Opinion Matthew Nicks: Adelaide's Coach (Part 2) - Full Support of the Board

[CrowBloke]

In defence of Nicks, I think we’re starting to tactically see how he wants us to play. He has tightened our defence which was a focus, and you can see in how he wants us to move the ball. We are very dangerous on counter attack, and the slingshot style has been working (at least when we get it in the right players hands).

BUT, in criticism of Nicks:

The issues I still think we need to address are:

• Ball movement is too one dimensional, particularly out of the back 50.
• We don’t score enough from forward half turnover, I don’t know where you find the numbers but from eye test I suspect we’d be rated low.
• We put too much pressure on our defence with this style. We need to have levers to pull to control territory a bit more as a plan B if necessary.
  • Selection issues are obviously still huge.

I agree with the latter part, but nearly didn't read on when you said:
"In defence of Nicks ...".

Seeing what he's trying to do is one thing.
I'm much more concerned with what is actually happening.
The road to high draft picks is paved with good intentions.

 

[CrowBloke]

Serious questions for our head Coach:
What do tall, strong-marking intercept defenders like Stewart (just about BOG against us), Payne (killed Tex on Thursday night) and Moore (and more ) just loooove ?

What will you instruct our mids and other suppliers to do when kicking into our F50 this week?

Hold my beer ...

 

[BACCS]

One thing I'd add is that, while it has improved from how awful it was in the first month, our ball movement entering forward 50 is also quite poor. There's still a lot of really poor decision making there at times.

Score sources are found in the Champion Data dungeon. The only time the public finds out about them is when somebody who has access to it mentions them.

That is completely incorrect. The only reason we are now winning games is because we are efficient with our scoring for the number of I50s we have (especially accuracy as we are getting shots from far better positions than our opponent), despite losing areas like clearances and I50 count. It's why we won the Carlton and Port games, drew the Brisbane game and stayed in the game vs the Bombers.

 

[Soggy2112]

This is not the positive for Nicks that you think it is. And it is very generous of you to give him time he doesn't deserve. I'll save you the trouble of waiting. Relying on slingshot as the primary mode of scoring will not result in a victory against Collingwood.

The guy has taken are major strength and obliterated it for a style of play that is less attractive to watch and doesn't result in success.


So the sling shot style works really well, except when it doesn't and that is often. Just a hint for you, but sweating on opposition turn overs and then counter attacking as a primary mode for scoring relies on the opposition turning the ball over, offering little pressure on our ball carriers, and not having spares back, this is before we even get to our own ball movement. It is a flaky and flat track bully style of play that does not tend to work well in high pressure games like finals, unless you're a team with elite ball movement that can cut up the opposition, that is not us.

Cast your mind back to the 2008/2009 when Craig had us employ the slingshot as our primary mode of scoring, we had a better side then and the best we could do is beat up on average teams.

Also none of these things will be fixed by Nicks and his coaching panel because they are strategically and tactically bankrupt.

For the record I’m not a Nicks fan, I’m still in the sack him at seasons end camp.

However, he has tightened up the defence which he needed to.

The slingshot is working WHEN we are able to win the ball at half back. The issue I see is that we are so intent on getting the ball into this position where we have numbers at the contest on a half back flank that we are doing nothing else. See our kick ins currently.

Now, IF, by the end of the year he adds more strings to that bow so we have other ways to move the ball then I may change my tune. I also think that being more unpredictable will go a long way to fix the issue of conceding intercept marks. I don’t think the entries are entirely the problem. Footy is a chaotic game, we need to have ways to score and retain possession/territory even if the skill execution isn’t perfect. Being more unpredictable will make it harder for Andrews/Lever/Stewart to position themselves.

I’m still not a fan as I said but we need to be objective.

Our opening month was poor, however, since then have played 3 top 8 teams and last years grand finalists and come away with 2 wins, 1 draw and a 3 point loss. Add a comfortable victory against North and that is a very good 5 weeks of football.

I’m not happy with how we’re going yet and still not sold on Nicks, but as I said, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

 

[Soggy2112]

That is completely incorrect. The only reason we are now winning games is because we are efficient with our scoring for the number of I50s we have, despite losing areas like clearances and I50 count. It's why we won the Carlton and Port games and stayed in the game vs the Bombers.

