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

[Viva la Mattner]

Hate to say it people, but we have until probably until Friday morning. If Nicks is not sacked or resigned at this point in time, he will almost certainly be our coach R1 2025. The club would want to start any coaching search asap to hopefully have a coach in place probably by mid October at the latest. Its probably a 6 week search at a minimum. So time is running out. 4 more days max.

We're stuck him with next year until at least the mid-season break
Purely because of the board not wanting to come across even more incompetent than they already are

 

[jenny61_99]

Going to have a real hard time looking forward to the 2025 season with Nicks still around and doesn't seem like he's copping anywhere near the attention he should be from the media for his failings.

The way I see it is this. I barrack for this Footy Club. I’ve got no control over anything - selection, recruiting, coaching panel etc - so I’ll still support my team regardless of who is coach. But, I’m not as passionate as I once was. I no longer hang off every minute of every game (more as a self-preservation thing). Perhaps I have become a “fair weather” supporter? I’ll start getting excited when they give me something to be excited about.

 

[jenny61_99]

Hate to say it people, but we have until probably until Friday morning. If Nicks is not sacked or resigned at this point in time, he will almost certainly be our coach R1 2025. The club would want to start any coaching search asap to hopefully have a coach in place probably by mid October at the latest. Its probably a 6 week search at a minimum. So time is running out. 4 more days max.

Why are you deluding yourself into thinking he’ll be sacked and/or resign?

 

[adelaidecrows]

We're stuck him with next year until at least the mid-season break
Purely because of the board not wanting to come across even more incompetent than they already are

They will come across extremely incompetent if Nicks fails now. It wouldnt even matter if Nicks finishes 10th the next two seasons. Thats a failure. 7 years at the helm. Thats a disaster. The board should have cut its losses and moved on to save face mid year.

 

[adelaidecrows]

Why are you deluding yourself into thinking he’ll be sacked and/or resign?

Clearly you didnt read. Im saying if it doesnt happen by this date it wont happen at all.

 

[jenny61_99]

Clearly you didnt read. Im saying if it doesnt happen by this date it wont happen at all.

It’s NOT going to happen.

 

[Viva la Mattner]

Why are you deluding yourself into thinking he’ll be sacked and/or resign?

We need something to look forward to this year haha

He isn't going anywhere he is naive enough to think he is doing a good job
And the board won't move him on, he hasn't even commenced the extension part of his contract
I give until round 8 next year if it looks another year cooked, pressure will ramp up and he'll go over the mid-season bye

 

[davos44]

Its been 5 years. More than enough time to do both.

Do you know what the kicker of this season would have been?

If we did a repeat of last year and went 50/50 and no injuries, he would have selected a squad of the same 23-24 players and played those players at nauseam. There really should have been no expectation of improvement. He would have merely rotated the sub and not sacked players. Which means if we won just 3 out of our first 6 games, or 5 out of our first 10 he would have never ever played Dowling, Curtin, Taylor, Nankervis, Cook and Bond. We would see McHenry, Schoenberg in the side. Probably rotating sub. If Sloane was playing he would have also rotated through sub and half back flank. He didnt want to debut players. Which means in his mind his development job was done, he expected finals.

At no stage did he show any planning for injuries or what happens if players fail, he showed last year he had no interest at bringing in anyone outside of his best 23. It was only injuries that brought in Worrell and Keane. So players out of form and warrant dropping is not something he considers. Only people he drops are fringe players who he can scapegoat.

This is our concern. If we finished 15th on the back of him talent identifying, dropping players for poor form while taking opportunities to being in a debutant here and there he wouldnt receive this backlash. We could easily stomach a proactive approach. He did it reasonably well in his first 3 years. It was the last two years where he threw development out the window for finals that cost us this year.

If you were attempting to playing finals would you select experienced players with 40+ games or debutants who weren't really tearing up the SANFL?

Yes, "development" was finished/done because he wanted to play finals. Sure, okay, uh huh.

I would argue that 2021 and 2022 were a complete waste as we were hacking around with Frampton, Seedsman (we miss him), Kelly, Schoenberg, Mackay, Doedee, McPherson, Brown, Sloane, Rowe etc in 2021.

Hately, Pedlar and Schoenberg all got games as our young mids in 2022 but they are all rubbish.

Berry got games and was good.

Cook and Soligo got a handful but weren't much chop (Cook still isn't).

Taylor was injured last year. Bond wasn't ready. Nank came in late last year. Dowling and Curtin are 1st year players.

 

[adelaidecrows]

It’s NOT going to happen.

We will see by the bell Friday.

However, I dont think it is going to happen personally. It should happen, it should have happened 14 weeks ago. But I would not bet money on it.

 

[relapse]

I know I won't get an intelligent answer .....but despite history and pressure, the Club still extended Nicks .....don't for one minute think they're stupid people .....they're not

Wait a minute, we're talking about the very same club where Roo still has way too much influence over the Board/footy department and has a track record of doubling down on poor decisions.

It literally took Dunstall and Pavlich going into the club and telling the Board that Burton's job was untenable for them to finally get rid of him despite it being blatantly obvious to all and sundry for years.

I don't think the club is stupid, however it's being badly led by a guy who holds way too much influence behind the scenes who has a history of refusing to fold losing hands.

 

[Redline]

Just more what transpired through the week with Rachele

Not sure he was 100% behind what played out

It's a big test for Dawson in the next few weeks. Prior to Dawson our Captains haven't suppported the players internally as much as they should of. If they were happy and there mates were okay then they just presumed the playing group was. It wasn't always reflective of the whole playing group.

 

[Kane McGoodwin]

The way I see it is this. I barrack for this Footy Club. I’ve got no control over anything - selection, recruiting, coaching panel etc - so I’ll still support my team regardless of who is coach. But, I’m not as passionate as I once was. I no longer hang off every minute of every game (more as a self-preservation thing). Perhaps I have become a “fair weather” supporter? I’ll start getting excited when they give me something to be excited about.

Our club have turned many of us into fair weather supporters.

Why, because we currently have no hope because there is no one of quality in a senior management role at AFC.

Many of us have now had enough.

 

[rabidcrow]

We need something to look forward to this year haha

He isn't going anywhere he is naive enough to think he is doing a good job
And the board won't move him on, he hasn't even commenced the extension part of his contract
I give until round 8 next year if it looks another year cooked, pressure will ramp up and he'll go over the mid-season bye

Totally agree. He needs a good to great start next year or will be gone around the bye

Watching the field for the West Coast job with interest. Does not seem to be a deep pool to choose from so far


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[CrowBloke]

For maxlilly , I presume... ?

Hate to say it people, but we have until probably until Friday morning. If Nicks is not sacked or resigned at this point in time, he will almost certainly be our coach R1 2025. The club would want to start any coaching search asap to hopefully have a coach in place probably by mid October at the latest. