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

[Geoffa32]

Bucks on the couch just said we are the team with the most 'pressure' incurred upon them in games...

Teams literally must be licking their lips to play us....

The eye test says that as well.

We started the Freo game pretty good.

Then Freo upped the defensive pressure and our guys fell away.

Geelong applied it all game.


The pressure in the GC game was the wet track. Our better base fitness allowed us to run over the top in last 8 minutes.




Every team knows we can only operate in ideal conditions. Apply defensive pressure our guys start to panic.
Then our skills fall away, not that they are great anyway.

On SM-A325F using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[AFC979810]

Jordan Dawson

12

Jordan Dawson

Age

27

Ht

190cm

Wt

91kg

Pos.

Mid

Career

Season

Last 5

D

17.0

4star

K

11.4

4star

HB

5.7

4star

M

4.8

5star

T

2.8

4star

CL

0.6

3star

D

15.7

4star

K

10.9

4star

HB

4.9

3star

M

2.9

3star

T

2.0

3star

CL

0.4

3star

D

11.8

3star

K

7.8

3star

HB

4.0

3star

M

5.0

5star

T

3.0

5star

CL

0.6

3star

DE by year:

Swans 2021 - 78.8%
Crows 2022 - 75.8%
Crows 2023 - 71.3%
Crows 2024 - 55.7%

488 players have played AFL football this year. Jordan Dawson

12

Jordan Dawson

Age

27

Ht

190cm

Wt

91kg

Pos.

Mid

Career

Season

Last 5

D

17.0

4star

K

11.4

4star

HB

5.7

4star

M

4.8

5star

T

2.8

4star

CL

0.6

3star

D

15.7

4star

K

10.9

4star

HB

4.9

3star

M

2.9

3star

T

2.0

3star

CL

0.4

3star

D

11.8

3star

K

7.8

3star

HB

4.0

3star

M

5.0

5star

T

3.0

5star

CL

0.6

3star

is ranked #452 for DE.

Surprisingly he is 3rd worst barely ahead of Taylor Walker

13

Taylor Walker

Age

34

Ht

194cm

Wt

102kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

13.0

3star

K

9.0

3star

HB

4.0

3star

M

5.7

5star

T

1.6

4star

G

2.3

5star

No current season stats available

D

8.0

2star

K

6.4

3star

HB

1.6

2star

M

4.2

4star

T

1.6

4star

G

1.6

5star

#462 and Luke Pedlar #479.

 

[Slippery Pete]

Unfortunately Bucks is right here. It was a stupid observation by Montagna.

Like teams weren’t going to work on us last year to stop our scoring?

The current situation is self inflicted.

It wasn’t stupid at all. Bickley’s analysis of it was stupid, and missed the actual take home of the statistic.

 

[Slippery Pete]

Illogical premise .....you make the call on the body of work .....not on whether you win the next game

Making the call on his body of work would be even worse for him

 

[Slippery Pete]

What does the club do if we are 0-7, 0-8 ?
How are they going to spin that ?

“This is exactly why we signed him. Imagine if we were 0-8 and we hadn’t signed him!”

 

[Coopers]

Jordan Dawson DE by year:

Swans 2021 - 78.8%
Crows 2022 - 75.8%
Crows 2023 - 71.3%
Crows 2024 - 55.7%

488 players have played AFL football this year. Jordan Dawson is ranked #452 for DE.

Surprisingly he is 3rd worst barely ahead of Taylor Walker #462 and Luke Pedlar #479.

It's because Laird, Crouch and Berry are high number, short distance posession getters - meaning Dawson is the one they are supposed to get it to to kick well. So Dawson is now getting double teamed nearly constantly. Always under pressure, never in the clear. Oppo mids will leave their man to double up on Dawson.

And it's killing us - very little hurt from stoppages, even if we win the ball, for us this year.

So it's about the midfield mix. Dawson can't get off the chain in this scenario, so there needs to be someone else dangerous there too, and then one of them has a better chance to make it happen.

 

[DJ75]

Jordan Dawson DE by year:

Swans 2021 - 78.8%
Crows 2022 - 75.8%
Crows 2023 - 71.3%
Crows 2024 - 55.7%

488 players have played AFL football this year. Jordan Dawson is ranked #452 for DE.

Surprisingly he is 3rd worst barely ahead of Taylor Walker #462 and Luke Pedlar #479.

We sure did fix him!

 

[TheLeftFist8]

It's because Laird, Crouch and Berry are high number, short distance posession getters - meaning Dawson is the one they are supposed to get it to to kick well. So Dawson is now getting double teamed nearly constantly. Always under pressure, never in the clear. Oppo mids will leave their man to double up on Dawson.