Agreed. I think the problem with our game plan currently is it feels like we either score or it’s an intercept mark. We don’t seem to hold the ball in and get repeat entries which is crucial in today’s AFL.

 

[BACCS]

Agreed. I think the problem with our game plan currently is it feels like we either score or it’s an intercept mark. We don’t seem to hold the ball in and get repeat entries which is crucial in today’s AFL.

Repeat entries are not always important if under severe pressure or just hack kicks that end up OOB or in a ball up. Port play this game style and have been exposed on multiple occasions this year; the narrower Geelong oval definitely suited this style far more than any other ground will.

 

[BACCS]

The past 3 weeks?

We've been doing that for as long as I can remember under Nicks.

Majority of clubs do, very good article about kick ins on the AFL site today.

 

[Soggy2112]

Repeat entries are not always important if under severe pressure or just hack kicks that end up OOB or in a ball up. Port play this game style and have been exposed on multiple occasions this year; the narrower Geelong oval definitely suited this style far more than any other ground will.

Repeat entries doesn’t have to mean bomb it in, rinse and repeat. I think the way Melbourne have tweaked their game this year is a good example.

The goal would be to allow us to win the ball back cleanly between centre/wing and half forward. Flick the ball around and use that pressure to get the defence out of position.

The Fogarty go ahead goal would be the blueprint. Put pressure on and force the turnover, defence is then out of post allowing clean delivery inside 50. This isn’t a usual avenue to goal for us at the moment.

Currently it feels like if we don’t score in the first inside 50 then we end up defending again.

 

[George Kramer]

Serious questions for our head Coach:
What do tall, strong-marking intercept defenders like Stewart (just about BOG against us), Payne (killed Tex on Thursday night) and Moore (and more ) just loooove ?

What will you instruct our mids and other suppliers to do when kicking into our F50 this week?

Hold my beer ...

Because we are predictable. When we bring the ball in on a straight line and go to the same targets, it’s very easy for the opposition to plan for our entries. That and Tex was poor one one one, he had to bring those contests to ground.

We needed to have switched the play and used more targets. Someone like McAdam would have been very handy.

 

[BigBoSS_Riot]

That is completely incorrect. The only reason we are now winning games is because we are efficient with our scoring for the number of I50s we have (especially accuracy as we are getting shots from far better positions than our opponent), despite losing areas like clearances and I50 count. It's why we won the Carlton and Port games, drew the Brisbane game and stayed in the game vs the Bombers.

Incorrect on Port. Our I50 efficiency was actually worse than there's, despite what you'd think. We only scored 18 times from 47 entries. Our defence won that game for us.
Also incorrect on Carlton - they had 8 more scores from 3 more entries. They were more effective at entering forward 50, we were just exceptionally accurate.
You're sort of correct in regards to Essendon, but that was more their inaccuracy rather than anything else.
You're correct on Brisbane, as we had the same score from 8 less entries.

I never criticised our accuracy. But we have our fair share of dubious entries. The stats prove that too. We're still 12th for shot efficiency, 11th for goal efficiency and 12th for marks inside 50. All of our problems haven't magically been fixed.

 

[Sanders]

That is completely incorrect. The only reason we are now winning games is because we are efficient with our scoring for the number of I50s we have (especially accuracy as we are getting shots from far better positions than our opponent), despite losing areas like clearances and I50 count. It's why we won the Carlton and Port games, drew the Brisbane game and stayed in the game vs the Bombers.

We are now winning games?

 

[WaynesWorld19]

This is Champion Data's analysis of ADEL .....great listen, from 32min:20 sec

 

[WetCrow1991]

For the record I’m not a Nicks fan, I’m still in the sack him at seasons end camp.

However, he has tightened up the defence which he needed to.

The slingshot is working WHEN we are able to win the ball at half back. The issue I see is that we are so intent on getting the ball into this position where we have numbers at the contest on a half back flank that we are doing nothing else. See our kick ins currently.

Now, IF, by the end of the year he adds more strings to that bow so we have other ways to move the ball then I may change my tune. I also think that being more unpredictable will go a long way to fix the issue of conceding intercept marks. I don’t think the entries are entirely the problem. Footy is a chaotic game, we need to have ways to score and retain possession/territory even if the skill execution isn’t perfect. Being more unpredictable will make it harder for Andrews/Lever/Stewart to position themselves.

