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

[King Elvis]

This has to simply stop. Its being realistic and many posters dont like the honest cold hearted truth. We wont be any chance of a flag till the 2030s when we have undertaken a 2nd rebuild. We are without a flag for over 26 years and counting.

There are too many posters living in fairyland believing our form in 2023 was good and that we were going to make the 8 off the basis of those "wins" last year. It was fraudulent form.

I just hope the Club learns from its mistakes and undertakes a proper rebuild the 2nd time around. Sadly the entry of Tasmania exacerbates the problem.

Not trading a Tom Lynch or Rory Laird type when they had value kills us too.

Port's Wingard trade was a stroke of genius, they stole Rozee from us - we'd never have the balls for something like that.

 

[WaynesWorld19]

Just listened to the Matt Crouch 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, *******s.

I agree ....it's a bad mix ....irrespective of how many possessions a player gets, there are other factors ......hurt factor, fwd 50 delivery efficiency, and defending transition

Many teams score now from turnover .....our current midfield mix hurts us in that area IMO

Midfield structure needs to be around what's best for the team ...not, how to fit players in .....can the TOUGH decisions be made

 

[George Kramer]

I agree ....it's a bad mix ....irrespective of how many possessions a player gets, there are other factors ......hurt factor, fwd 50 delivery efficiency, and defending transition

Many teams score now from turnover .....our current midfield mix hurts us in that area IMO

Midfield structure needs to be around what's best for the team ...not, how to fit players in .....can the TOUGH decisions be made

But its Matthew Nicks who last year identified it was a bad mix but went back to it and has stuck with it despite it obviously being wrong and with all the external commentary around it.

We are 0-3 and Nicks, with his selection and gameplan has been a key driver behind it and yet you’re still sticking with him. You mention 3 games isn’t enough of a body of work but those losses, even if we come back will see us miss finals again.

And it’s more than just 3 games, we are 5 from 15 with our only wins coming against West Coast twice, North, Gold Coast and Port. That’s a horrendous record!

 

[Jarman3]

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.

Yep, the fact that we're losing bothers me less than HOW we're losing. Even when we lost games last year we at least looked like we were playing some good footy. Got pipped in a lot of close games, but the teams that beat us knew they'd had to earn it. What we're serving up this year looks more like 2019-2022.

 

[1970crow]

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

And with our selection philosophy turbocharged by our start, we can look forward to seeing the same faces recycled over and over. Until injury forces our hand.

 

[FR0GGY]

Just listened to the Matt Crouch 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, *******s.

Well crouch changed slightly, laird hasn’t

 

[FR0GGY]

And with our selection philosophy turbocharged by our start, we can look forward to seeing the same faces recycled over and over. Until injury forces our hand.

Nicks won’t be happy with burgess and the injuries, forcing unwanted changes upon him

 

[FR0GGY]

Chris Scott

Chris Scott

Age

48

Ht

182cm

Wt

89kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

16.6

4star

K

11.2

4star

HB

5.4

4star

M

5.1

5star

T

1.6

4star

G

0.4

3star

No current season stats available

D

13.2

4star

K

10.2

4star

HB

3.0

3star

M

2.2

3star

T

2.8

5star

G

0.4

3star

was just on SEN and he stated he views the team as a squad and manages them through the year, not as a best 25/26 team.
Probably why their results are far better than ours.

 

[taurus]

Strangely enough we had picks to take those players. I know we did for Butters and Serong. Ogilvie our head recruiter has a knack of messing up ever decent pick we have along with Roo and Reid who mismanage our list at every opportunity. Nicks doesnt have the list we should have but he is clearly incompetent and no better than a sanfl, wafl, neafl coach at best. He must go along with Roo, Reid, Ogilvie, Burns, Van Berlo, Godden, Kelly, Olsen, the entire board. Our only competent staff member seems to be Burgess. Supporters have had 25 years of this s**t and it's worn real thin. The problem is that no one with enough power wants to change the status quo. The club exists to keep incompetent people in positions they are not fit to be in.

** Your point on Nicks valuing unskilled tryers (plodders) is very valid. He does love players who clearly remind him of himself
and seems to almost despise tall skilled athletic types, especially if they don't have afl experience. Our head recruiter values short unskilled unathletic plodders too. He calls them rough diamonds. The club has no feel for the modern game.

