Opinion Matthew Nicks: Adelaide's Coach (Part 3) - The Biggest Loser

[FR0GGY]

I actually spoke directly to Silvers and also emailed him ahout this issue. Upon the fixture release HE proactively emailed me saying ' I assume you are happy with the draw'

100% we pushed hard for a payback and fixturing was the core component of this

Yep that could be the case but as I said the afl would have seen an opportunity.

 

[Jarman3]

If everything goes right and all these guys are fit and in form at the start of the season:
Thilthorpe & Fog
Dawson
Rankine
Walker
Murray & Butts
Rachele
Soligo
Hinge, Keays & Worrell

We'll probably go okay. Win enough games to at least stay in the finals hunt til deep in the season. Nicks survives again.

It would only take 1-2 injuries from this group for things to go 2024-shaped though, as we've seen. We don't have the underlying quality or system or depth to succeed in the face of any hardships.

Need a dream run and a helpful draw.

You're basically describing our 2023 season there which was close but not close enough. Getting back to that 2 years later in 2025 - after 8 years of no finals (6 of them under Nicks) - would not be an acceptable result. Even the ****s running our club surely can't tolerate another year out of finals.

We have an entire generation of players who have never played finals. With Sloane gone, and assuming Walker and Smith are gone by the end of next year, I think that would leave Dawson (from his Sydney years), Laird and Crouch as the only players on our list who have played a final? I'm not sure if Milera played any back in 2016/17?

 

[Geoffa32]

Someone needs to post this to Nicks the moment the final siren sounds this weekend in reference to his coaching tenure

It won't be though.....


2024 will be written off due to injuries/Rankine suspension.


Even though Nicks has shown numerous times he is a mediocre coach. The most glaring being the last ten minutes of the Geelong game.

 

[rabidcrow]

Agree with lots of this and I don’t think many would argue that Hamish didn’t have a VERY crappy 4 years finishing in 2019’s major **** up.

A combination of poor drafting - esp the 3 years of 2016 (Gooch), and then Chayce and Mc H in 2018 before the final disaster in 2019. Those poor years plus injuries to decent quality players drafted (Milera, Dude), Fogs slow burn in coming good and the lack of mature players that should have been drafted in first 2 rounds in 2012 and 2013 (25-26 years old in 2020) that we obviously lacked. So effectively 5 out of the 8 years leading to and inc 2019 we got bugger all from draft and trades but lost a handful of very good players inc 3 x AA (Danger, CC, Lever) for starters plus other quality like Mc Govern. It’s actually not that surprising things ultimately blew up in this context requiring our first ever very deep rebuild.

That said, I believe there has been a MAJOR turnaround in the last 4 years of drafting and trading bringing in well over half the current team - mainly from the first 3 years alone 2020-2022. We haven’t yet seen the fruits of Curtin, Edwards and Ryan but all seem promising to me. Hopefully Edwards extends over the break….he is the first concern “go home” (well MLB anyway) I have felt for a few years for various reasons.

Reidy did go hard at a number of targets last year. Just not easy getting player movement across the whole competition in recent years (as per lack of FA’s moving). Day was his number one priority and went as hard as we could but Horks also lots of spare cash currently. Letting McAdam and Dude walk for a late first rounder FA compo and around pick 27 in a deep draft this year has actually worked out well considering those 2 guys have played a total of 3 games combined for one goal (Lions must be very wary having a 5 yr contract for!). Reidy was quite ruthless pulling / significantly reducing Dudes offer after his ACL last year. Right move though.