I’m still not a fan as I said but we need to be objective.

Our opening month was poor, however, since then have played 3 top 8 teams and last years grand finalists and come away with 2 wins, 1 draw and a 3 point loss. Add a comfortable victory against North and that is a very good 5 weeks of football.

I’m not happy with how we’re going yet and still not sold on Nicks, but as I said, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

You say we need to be objective, but in the same post are talking about our recent record including the line "last years grand finalists" regarding Brisbane. Talk about disingenous, last years grand finalists are injury riddled, playing ordinary footy and had terrible prep before playing us. We should have won that game well. You know, like the same fixture in 2023 when we won well against a much better Brisbane at home.

You sure you're not confused the end of the tunnel with the start?

 

[BACCS]

Repeat entries doesn’t have to mean bomb it in, rinse and repeat. I think the way Melbourne have tweaked their game this year is a good example.

The goal would be to allow us to win the ball back cleanly between centre/wing and half forward. Flick the ball around and use that pressure to get the defence out of position.

The Fogarty go ahead goal would be the blueprint. Put pressure on and force the turnover, defence is then out of post allowing clean delivery inside 50. This isn’t a usual avenue to goal for us at the moment.

Currently it feels like if we don’t score in the first inside 50 then we end up defending again.

I’m not sure Melbourne is a great example, they’re seriously struggling to score and relied on a midfielder moving forward on the weekend.

 

[BACCS]

Incorrect on Port. Our I50 efficiency was actually worse than there's, despite what you'd think. We only scored 18 times from 47 entries. Our defence won that game for us.
Also incorrect on Carlton - they had 8 more scores from 3 more entries. They were more effective at entering forward 50, we were just exceptionally accurate.
You're sort of correct in regards to Essendon, but that was more their inaccuracy rather than anything else.
You're correct on Brisbane, as we had the same score from 8 less entries.

I never criticised our accuracy. But we have our fair share of dubious entries. The stats prove that too. We're still 12th for shot efficiency, 11th for goal efficiency and 12th for marks inside 50. All of our problems haven't magically been fixed.

Our accuracy comes from good entries though and hitting up targets in good positions (inside 30 or straight in front). Our defense has held up too, but our goal scoring efficiency per I50 has been very good and a reason why we have had a decent month. That doesn’t come from poor entries. Look at my post below, we don’t need to necessarily get a repeat entry, as we are very good at causing an opponent to turn it over before they even exit our 50.

All teams have s**t entries each and every game. Those stats you quote are also useless if you include the first 3 games, I’m clearly talking about the games since.

 

[BACCS]

This is Champion Data's analysis of ADEL .....great listen, from 32min:20 sec

• Over last 6 weeks, 4th best team at turning a possession into a score
• 3rd best team this season at causing our opponent to turn the ball over when they have it in clean possession (eg switching); an example was causing Brisbane to have 7 turnovers in their D50 on the weekend from pressuring their ability to move the ball forward easily (we scored 2 goals 5 behinds that) - for reference Collingwood are number one at this
• More than half our score in the last 2 weeks has come from D50, but we can struggle to clear our defensive half. Basically, if we get it past halfway, we score.

 

[George Kramer]

• Over last 6 weeks, 4th best team at turning a possession into a score
• 3rd best team this season at causing our opponent to turn the ball over when they have it in clean possession (eg switching); an example was causing Brisbane to have 7 turnovers in their D50 on the weekend from pressuring their ability to move the ball forward easily (we scored 2 goals 5 behinds that) - for reference Collingwood are number one at this
• More than half our score in the last 2 weeks has come from D50, but we can struggle to clear our defensive half. Basically, if we get it past halfway, we score.

Because we are now moving the ball quickly and abandoned the game plan Nicks had our team practising all preseason, all hail Nicks

 

[AFC979810]

I think I mentioned this before, Rowie made a comment a few weeks ago that Nicks isn't going anywhere.

He said that the club is 100% committed to Nicks for 2025. Even if 2024 ends badly the club is prepared to take a broom to the assistants and to refresh the box, but Nicks will still be there.

Clubs are always loyal to coaches right until they are not.

Things change very quickly in this landscape.