To be fair, Nicks was one of our skilled players in the team. He was courageous and bought into the Bloods culture. I should have clarified that his coaching style is a product of coaching he received. He certainly wasn't a plodder.

But we both agree - Nicks values effort.

 

[AFC979810]

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.

If he is spraying them from the goal square. Think it's pretty safe to say he is outta goal kicking form.

And at his best - he can thread a needle from 50.

 

[MRB37]

If he is spraying them from the goal square. Think it's pretty safe to say he is outta goal kicking form.

And at his best - he can thread a needle from 50.

He sprayed one and he hasn't been the only one to do that.

Which goes back to coaching again getting in players heads.

 

[CrowBloke]

Chris Scott was just on SEN and he stated he views the team as a squad and manages them through the year, not as a best 25/26 team.
Probably why their results are far better than us.

+
he's a hard nut
+
he's tactically astute
+
he has a gazillionaire employing/rewarding families behind-the-scenes
+
he's made that hash brown of an oval their FORTRESS
+
he's NOT Nicks
+ ... + ... + ...

 

[Rory Walkerfield]

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).



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.

You know who might be a goal kicking midfielder? Rachele. Guess we’ll never find out though.

Any other club would be giving this guy serious midfield minutes.

If Melbourne can find midfield time for Windsor (1st year player) and Brisbane can find time for Fletcher (2nd year player), why can’t AFC find midfield time for Rachele? A higher draftee than those two in a worse side.

 

[CrowBloke]

He certainly wasn't a plodder.

But we both agree - Nicks values effort.

... yes, over actual game-influencing impact.

 

[skam85]

Chris Scott

Chris Scott

Age

48

Ht

182cm

Wt

89kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

16.6

4star

K

11.2

4star

HB

5.4

4star

M

5.1

5star

T

1.6

4star

G

0.4

3star

No current season stats available

D

13.2

4star

K

10.2

4star

HB

3.0

3star

M

2.2

3star

T

2.8

5star

G

0.4

3star

was just on SEN and he stated he views the team as a squad and manages them through the year, not as a best 25/26 team.
Probably why their results are far better than us.

Scott plans his squad to peak in August/September, and backs in the rotation of players to get them within striking distance of being in contention prior to this.

Whereas we tend to do everything we can with a pre-selected group to be 'around the mark' and hit a wall in August/September.

 

[MsTopG]

Chris Scott was just on SEN and he stated he views the team as a squad and manages them through the year, not as a best 25/26 team.
Probably why their results are far better than us.

This is the epl mentality. You need a strong squad to win a title. Nicks has a best 25 mentality and then he proceeds to run them into the ground. Pyke had the same philosophy.

 

[AFC979810]

He sprayed one and he hasn't been the only one to do that.

Which goes back to coaching again getting in players heads.

Well its more the fact he is 23 goals - 22 behinds in his last 20 games - In addition to one of the worst misses in AFL history.

Yes - pretty much the whole team looks shite in the first 3 games of 2024 - but Fogs rot started exactly 11 months ago.

The man who might derail the Pies: How Fogarty got out of his funk

Only 12 months ago, Darcy Fogarty was running around in the SANFL, racked with self-doubt. What the Adelaide Crows forward did next might turn out to be the best investment he has ever made.

www.theage.com.au

This article came out the day before we played Collingwood. Since then its 23 goals - 22 behinds.

 

[Rory Walkerfield]

Scott plans his squad to peak in August/September, and backs in the rotation of players to get them within striking distance of being in contention prior to this.

Whereas we tend to do everything we can with a pre-selected group to be 'around the mark' and hit a wall in August/September.

Not just a preselected group, but 3 preselected groups. A defender group, mid group and forward group. And you can only replace a player from that group, not reshuffle.

 

[Bob Neil]

So when the Board extended Nicks for a further two years out to the end of 2026 this was done explicitly by them on the basis that they believed "he was our next premiership coach" (source: John Olsen interview on 5AA).

Given that Nicks is in his 5th season in charge, we've had year on year improvement in results and we finished just outside the finals last year then this test (is he 'the next premiership coach') was I think the right and ultimate question on which to base the appointment.

