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

[MrBarry]

The reverse whipping boy. "Poor Guy".

Since his purple patch at the beginning of 2023 (after round 6) - he has played 20 games and kicked a measly 23 goals and 22 behinds.

What happened to his accuracy? During that same time frame - known shanker Ben Keays has kicked 21 goals and 12 behinds (and spent a bunch of that time in the middle). Luke Pedlar has kicked 19 goals 11 behinds.

Not to mention half of those goals came in 4 games against 18th placed North (4) , 17th placed West Coast (2) and 15th places Suns X 2 (6).

During this stretch that means the other 16 games he kicked 11 goals.

During that time span - in the 6 close games against top 4 sides (pies X2, Bris X2, Power, Melbourne) he kicked a combined 5 goals.

This is a bloke we put into our leadership group!

Game on the line. Round 2 - Prime time matchup. 7 minutes left to go in the 4th quarter. We have just kicked the last 2 goals to cut the lead to 16 points. Crouch wins the ball in the middle, handballs to a running Dawson who kicks long inside 50. Walker goes up - ball spills out the back and is collected by Fogarty. Wide open he strolls into the goalsquare to get us within 10 points with plenty of time.

Shank.

Air out of the sails. Geelong kick the next 2 and it's goodnight Crows.

Talk about a sliding doors moment. Its funny though - very few references to this on this board.

The guy has all the tools to be a star. He has shown is talent in games. Its between the ears for Fog. Its the mental part of his game that is stopping him from being as successful as he can be.

Surely a lot of that falls on the coach to address as well?

 

[BigBoSS_Riot]

The reverse whipping boy. "Poor Guy".

Since his purple patch at the beginning of 2023 (after round 6) - he has played 20 games and kicked a measly 23 goals and 22 behinds.

What happened to his accuracy? During that same time frame - known shanker Ben Keays has kicked 21 goals and 12 behinds (and spent a bunch of that time in the middle). Luke Pedlar has kicked 19 goals 11 behinds.

Not to mention half of those goals came in 4 games against 18th placed North (4) , 17th placed West Coast (2) and 15th places Suns X 2 (6).

During this stretch that means the other 16 games he kicked 11 goals.

During that time span - in the 6 close games against top 4 sides (pies X2, Bris X2, Power, Melbourne) he kicked a combined 5 goals.

This is a bloke we put into our leadership group!

Game on the line. Round 2 - Prime time matchup. 7 minutes left to go in the 4th quarter. We have just kicked the last 2 goals to cut the lead to 16 points. Crouch wins the ball in the middle, handballs to a running Dawson who kicks long inside 50. Walker goes up - ball spills out the back and is collected by Fogarty. Wide open he strolls into the goalsquare to get us within 10 points with plenty of time.

Shank.

Air out of the sails. Geelong kick the next 2 and it's goodnight Crows.

Talk about a sliding doors moment. Its funny though - very few references to this on this board.

The guy has all the tools to be a star. He has shown is talent in games. Its between the ears for Fog. Its the mental part of his game that is stopping him from being as successful as he can be.

I mentioned something similar on Twitter at the end of last year. He only kicked 8.12 in our final 8 games.

He's now at 10.16 from his last 11. I know he's a confidence player - moreso than most - but this can't afford to continue. His numbers are stark. Granted, if we played to his strengths a bit more, then he might be travelling better.

 

[BigBoSS_Riot]

Pedlar is an interesting one.

I remember during the preseason a bit of back and forth about his preseason form. I know Stabby got a fair bit of grief for suggesting he might not be in the best 22 to start the season because he was with the 2's in all the match sim.

Based on his form to begin the season - its no wonder he was training with the 2's.

He looks absolutely terrible. 349 players have played 3 games of footy this year. He has the 2nd worst disposal efficiency out of those 349 players with only Jye Menzie being worse. He has averaged 7 touches a game and kicked 2 behinds in 3 games.

It will be very interesting to see what happens with him this week. If we were healthy - a spell against the scrubs in the 2's would probably be best to get his confidence up, however the cupboard is pretty empty.

If it were entirely up to me, he'd be an out (managed). But if we're playing him, I'd like him to spend at least 35-50% time on ball, to see if it injects some vigour into him.

 

[MrBarry]

I mentioned something similar on Twitter at the end of last year. He only kicked 8.12 in our final 8 games.

He's now at 10.16 from his last 11. I know he's a confidence player - moreso than most - but this can't afford to continue. His numbers are stark. Granted, if we played to his strengths a bit more, then he might be travelling better.

Realistically, I don't know that we can hang much on the key forwards this year, there has been a clear breakdown in the way we are playing and even if we had peak Lance Franklin up there we would look awful. Fogs output has to improve, but the coaches should also be looking at ways to get him in the game - i.e. moving him up the ground.