Next year there are no more excuses for Nicks assuming he is still coaching, we will get an easier draw and virtually the whole squad has experienced senior footy with many of the youngsters now 50 ish games or more. He had shown linear improvement UNTIL this year and we possibly did over-achieve last year. This is his last chance though,

Kelly doesn’t seem up to it and also think he could be replaced - not sure who though and ideally Balme, health permitting, sits over everyone and ensures things are done right. As he has with many flags with Tiges and Cats

The decision to let McAdam and Doedee go was sound
Not getting any first 18 players in was a poor decision. Great work trying to hit a 6 with Day but you need to fill gaps in your list with guys that are best 18 as well

Hawks have done that in spades this year - 4 recruits who have turned them around. Without that recruiting spree - and none were super big names - the Hawks would be sitting with us


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[maxlilly]

Mitchell cut hard and backed in his kids

You got to be impressed with the way Sam Mitchell goes about it.

I think our game against the Hawks showed how far Nicks is out of his depth with game plan and tactics.

Just imagine if we had a coach that would get rid of useless stat padders because he understands you need to get games into your future midfielders.
And recruiting a young ruckman and playing him to help build that midfield.

 

[maxlilly]

If everything goes right and all these guys are fit and in form at the start of the season:
Thilthorpe & Fog
Dawson
Rankine
Walker
Murray & Butts
Rachele
Soligo
Hinge, Keays & Worrell

We'll probably go okay. Win enough games to at least stay in the finals hunt til deep in the season. Nicks survives again.

It would only take 1-2 injuries from this group for things to go 2024-shaped though, as we've seen. We don't have the underlying quality or system or depth to succeed in the face of any hardships.

Need a dream run and a helpful draw.

And no expectations

 

[119others]

The decision to let McAdam and Doedee go was sound
Not getting any first 18 players in was a poor decision. Great work trying to hit a 6 with Day but you need to fill gaps in your list with guys that are best 18 as well

Hawks have done that in spades this year - 4 recruits who have turned them around. Without that recruiting spree - and none were super big names - the Hawks would be sitting with us


Sent from my iPhone using BigFooty.com

agree Horks did brilliantly and even getting Chol to choose them over us really helped - they offered a longer contract that was a little risky but at this stage is paying off. Plus Ginivan and others. Plus lots of no names (to me anyway) performing at such a high skillful and decision making level. Massively impressed watching them live rip (admittedly injured) Blues the other week. Just their understanding and commitment to play fast attacking football, almost always choosing the right option and executing with precision.

Clearly brilliantly coached and I totally agree with all/most that Nicks doesnt compare well to the best coaches - like what Mitchell is doing at Horks (McCrae last 2 yrs at Pies etc).

We will never actually know what other players we tried to get besides the well publicised Day, Redman, Petty and Oliver (may have dodged a bullet with a few of these names..). If we know of those 4 I would bet there were also more. The fact remains that recruiting to a very trendy inner city MLB suburb - full of trendy restaurants, bars and disproportionately very attractive women which I imagine is an important consideration for many young footballers in their 20's (understand this isnt very 'woke' of me but its the truth) - is much easier than to ADL. This is the basis for our massive structural disadvantage that cant easily be overcome IMO

 

[El Doederino]

You got to be impressed with the way Sam Mitchell goes about it.

I think our game against the Hawks showed how far Nicks is out of his depth with game plan and tactics.

Just imagine if we had a coach that would get rid of useless stat padders because he understands you need to get games into your future midfielders.
And recruiting a young ruckman and playing him to help build that midfield.

Who would have thought. Draft midfielders and let them develop as midfielders.

Who knows what may have been different if Gallucci, Poholke, Jones, McHenry were allowed to develop through the midfield rather than be shunted in the half-forward wasteland.

 

[kirky]

If the board thought he was going to be under the pump, which is why they re-signed him after our R1 loss, then he is going to be massively under the pump in 2025.

If say by R12 2025, they don’t have a W-L record of say 8-4, he will be gonski at the end of 2025, irrespective whether he has a year to go on his contract.

 

[kirky]

You're basically describing our 2023 season there which was close but not close enough. Getting back to that 2 years later in 2025 - after 8 years of no finals (6 of them under Nicks) - would not be an acceptable result. Even the ****s running our club surely can't tolerate another year out of finals.