My question is what was the evidence to support this contention at that point in time? And more to the point why did they sacrifice their ability to get another season's worth of evidence (one way or another) before making the decision by going early with the extension?

Evidence at March 2023 that Nicks IS a premiership calibre coach

Evidence at March 2023 that Nicks IS NOT a premiership calibre coach

He has coached a team that improved its win-loss record year on year (we obviously started from a very low base) Under his leadership we had (seemingly) addressed some of our cultural issues Under his leadership we had attracted some good quality recruits (Dawson, Rankine) Under his coaching we were playing an attractive brand of football last year

He hasn't coached a team to a premiership before He hasn't coached a team to a grand final before He hasn't coached a team to a finals win before He hasn't coached a team to the finals before* (yes he was unlucky in this regard) We had an easier draw as a previously low finisher Our best performers were in our mid (Dawson) or upper (Walker, Laird) age cohort and we hadn't demonstrated that our next generation of draftees were developing such that they were driving the performance)

I don't see how any reasonable observer could say that the evidence in the left hand column outweighs that on the right to such an extent that it's worth making the decision early.

The stated reason that they went early was to allow Nicks to "avoid the pressure" but don't we want/expect our players to play under the extreme pressure of big matches, finals, etc. Why wouldn't we similarly expect that Nicks (and the club more broadly) could stand up to the pressure of coaching during a contract year without it unduly impacting our approach or our performance.

The trade-off we made to give away a year of evidence on Nicks' coaching bona fides in order to avoid pressure just seems completely spineless - let alone that the results of the last couple of weeks (whilst acknowledging the season is still young) make it appear that the decision might be just flat-out wrong.

 

[Scorpus]

Well its more the fact he is 23 goals - 22 behinds in his last 20 games - In addition to one of the worst misses in AFL history.

Yes - pretty much the whole team looks shite in the first 3 games of 2024 - but Fogs rot started exactly 11 months ago.

The man who might derail the Pies: How Fogarty got out of his funk

Only 12 months ago, Darcy Fogarty was running around in the SANFL, racked with self-doubt. What the Adelaide Crows forward did next might turn out to be the best investment he has ever made.

www.theage.com.au

This article came out the day before we played Collingwood. Since then its 23 goals - 22 behinds.

From half way through last year to now we've won 5 games and lost 10. Those wins included beating North, West Coast (twice) and Gold Coast.

If you want to stretch it to the last 20 matches we are 7 wins, 13 losses

Do you reckon that might have something to do with it?

 

[Scorpus]

Huh so looks like Fogarty has kicked the third most goals for the club in their last 20 games

Walker - lots
Rankine - 32 goals
Fogarty - 23 goals
Keays - 21 goals
Pedlar - 20 goals
Rachele - 18 goals
Thilthorpe - 17 goals
Murphy - 11 goals

 

[Kane McGoodwin]

+
he's a hard nut
+
he's tactically astute
+
he has a gazillionaire employing/rewarding families behind-the-scenes
+
he's made that hash brown of an oval their FORTRESS
+
he's NOT Nicks
+ ... + ... + ...

I have mentioned many times on this board how Scott is smart managing his squad by resting players strategically, use of the Sub & not playing injured players.

Look at the late outs they had against us... which forced him to play youngsters instead of experienced injured players & they won!

We would have played the experienced injured player like we have with Tex & many before him... & usually lost.

 

[GreyCrow]

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.

This is the AFC right here ladies and gentlemen

Every game is a must win game - from round 1 to round 23

This is panic thinking. Short term thinking - our season is dead in the water and you are concerned about trying something different?

We will never be successful with this type of thinking

Be brave be daring be bold

 

[Ham]

I have mentioned many times on this board how Scott is smart managing his squad by resting players strategically, use of the Sub & not playing injured players.

Look at the late outs they had against us... which forced him to play youngsters instead of experienced injured players & they won!

We would have played the experienced injured player like we have with Tex & many before him... & usually lost.

Yeah imagine if 2 or all 3 of Daws, Laird and Crouch were injured (touch wood) then what happens?


On iPhone using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[cleanhands]

This is the AFC right here ladies and gentlemen

Every game is a must win game - from round 1 to round 23

This is panic thinking. Short term thinking - our season is dead in the water and you are concerned about trying something different?

We will never be successful with this type of thinking

Be brave be daring be bold