 

[AFC979810]

Surely a lot of that falls on the coach to address as well?

Does it?

Is Nicks to blame for his accuracy?

He has played 82 games.

Those first 62 games - he kicked 96 goals and 36 behinds.

The last 20 games - he kicked 23 goals and 22 behinds.

This board is more than happy to criticize senior players like Murphy, Smith, Laird, Keays, Jones and O'Brien. But somehow this 82 game - 2017 draftee gets a pass.

 

[AFC979810]

If it were entirely up to me, he'd be an out (managed). But if we're playing him, I'd like him to spend at least 35-50% time on ball, to see if it injects some vigour into him.

Not sure I want to be putting a completely out of touch midfielder into a must win game against a midfield of Petracca, Viney and Oliver.

Especially when Rachele / Rankine loom as much better options.

 

[CrowBloke]

But to be fair, a coach can only go so far with the cattle he has. Your list management surely has a lot more to answer for. You need speedy and dynamic mid to compliment what you already have. A Gulden, Butters, or Serong would do nicely.

You speak no bull, taurus .

Serong was taken at #8 in the 2019 draft.
The Crows could have chosen him; picked Fischer McAsey at #6, instead.

Serong and his mid-mates ran rings around Laird/Crouch/Dawson last Friday night .

 

[AFC979810]

A neutral come in peace.

Nicksy was my fav player at the Swans. He started off as a dashing half back who would accurately kick to I50. He was also a true gentleman off the field.

Rocket Eade put Nicksy at HF after a season where he was arguably one of our best players. Nicksy wasn't the most consistent goal kicker, bit like the current Crows, so it was baffling. In hindsight, he began to lose his pace as he was losing his golden locks, many injuries took toll.

He was a product of the gutsy, not as skilled, and flooding Swans of the 90s. He would not shy away from getting into the trenches to lock the ball up, etc.

The reason why I'm reminiscing is that I think Nicks has created a team in reflection of his own playing image - hard, honest footballers who lack the skillset and creativity relative to the competition.

I disagree with this. We were getting progressively more attacking each year under Nicks.

2020 - 18th for goals
2021 - 14th for goals
2022 - 12th for goals
2023 - 1st for goals.

You don't become the highest scoring team in the AFL without having skilled and creative footballers. Our forward line in particular is extremely potent when on. None of Walker, FOG, TT, Rankine, Rachele can be described as hard honest footballers IMO.

We matched up well against the top 4 teams last year. We won 3 and lost 4 (by a combined 13 points).

Adelaide midfield is just... vanilla. Last year was an outlier imo.

But to be fair, a coach can only go so far with the cattle he has. Your list management surely has a lot more to answer for. You need speedy and dynamic mid to compliment what you already have. A Gulden, Butters, or Serong would do nicely.

Now this is spot on. But its not unfixable IMO.

For instance - Look at the Melbourne and GWS midfields. IMO the two best midfields in the league are GWS / Melbourne.

Petracca - 26.8 disposals a game - 392.2 Metres gained per game
Viney - 23.8 disposals a game - 418.8 Metres gained
Oliver - 28.2 disposals a game - 448 Metres gained.

Coniglio - 29.7 disposals a game - 438 metres gained
Green - 33.7 disposals a game - 562 metres gained
Kelly - 28 disposals - 513 metres gained

Compare that to ours:

Crouch - 32.7 disposals a game - 272 metres gained
Laird - 28 disposals a game - 256 metres gained
Dawson - 26.3 disposals a game - 559 metres gained.


Now quality midfields can carry one midfielder who is an accumulator - look at last years Grand Finalists who carried Lachie Neale (26.7 disposals, 310 metres gained) and Tom Mitchell (25 disposals, 272 metres gained).

Our #1 issue that needs to be addressed is that we carry 2 accumulators in Crouch and Laird. Remove one of them and have a player like Rachele, Rankine, Sholl, Hinge - anything other than a combo of Laird/Crouch.

Edit - Another massive issue for us is that our midfielders don't kick goals.

Melbournes 3 midfielders have combined to kick 8 goals so far. GWS have combined for 7. Crouch, Laird, Dawson have combined for zero goals so far this year (Laird/Dawson kicked 9 between them for the entirety of 2023).

In truth we haven't had a goalkicking midfielder since Danger.

 

[AFC979810]

Anyone else of the opinion that the club giving Nicks an extension when they did has actually increased the pressure and expectation on him?

It feels like it's actually had the complete opposite affect that they were hoping it was going to have.

100%.

Its also been a "perfect storm" of pressure for Nicks.

We were hyped up after being the highest scoring team in 2023. Nicks and the Crows were a feel good story for the national media last year and for the first time under Nicks there was a real external expectation around Adelaide.