We have an entire generation of players who have never played finals. With Sloane gone, and assuming Walker and Smith are gone by the end of next year, I think that would leave Dawson (from his Sydney years), Laird and Crouch as the only players on our list who have played a final? I'm not sure if Milera played any back in 2016/17?

Milera didn’t play any finals in 2016 or 2017, he played 8 games in 2016 (last game R11) and 16 in 2017 (last game against WC in R23).

 

[Redline]

If everything goes right and all these guys are fit and in form at the start of the season:
Thilthorpe & Fog
Dawson
Rankine
Walker
Murray & Butts
Rachele
Soligo
Hinge, Keays & Worrell

We'll probably go okay. Win enough games to at least stay in the finals hunt til deep in the season. Nicks survives again.

It would only take 1-2 injuries from this group for things to go 2024-shaped though, as we've seen. We don't have the underlying quality or system or depth to succeed in the face of any hardships.

Need a dream run and a helpful draw.

Alot to play out but I think that's fairly accurate. We should stay ahead of West Coast, Richmond and the Kangaroo's on the ladder.

A good run as per your list might see us ahead of Essendon, Melbourne and the Saints.

That leaves us competing with Gold Coast, Collingwood and potentially Freo to move into the top 8. No certainty there.

A poor run and we could easily finish bottom 4. A team like the Kangaroo's could pass us like the Hawks did this year.

 

[relapse]

The chances of us making finals is very remote as we are miles off making it this year.

Other clubs won’t stand still, as we’ve found this year it’s just not a given you improve and if Tex stays is decline will be more evident.

I completely agree.

It's hard to look at 2025 and see us making the finals.

Who are we going to leapfrog?

The reality is that Nicks has not invested enough into 2025 for a spike to happen.

 

[Slippery Pete]

You’re all overlooking an obvious flaw in sacking Nicks.

It means that same board signs off on a new coach.

 

[Jarman3]

You’re all overlooking an obvious flaw in sacking Nicks.

It means that same board signs off on a new coach.

You don't know until you try. If it's a sh*t coach, at least it'll be a different sh*t coach. We already know what we're getting from Nicks. If we keep churning through the coaches then sooner or later they might get a good one by mistake.

 

[Slippery Pete]

You don't know until you try. If it's a sh*t coach, at least it'll be a different sh*t coach. We already know what we're getting from Nicks. If we keep churning through the coaches then sooner or later they might get a good one by mistake.

Board has to go.

Then, and only then, can there be faith in the search for a new coach.

I just can’t believe supporters are happy to go on like this.

If you aren’t calling for the aggressive sackings of board members, you have exactly the club you deserve right now.

 

[George Kramer]

You’re all overlooking an obvious flaw in sacking Nicks.

It means that same board signs off on a new coach.

Without Roo next year though and hopefully Balme in his place!

 

[baldandbroke]

If the board thought he was going to be under the pump, which is why they re-signed him after our R1 loss, then he is going to be massively under the pump in 2025.

If say by R12 2025, they don’t have a W-L record of say 8-4, he will be gonski at the end of 2025, irrespective whether he has a year to go on his contract.

So … we should look for a contract extension in the early weeks of 2025 to avoid the pressure?

 

[Syd Crow]

Board has to go.

Then, and only then, can there be faith in the search for a new coach.

I just can’t believe supporters are happy to go on like this.

If you aren’t calling for the aggressive sackings of board members, you have exactly the club you deserve right now.

That's the thing that worries me. Change the coach and the people who not only appointed him, but were happy to go with him for another 2 years after 4 years (earlier this season) of less than stellar performance are still there and it will be them that appoint the next coach. Does not leave me with any optimism that they will get it right this time.

 

[ABAB]

That's the thing that worries me. Change the coach and the people who not only appointed him, but were happy to go with him for another 2 years after 4 years of less than stellar performance are still there and it will be them that appoint the next coach. Does not leave me with any optimism that they will get it right this time.

