our least successful period in history for (as it stands) seven years says the club has completely transformed from an organization ruthless on missing finals to one that is happy to accept losses and underperformance.

The culture goes beyond just "are the players happy to be here and play for the club". Maybe we improved that, maybe it isn't just all in our newfound salary cap space. But it's definitely been accompanied by a cultural shift away from on field success. Just listen to Nicks' B&F speech to hear how he defines success relative to what success actually is in a sporting context

 

[Mutineer]

F/S nominations aren't due until 31st October.

It's reasonable to expect that we'll be nominating him, given that they thought enough of him to bring him over to our SANFL team. We didn't do the same with the younger Michelanney brother, despite having the option open to us.

I wonder at what point we wouldn't match given our limited draft collateral, surely list management would have a cut off point based on our draft board's rankings. He certainly wouldn't be rated in the top 5 or so of the KPF prospects (If we consider him a KPF prospect).

Can't see too many recruiters having him in front of too many of the taller KPF prospects like Jobe Shanahan, Jonty Faull, Harry Armstrong, Jack Whitlock, Kayle Gerryen, Tom Sims and Gabriel Stumpf etc. Then there's swingmen like Alixzander Tauru and Matt Whitlock who clubs could go either way with their development, Tauru seems likely to be the 1st tall taken.

 

[Vader]

I wonder at what point we wouldn't match given our limited draft collateral, surely list management would have a cut off point based on our draft board's rankings. He certainly wouldn't be rated in the top 5 or so of the KPF prospects (If we consider him a KPF prospect).

Can't see too many recruiters having him in front of too many of the taller KPF prospects like Jobe Shanahan, Jonty Faull, Harry Armstrong, Jack Whitlock, Kayle Gerryen, Tom Sims and Gabriel Stumpf etc. Then there's swingmen like Alixzander Tauru and Matt Whitlock who clubs could go either way with their development, Tauru noe seems likely to be the 1st tall taken.

Definitely a fair question to be asking. Presumably they would have communicated this to Welsh and his family.

My guess, and it's only my own uneducated guess, is that they wouldn't be prepared to match any bids inside the top-30.

 

[Mutineer]

Can you provide a list of those who left

Other than Greenwood and Keath who both wanted to stay here

Dangerfield, Leaver, Gunston, Cameron will that do for starters?

 

[Scorpus]

Dangerdield, Leaver, Gunston, Cameron will that do for starters?

I strongly believe Lever and Cameron would have stayed if we paid them more. If they were drafted after 2020 they'd be sitting here with contracts similar to Rachele and Soligo.

Dangerfield loved the club and has consistently spoken about his time here positively. Do you honestly think Nicks would have retained him under similar circumstances?

 

[Vader]

Dangerdield, Leaver, Gunston, Cameron will that do for starters?

We're talking about the culture as it was just before Nicks took over - say around 2018-2019. Dangerfield & Gunston were loooong gone by then. Cameron is a legitimate example though.

 

[Coopers]

Can we have some better rumours today please?

Do I have to make something up?

 

[Mutineer]

We're talking about the culture as it was just before Nicks took over - say around 2018-2019. Dangerfield & Gunston were loooong gone by then. Cameron is a legitimate example though.

All I know is Adelaide within the industry has had a long held belief that we had a retention problem holding our better interstate players for whatever reason. Since Nicks has taken over that seems to be far better, early days yet but so far so good.

 

[Golumless]

Nicks wants/need for experience directly works against culling the senior entitlement at times because he overlooks a lot of things he doesn't seem to tolerate from others if they're in the top 25-30% of our games played.

Like would Brodie Smith have been given as much rope as he was this year if he'd played 26 games instead of 262?

Considering Nankervis survived for 19 games straight in what was a heavily under-performing sector and was performing at a similar click to Smith, I think it's pretty safe to say yes, he would have been given as much rope with our current list.

 

[GreyCrow]

Dangerdield, Leaver, Gunston, Cameron will that do for starters?

Thats a fair list

Dangerfield after 8 years

Lever 3 - was that us or was it outside influences?

Cameron 4 - again like Lever was he dazzled by the coin

Gunston 2 - 2012 not even in the conversation

But I recognise the others left in a 2016-2017 window so fair point

 

[George Kramer]

Considering Nankervis survived for 19 games straight in what was a heavily under performing sector, I think it's pretty safe to say yes, he would have been given as much rope with our current list.

What? Nank had a good year and are you forgetting Nank playing well against Port only to be made sub for a returning Smith whose contribution was 2 kick ins against Port when he came on?