Combine this with Nicks worst run of injuries he has had at the club since early 2020 and will now be - missing 5 first choice players - Sloane, Murray, Milera, Murphy, TT from his 2023 and is also without depth players Doedee, McAdam, Schoenberg.

Then we start the season playing terrible football. This is compounded by our schedule.

In 2023 - in the first 10 rounds we had 3 night games and only one stand alone night fixture.

Our first 4 games in 2024 are all night games with rounds 2,3,4 being night games and a stand alone fixture. This means that the whole AFL world has watched us fail spectacularly and the media world has a full 24 hours to reflect on how badly we performed before the next news story hits.


'…

 

[AFC979810]

You speak no bull, taurus .

Serong was taken at #8 in the 2019 draft.
The Crows could have chosen him; picked Fischer McAsey at #6, instead.

Serong and his mid-mates ran rings around Laird/Crouch/Dawson last Friday night .

You give us Serong and a coach that isn't the scarecrow from the Wizard of OZ and IMO we are a top 4 team in 2024.

 

[Faaarrk]

The reverse whipping boy. "Poor Guy".

Since his purple patch at the beginning of 2023 (after round 6) - he has played 20 games and kicked a measly 23 goals and 22 behinds.

What happened to his accuracy? During that same time frame - known shanker Ben Keays has kicked 21 goals and 12 behinds (and spent a bunch of that time in the middle). Luke Pedlar has kicked 19 goals 11 behinds.

Not to mention half of those goals came in 4 games against 17th placed North (4) , 18th placed West Coast (2) and 15th places Suns X 2 (6).

During this stretch that means the other 16 games he kicked 11 goals.

During that time span - in the 6 close games against top 4 sides (pies X2, Bris X2, Power, Melbourne) he kicked a combined 5 goals.

This is a bloke we put into our leadership group!

Game on the line. Round 2 - Prime time matchup. 7 minutes left to go in the 4th quarter. We have just kicked the last 2 goals to cut the lead to 16 points. Crouch wins the ball in the middle, handballs to a running Dawson who kicks long inside 50. Walker goes up - ball spills out the back and is collected by Fogarty. Wide open he strolls into the goalsquare to get us within 10 points with plenty of time.

Shank.

Air out of the sails. Geelong kick the next 2 and it's goodnight Crows.

Talk about a sliding doors moment. Its funny though - very few references to this on this board.

The guy has all the tools to be a star. He has shown his talent in games. Its between the ears for Fog. Its the mental part of his game that is stopping him from being as successful as he can be.

Take out Keays goals goals from 10 metres out and see how it looks. So easy to simply look up stats without digging deeper.
Fogs accuracy has dropped as well to be fair.

 

[George Kramer]

Does it?

Is Nicks to blame for his accuracy?

He has played 82 games.

Those first 62 games - he kicked 96 goals and 36 behinds.

The last 20 games - he kicked 23 goals and 22 behinds.

This board is more than happy to criticize senior players like Murphy, Smith, Laird, Keays, Jones and O'Brien. But somehow this 82 game - 2017 draftee gets a pass.

Ahh the protection of senior players, I’m having DMack flashbacks. You’re one odd unit where you defend average senior players but go hard on a young key forward.

Even when he was kicking goals you created some weird 14 possession count threshold.

Sure Fog could be doing better but no one currently in our forward line is kicking goals and that’s been the topic of discussion regarding our slow ball movement and poor forward 50 entries. Our midfield can’t hit a target to save themselves.

Our side has always been Tex centric. You’ve been to games right? Many times I’ve seen Fog clear on the lead only for us to bomb to Tex who has 2 players on him.

 

[Cap]

Does it?

Is Nicks to blame for his accuracy?

He has played 82 games.

Those first 62 games - he kicked 96 goals and 36 behinds.

The last 20 games - he kicked 23 goals and 22 behinds.

This board is more than happy to criticize senior players like Murphy, Smith, Laird, Keays, Jones and O'Brien. But somehow this 82 game - 2017 draftee gets a pass.

My initial post wasn't intended to be defending his form, he is definitely not playing at the level of expect.

However, the service to him and the other forwards has been unacceptable as well.

It was also a veiled insult to the 5AA sports show which has become very hard to listen to.

 

[Sanders]

Even when he was kicking goals you created some weird 14 possession count threshold.

Fair

Our side has always been Tex centric. You’ve been to games right? Many times I’ve seen Fog clear on the lead only for us to bomb to Tex who has 2 players on him.

Also fair

 

[Cap]

Our side has always been Tex centric. You’ve been to games right? Many times I’ve seen Fog clear on the lead only for us to bomb to Tex who has 2 players on him.

Or just flat out kicking it over his head

 

[George Kramer]

Or just flat out kicking it over his head

Stats are available somewhere isn’t there which shows how many times a player is targeted in forward 50?