We nearly made Finals last year with a tough draw and close loss to top 8 sides but given Nicks wasn't immediately re-signed meant they also had doubt about him so definitely should have waited or just give him a year extension.

 

[Jarman3]

Board has to go.

Then, and only then, can there be faith in the search for a new coach.

I just can’t believe supporters are happy to go on like this.

If you aren’t calling for the aggressive sackings of board members, you have exactly the club you deserve right now.

Even that isn't the problem. Sacking the board won't help by itself. The problem is that apart from a token couple of member-elected seats, the rest of the board are AFL appointed stooges. So if they get sacked, it'll just be another bunch of AFL appointed stooges that comes in to replace them. And why would the AFL sack them? We're stable, profitable, good attendances, good TV ratings. That's all they care about. The AFL don't care if we win a flag or not. They know that somebody will win it, they don't really care who it is, they don't care if it's us or not.

Why is it like this? Why are we stuck with a board that we don't vote for? A board that is completely unaccountable to the members, or to anybody at all except AFL House? Do any of the Vic clubs get run like this? Imagine how the members of Collingwood, Carlton, Essendon etc would react if they got told that from now on they only get to elect 2 members of their board and the rest would be AFL appointed. Look at the amount of AFL assistance a club like North Melbourne gets, but their members still get to elect their board. Why is a club suckling at the teat of the AFL like that allowed to elect its own board, when a profitable club like ours gets saddled with a board imposed upon it?

 

[Slippery Pete]

Even that isn't the problem. Sacking the board won't help by itself. The problem is that apart from a token couple of member-elected seats, the rest of the board are AFL appointed stooges. So if they get sacked, it'll just be another bunch of AFL appointed stooges that comes in to replace them. And why would the AFL sack them? We're stable, profitable, good attendances, good TV ratings. That's all they care about. The AFL don't care if we win a flag or not. They know that somebody will win it, they don't really care who it is, they don't care if it's us or not.

Why is it like this? Why are we stuck with a board that we don't vote for? A board that is completely unaccountable to the members, or to anybody at all except AFL House? Do any of the Vic clubs get run like this? Imagine how the members of Collingwood, Carlton, Essendon etc would react if they got told that from now on they only get to elect 2 members of their board and the rest would be AFL appointed. Look at the amount of AFL assistance a club like North Melbourne gets, but their members still get to elect their board. Why is a club suckling at the teat of the AFL like that allowed to elect its own board, when a profitable club like ours gets saddled with a board imposed upon it?

Spot on. Been on about this for years.

Until the board is fully member elected, is it not a football club, and you are not a member.

Anyone still giving money to this club needs their head read.

 

[Brenton Davy]

Spot on. Been on about this for years.

Until the board is fully member elected, is it not a football club, and you are not a member.

Anyone still giving money to this club needs their head read.

I’ll give Nicks this (and only this). At least he called Hinkley out for Houston’s dog act.

 

[Scorpus]

The people that decided Nicks should be extended before the season played out are clearly not fit for deciding anything relating to a new coach

 

[Syd Crow]

We nearly made Finals last year with a tough draw and close loss to top 8 sides but given Nicks wasn't immediately re-signed meant they also had doubt about him so definitely should have waited or just give him a year extension.

As I think most of us thought, they could have waited to see how this year worked out. I certainly saw the majority of the posts at the time on this board holding that position, which I also held.

 

[relapse]

You’re all overlooking an obvious flaw in sacking Nicks.

It means that same board signs off on a new coach.

I don't think anyone is overlooking that.

I'm assuming that most people know that our Board is completely inept, if they didn't before surely they now realise it after Nicks was extended.

This is why when we have the opportunity to elect board members we have to vet candidates properly rather than get excited about D grade celebrities and former players who are mates with Roo.