And it's killing us - very little hurt from stoppages, even if we win the ball, for us this year.

So it's about the midfield mix. Dawson can't get off the chain in this scenario, so there needs to be someone else dangerous there too, and then one of them has a better chance to make it happen.

Exactly.

But because of the other hacks/imbalance of midfield Dawson becomes the extractor and in that role he himself becomes a hack. Isolate his inside mid work and he's a terrible ball user going from inside to outside. Then watch him when he receives the ball in space and we see signs that the old Dawson is alive and well (though down on confidence with the weight of a team on his shoulders).

Can he play well as part of midfield rotation? Yes! But he should more often be the receiver, not the inside ball hunter. Decent ball hunters who may actually execute with skill are Crouch (slow but very clean), Soligo and Rankine (the only two with the combo of explosiveness, evasion, smarts and skill to drive out of stoppage and get it to advantage). Rachele is a possible but runs one way and Pedlar has the explosiveness but will bomb blindly.

Soligo must be in the midfield mix at all times! He should be the 'hit to' player on the move. Crouch the 'in and under' bull. Dawson a more traditional sweeper type role that can handball receive out the back or on the overlap.

Starting mids: Crouch, Soligo, Dawson
Mid rotation options: Laird (only when Crouch not in), Rankine, Dowling, Rachele, Pedlar

 

[AFC979810]

It wasn’t stupid at all. Bickley’s analysis of it was stupid, and missed the actual take home of the statistic.

It was.

Using the fact that we are 8-0 when we score 100+ points is a stupid comparison when the AFL winning percentage when scoring 100 points is 97%.

Leigh wasn't wrong - but it was a stupid stat. basically said if the Crows score more points then the opposition then thats going to go a long way towards winning the football match.

 

[Samcro24]

Illogical premise .....you make the call on the body of work .....not on whether you win the next game

The body of work is bog average.

Unless you class all the close losses last year as wins.

Which I think is pretty clear the club has done.

Which of course is insane.

 

[Samcro24]

It's because Laird, Crouch and Berry are high number, short distance posession getters - meaning Dawson is the one they are supposed to get it to to kick well. So Dawson is now getting double teamed nearly constantly. Always under pressure, never in the clear. Oppo mids will leave their man to double up on Dawson.

And it's killing us - very little hurt from stoppages, even if we win the ball, for us this year.

So it's about the midfield mix. Dawson can't get off the chain in this scenario, so there needs to be someone else dangerous there too, and then one of them has a better chance to make it happen.

Dawson should be on the wing.

Not in a 'chuck Laird Crouch and Sloane on the ball' kind of way, but in a 'we recruited a few gun mids over the years and can afford to shift Dawson to the wing' kind of way.

 

[BACCS]

David King keeps banging on that Nicks is a good coach and we just don’t have the talent on the list, so he’s being handicapped.

Talked about our reliance on Tex, but then ignored we had another 6 players kick 20-30+ goals in 2023. If we were fully reliant on Tex, then we aren’t the highest scoring team in 2023.

It was very evident against Freo that our issues lie forward of the ball and hint Kingy, talent isn’t the problem. They didn’t collectively lose that talent in one pre season and 3 games.

 

[AFC979810]

Exactly.

But because of the other hacks/imbalance of midfield Dawson becomes the extractor and in that role he himself becomes a hack. Isolate his inside mid work and he's a terrible ball user going from inside to outside. Then watch him when he receives the ball in space and we see signs that the old Dawson is alive and well (though down on confidence with the weight of a team on his shoulders).

Can he play well as part of midfield rotation? Yes! But he should more often be the receiver, not the inside ball hunter. Decent ball hunters who may actually execute with skill are Crouch (slow but very clean), Soligo and Rankine (the only two with the combo of explosiveness, evasion, smarts and skill to drive out of stoppage and get it to advantage). Rachele is a possible but runs one way and Pedlar has the explosiveness but will bomb blindly.

Soligo must be in the midfield mix at all times! He should be the 'hit to' player on the move. Crouch the 'in and under' bull. Dawson a more traditional sweeper type role that can handball receive out the back or on the overlap.

Starting mids: Crouch, Soligo, Dawson
Mid rotation options: Laird (only when Crouch not in), Rankine, Dowling, Rachele, Pedlar

I agree that the midfield balance is out of whack, but to blame Dawsons form entirely on that ain't it.

He is no more an extractor than he was in 2023. He certainly didnt look this bad for the last 6 games of 2023 when our primary 3 midfielders were him,Crouch and Laird. Or earlier in the year when it was Dawson, Laird, Keays/Sloane.