 

[AFC979810]

Ahh the protection of senior players, I’m having DMack flashbacks. You’re one odd unit where you defend average senior players but go hard on a young key forward.

Not protecting those other players at all. Like it or not - FOG is a senior player and his form over the past 20 games has been very average.

He is the 15th oldest player on our list and has played 11th most games of AFL footy at our club.

Even when he was kicking goals you created some weird 14 possession count threshold.

Well he wasn't really kicking goals though - that was the main point.

And I just found it interesting that no AFL player in history (that I could find) had ever played 50 games and never gotten 14+ touches. He got damn close at I believe 48 games.

Sure Fog could be doing better

My whole point. I am disappointed in his play over the past 20 games. Especially when he showed what he could do in his first 4 games of 2023.

but no one currently in our forward line is kicking goals and that’s been the topic of discussion regarding our slow ball movement and poor forward 50 entries. Our midfield can’t hit a target to save themselves.

True - these past 3 weeks have been a disaster, but his kicking for goal has been very worrying over the past 20 games.

His accuracy and kicking for goal - is one of his biggest attributes.

Our side has always been Tex centric. You’ve been to games right? Many times I’ve seen Fog clear on the lead only for us to bomb to Tex who has 2 players on him.

We are Tex centric. But it doesn't explain his kicking accuracy. Or the first 4 games of 2023 when he looked so damn good. He gave away 2 free kicks during those 4 games of AFL footy then averaged 4 times that over the past 20 games.

 

[Ham]

I think Rachelle Rankine Pedlar and co were told pre season to expect more time in the midfield, what has happened Nicks and co didn’t expect what is being dished up and have S** t the bed and now the young guys have become a bit disheartened from not getting that time

Yeah, what happened to the Rankine experiment? it was looking like a great masterstroke for pre season and the goldcoast game, there at the first bounce.

 

[George Kramer]

Yeah, what happened to the Rankine experiment? it was looking like a great masterstroke for pre season and the goldcoast game, there at the first bounce.

Yep, last 2 preseasons we’ve talked it up, trained for it only to back out when the seasons on.

Another example of coaching genius

 

[FullyBigKPro]

Although admirable, not sure why people are brining up lots of meaningless stats...

Just use the good old fashion 'eye' test. We look terrible.

Don't care how many meaningless possessions Laird/Crouch etc get... If they aren't damaging or skilful, they are irrelevant.

There's a reason our midfield has been called 'Vanilla', its just plain average.

Why Rankine cannot get any CBA's is baffling.

 

[Cap]

Stats are available somewhere isn’t there which shows how many times a player is targeted in forward 50?

I've heard people use it before.

Not sure where we can access it

 

[MRB37]

Does it?

Is Nicks to blame for his accuracy?

He has played 82 games.

Those first 62 games - he kicked 96 goals and 36 behinds.

The last 20 games - he kicked 23 goals and 22 behinds.

This board is more than happy to criticize senior players like Murphy, Smith, Laird, Keays, Jones and O'Brien. But somehow this 82 game - 2017 draftee gets a pass.

First thing you'd need to check is where was he kicking for goal in the first 62 games compared to the last 20.

He kicks drop punts, but it's a hell of a lot harder to consistently kick those goals when you're hemmed into a pocket.

 

[Scorpus]

I reckon you could write a long post right now for basically any player showing they are shit

Might be more to it than the individuals

 

[MRB37]

I reckon you could write a long post right now for basically any player showing they are s**t

Might be more to it than the individuals

That's it for me. I'm sure there are things each player could do better, but when it's an almost team wide issue thing then there's definitely a bigger issue than just the players impacting.

 

[George Kramer]

Just listened to the Matt Crouch

5

Matt Crouch

Age

29

Ht

181cm

Wt

85kg

Pos.

Mid

Career

Season

Last 5

D

28.4

5star

K

12.0

4star

HB

16.4

5star

M

3.3

3star

T

3.9

5star

CL

4.8

5star

D

24.9

5star

K

9.7

4star

HB

15.1

5star

M

2.4

3star

T

2.4

3star

CL

4.4

5star

D

21.2

5star

K

10.4

4star

HB

10.8

5star

M

4.4

4star

T

3.4

5star

CL

2.0

4star

interview on SEN from yesterday:

“Tough year, what happened”
“It was about the midfield mix, me and Lairdy being similar, it was the mix and I had some things to work on”
“It’s been good Lairdy and I could play some games together last year and this year”

So one minute the midfield mix is wrong and yet now it isn’t? I’m going with it still being wrong! So what does our genius coach and coaching panel do? Keep the wrong midfield mix.

Now WaynesWorld19 surely even you are starting to realise the coaching errors from Nicks are starting to pile up? Even the ones last year you didn’t think were errors, deep down you know were.

I can’t believe we resigned this clown for another 2 years, ****wits.