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

[Carn The Texan]

We signed this guy on to the end of 2026, what, 15 days ago?

 

[Head Selector]

Pinning everything on the coach is fine in a 'the buck stops here' sort of way. Nicks is ultimately responsible for the performance of the team, and I think some of our skill errors are related to not having a clear sense of what to do, which is a gameplan problem.

But for example tonight when Michalanney had the ball in a ton of space after Dawson set him up and just missed a 20 metre pass into the forward 50 and kicked it straight to a defender - that is not gameplan related as far as I'm concerned. Last year he nails that pass, and this is not a spot where he doesn't have a target or doesn't know what to do or is under a ton of pressure. So for me that's form, or you can call it confidence or whatever you want. This has been happening a ton, especially against Fremantle which was some of the worst skills I've seen from Adelaide since the spoon year.

Still warrants the question of what has happened of course, but last year guys like Dawson, Michalanney, Hinge etc. are not missing some of the kicks they've been missing this season. We've got a bunch of issues and on top of that some of our stronger players are playing quite poorly.

Good coaches instill confidence in their players and Great coaches know how to shift focus and energy with each individual player to regain and maintain an optimal mindset .

Nick's doesn't have it .

 

[George Kramer]

Kane at least challenged him. Pointed out that Rankine went into the middle, we got a clearance and a goal. Next CBA was Laird, Crouch and Berry, Melbourne won the clearance and goaled

 

[cleanhands]

So Nicks had coffee with David King yesterday.

He disagreed with Kings comments about our vanilla midfield. So if he’s not going to take on board Kings analysis, then why the coffee? To shut him up? To get him to like him so he supports him?

Well the latter seems to have worked. He reckons Nicks is a good coach and it’s lack of talent. This besides King criticising our midfield mix, selections and game plan, all fair given Nicks wouldn’t have control over any of that….

It’s hard to find people who are true to their word these days

 

[Twist_of_Lemon]

Absolutely dumb, extending Nicks with a losing record to start the season but also not been in finals since he’s been in charge

You could say that "all I want" is for him and his ilk to get the **** out of the club before he is the "downfall of us all". His coaching is a "monument" to the "price we pay" for having useless, brain-dead board members re-signing such a hack.

 

[MrBarry]

So Nicks had coffee with David King yesterday.

He disagreed with Kings comments about our vanilla midfield. So if he’s not going to take on board Kings analysis, then why the coffee? To shut him up? To get him to like him so he supports him?

Well the latter seems to have worked. He reckons Nicks is a good coach and it’s lack of talent. This besides King criticising our midfield mix, selections and game plan, all fair given Nicks wouldn’t have control over any of that….

I can't think of any people id like to have a pint with less than Nicks and David King, much less a ****ing coffee

 

[Slippery Pete]

Your right but really it's Roo who is to blame. Olson would be kept up to date but the rest have very little input into any football decisions. Given the football knowledge of some of them that is probably a good thing.

The buck stops with the board.

Well, in a serious football club it does.

The AFC is not a serious football club.

 

[Slippery Pete]

So Nicks had coffee with David King yesterday.

He disagreed with Kings comments about our vanilla midfield. So if he’s not going to take on board Kings analysis, then why the coffee? To shut him up? To get him to like him so he supports him?

Well the latter seems to have worked. He reckons Nicks is a good coach and it’s lack of talent. This besides King criticising our midfield mix, selections and game plan, all fair given Nicks wouldn’t have control over any of that….

So Nicks had a coffee with him and King stopped ripping him?

I need to have a coffee with the mods.

 

[FR0GGY]

Dowling should have a coffee with Nicks

 

[Slippery Pete]

Dowling should have a coffee with Nicks

Samcro24 should have a coffee with me

 

[Slippery Pete]

That won’t stop me ripping him, but I like coffee.

 

[Redline]

The buck stops with the board.

Well, in a serious football club it does.

The AFC is not a serious football club.

Your right but people like Fellows, Goodings, Ellis, Berggren, Fennell, Randall, Roche and Lynch would have next zero influence on anything football related.

Doesn't mean they shouldn't be accountable though.

 

[relapse]

My seats last night were on the wing, right on the fence so it gave me a completely different view point of the game.

After stewing on it last night and sleeping on it here's my opinion of Nicks' game plan last night.

We seemed way too committed on stacking too many players around the contest, I know Nicks has an obsession about winning contested ball so I'm guessing he is stacking numbers around the ball to try and achieve that.