He is very much out of form and playing with a lack of confidence. He is still good enough to find plenty of the footy, but he just looks to be second guessing himself. Its not just him. The whole team looks like a golfer who finally shot under 100 then decided to change their swing.

 

[CrowBloke]

s**t planning.
s**t game plan.
s**t coaching.

Yep, all of the above.

Referring to Richmond's Sunday win over the Swans in its AFL Round-up, ABC Sport summarised:
" Richmond on Sunday showed the value of inserting young talent into structures equipped to support them.
Against the Swans, the likes of Tyler Sonsie, Seth Campbell, Rhyan Mansell and Thomson Dow had clearly defined roles and were able to showcase their talents within those.

That's all you want from a rebuilding team — bright signs from the youth, a clear game plan and structure, good skills and unwavering effort. Those ingredients sometimes lead to surprise results." [my emphasis]

For the ATTENTION of Matthew Nicks:
Playing young talent.
In structures.
With clearly defined roles (manic pressure was one of them).
A clear game plan.
Good skills.
Unwavering effort.

All keep-it-simple-stupid qualities.
Don't we all wish we had a Coach who would do/have all of those things?

The Coach responsible for the above is Adam Yze, whom the AFC rejected in 2019, in favour of Nicks .

 

[CrowBloke]

Or a bbq at Roo's house

Or a piss-up at The Hackney ...?
Couldn't hurt .

 

[kirky]

Or a bbq at Roo's house

On the latter, does that inc lines?

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

Jordan Dawson DE by year:

Swans 2021 - 78.8%
Crows 2022 - 75.8%
Crows 2023 - 71.3%
Crows 2024 - 55.7%

488 players have played AFL football this year. Jordan Dawson is ranked #452 for DE.

Surprisingly he is 3rd worst barely ahead of Taylor Walker #462 and Luke Pedlar #479.

Does he have a groin injury maybe? Didn't make the distance from 50 against Geelong

I'm not in the habit of making excuses for players but his kicking wouldn't disappear overnight and he's had groin issues previously from memory

 

[Interloperer]

Does he have a groin injury maybe? Didn't make the distance from 50 against Geelong

I'm not in the habit of making excuses for players but his kicking wouldn't disappear overnight and he's had groin issues previously from memory

I think teams have just worked out that Dawson is very one-sided. Combined with a generally less effective team around him.

 

[AFC979810]

Does he have a groin injury maybe? Didn't make the distance from 50 against Geelong

I'm not in the habit of making excuses for players but his kicking wouldn't disappear overnight and he's had groin issues previously from memory

Was that the one where he had Tex wide open 30 meters out directly in front?

He appears to be moving okay to me, but I just checked his TOG this year:

Round 1: 86% TOG
Round 2: 83% TOG
Round 3: 80% TOG

80% TOG is the least amount of time he has spent on the ground in Crows colours - so maybe something is up.

 

[kirky]

2000 as well. But Garry Ayres survived.

Ayres had just been appointed coach so he could get away with it and he got us to 7-7 after 14 games (and were in the 8) then wheels fell off and we ended up 9-13 finished 11th. We then played finals next 3 years (inc a Preliminary Final in 2002).

 

[Anzacpaul]

No and it never applied to us anyway.


I'd best case scenario for us is if we did (we won't) turf him at the end of the year he's getting a minimum of 12 months payout.

Can the 6 month thing please be pinned to the top of this thread Scorpus . Gets brought up every 10 posts.

 

[Redline]

David King keeps banging on that Nicks is a good coach and we just don’t have the talent on the list, so he’s being handicapped.

I think by year 5 in the job the Coach is as responsible as anyone for the lack of talent.

 

[FR0GGY]

Does he have a groin injury maybe? Didn't make the distance from 50 against Geelong

I'm not in the habit of making excuses for players but his kicking wouldn't disappear overnight and he's had groin issues previously from memory

Newly married, groin issues a possibility.

 

[kirky]

Bicks struggles to criticise the club. He has a good football brain but far to positive. There needs to be some balance.

There are a whole lot of reasons why we are playing like we are but I think Tex and to some extent Dawson hid alot of issues last year.

It's why I have would of moved Tex on a few years back. I get that makes no sense given his form last year but to me there was no point Nicksy building a game plan that involved him.

Why would Bicks criticise the club?

He is the one who heads the Crows Show for the club on tv.

 

[MRB37]

So basically the teams around us or older in their midfield at the very minimum made finals, with Geelong, Bulldogs, Melbourne, Collingwood and Brisbane all having made GF's in the last 3 years.