The problem then was that we had so many guys around the contest that when we have the ball we were outnumbered up forward so we were just bombing the ball to a contest (often 2 on 1) and because we're short of numbers the ball comes easily out of our forwardline. If we didn't bomb the ball, we're standing there flat footed or kicking sideways because all of our players are were around the contest and there was no one to move the ball to.

When you look at our stats, we dominated the possession stats (9 out of the 10 top possession getters were Crows player). So given that Nicks coaches via Champion Data analytics he most probably looks at those numbers and ticks it off as a win, but the reality is that you can win as much contested midfield ball all you want, but if you're taking numbers to do that and that leaves you unable to move the ball effectively then it's a false economy.

Honestly I've seen enough now to know that Nicks is a dud with absolutely zero tactical nous and should be sacked at the end of the year.

 

[SugarShane]

We signed this guy on to the end of 2026, what, 15 days ago?

Yeah but how much better are we going now without the "distraction" of his contract status.

 

[cleanhands]

Yeah but how much better are we going now without the "distraction" of his contract status.

We’ve got our structures back on track: really what the f* does that mean: surely he’s being called into the office this morning an told, please put these structures up here on the white board, ………… thankyou now we will go and review our last three games will get back to you

 

[George Kramer]

We’ve got our structures back on track: really what the f* does that mean: surely he’s being called into the office this morning an told, please put these structures up here on the white board, ………… thankyou now we will go and review our last three games will get back to you

And if they are back on track, why did they fail for the first 3 games?

In reality, it’s just something he’s come up with as he needs to say something as he won’t admit he’s stuffed our game plan and his selections suck.

 

[FullyBigKPro]

My seats last night were on the wing, right on the fence so it gave me a completely different view point of the game.

After stewing on it last night and sleeping on it here's my opinion of Nicks' game plan last night.

We seemed way too committed on stacking too players around the contest, I know Nicks has an obsession about winning contested ball so I'm guessing he is stacking around around the ball to try and achieve that.

The problem then was that we had so many guys around the contest that when we have the ball we were outnumbered up forward so we were just bombing the ball to a contest (often 2 on 1) and because we're short of numbers the ball comes easily out of our backline. If we didn't bomb the ball, we're standing there flat footed or kicking sideways because all of our players are were around the contest and there was no one to move the ball to.

When you look at our stats, we dominated the possession stats (9 out of the 10 top possession getters were Crows player). So given that Nicks coaches via Champion Data analytics he most probably looks at those numbers and ticks it off as a win, but the reality is that you can win as much contested midfield ball all you want, but if you're taking numbers to do that and that leaves you unable to move the ball effectively then it's a false economy.

Honestly I've seen enough now to know that Nicks is a dud with absolutely zero tactical nous and should be sacked at the end of the year.

Acceptance is the first part of the healing process

I'm almost past the frustration stage and moving into total apathy.

A wooden plank could coach our team better than Nicks.

 

[cleanhands]

And if they are back on track, why did they fail for the first 3 games?

In reality, it’s just something he’s come up with as he needs to say something as he won’t admit he’s stuffed our game plan and his selections suck.

We’ve tinkered with a few things half time, yeh what we’re they

We’ve moved Rach onto the ball
Put Laird to Cover ………
Put ? Forward
Geez give us something

 

[Samcro24]

That won’t stop me ripping him, but I like coffee.

Yeah I’d buy you a soy latte

 

[cleanhands]

My seats last night were on the wing, right on the fence so it gave me a completely different view point of the game.

After stewing on it last night and sleeping on it here's my opinion of Nicks' game plan last night.

We seemed way too committed on stacking too players around the contest, I know Nicks has an obsession about winning contested ball so I'm guessing he is stacking around around the ball to try and achieve that.

The problem then was that we had so many guys around the contest that when we have the ball we were outnumbered up forward so we were just bombing the ball to a contest (often 2 on 1) and because we're short of numbers the ball comes easily out of our backline. If we didn't bomb the ball, we're standing there flat footed or kicking sideways because all of our players are were around the contest and there was no one to move the ball to.

When you look at our stats, we dominated the possession stats (9 out of the 10 top possession getters were Crows player). So given that Nicks coaches via Champion Data analytics he most probably looks at those numbers and ticks it off as a win, but the reality is that you can win as much contested midfield ball all you want, but if you're taking numbers to do that and that leaves you unable to move the ball effectively then it's a false economy.

Honestly I've seen enough now to know that Nicks is a dud with absolutely zero tactical nous and should be sacked at the end of the year.

He’s got the players tight and enjoying each other’s company, Thanks Mathew it’s now time to move on before our young guys lose their passion and don’t plateau out which we are starting to see

 

[Rory Walkerfield]

We are poor across all aspects of the club. Anybody remember this AFC article?

Forward trio primed for midfield rotations

The 20-year-old is embarking on his third AFL season

www.afc.com.au

It's a puff piece put out by the club, but holds some key information:

The article talks of how he spent more time in the midfield group during the preseason.

“I think myself, Izak (Rankine) and Luke (Pedlar) will have a pretty fluid rotation through there which I think will be very exciting, we all bring similar strengths and work together really well."

So the club releases an article about how Rachele will play more midfield. Rachele confirms this and talks about his expectations for more midfield time in 2024. He spent a lot of time in the midfield in the first 7 rounds of 2023.

Then we start the season - Rachele gets a total of 2 CBA's in the first 2 games in bad losses and our midfield is labeled "Vanilla".

Prior to the Free game this article comes out.

Young star promises to 'inject myself' for Crows

'I'd like to go in there a little bit more'

wwos.nine.com.au

His direct quotes:

"I'd like to inject myself in at times, especially when you have those quarters on the weekend when you're not getting a lot of the ball"
"I'd like to go in there a little bit more and not just help myself, but help the team a bit more as well"

How did Nicks respond to this. Quite simply by giving him ZERO CBA's the next two weeks and we are now 0-4.

Are we starting to see the first real rifts between the lovable Matty Nicks and the playing group? Would imagine Rankine, Pedlar and Rachele are all not too happy right now.

That first article aged well. It was 6 weeks ago it was written. So at the end of preseason not early in!

 

[FR0GGY]

Who’s going to tell Rhys Cole our game plan isn’t fast.

 

[Scorpus]

My seats last night were on the wing, right on the fence so it gave me a completely different view point of the game.

After stewing on it last night and sleeping on it here's my opinion of Nicks' game plan last night.

We seemed way too committed on stacking too players around the contest, I know Nicks has an obsession about winning contested ball so I'm guessing he is stacking numbers around the ball to try and achieve that.

The problem then was that we had so many guys around the contest that when we have the ball we were outnumbered up forward so we were just bombing the ball to a contest (often 2 on 1) and because we're short of numbers the ball comes easily out of our forwardline. If we didn't bomb the ball, we're standing there flat footed or kicking sideways because all of our players are were around the contest and there was no one to move the ball to.

When you look at our stats, we dominated the possession stats (9 out of the 10 top possession getters were Crows player). So given that Nicks coaches via Champion Data analytics he most probably looks at those numbers and ticks it off as a win, but the reality is that you can win as much contested midfield ball all you want, but if you're taking numbers to do that and that leaves you unable to move the ball effectively then it's a false economy.

Honestly I've seen enough now to know that Nicks is a dud with absolutely zero tactical nous and should be sacked at the end of the year.

The biggest failing of Nicks as a coach is that he plays an extra at stoppage to win more stoppages but our stoppages are still ineffective

 

[skam85]

Well now we can add Alex Pearce to this ever growing list.

Steven May this week.

Mitch McGovern to have 25 touches and 15 marks next week

 

[DJ75]

I've been thinking about what might be the biggest issues we are currently facing. We could point to drafting and recruiting etc..., but in the end I think the biggest cause of our problems is - over coaching.

Think about Rachele when he first arrived. Think about the energy, confidence and enthusiasm he had. He was bubbling, fast and dangerous.
Watch him now. He's struggling. He looks slower. He looks nervous and confused. His confidence is gone. We did that.

We do it all the time. We did it to Jones to the point that he couldn't figure out if he should get the ball or wait - for an entire season.

I suspect our coaches are very ordinary. Maybe below average thinkers. To compensate they think the answer is to over analyse and criticise players for every action. They think they are therefore working hard as a 'coach'. Whereas a good coach understands what each player needs. Some need criticism, some need encouragement. Some need reminders only.
I don't think any of our coaches are smart enough for this.

I don't think our drafting has been good - there are some very obvious howlers. But, I also don't think it's as bad as it looks because our development of players is atrocious.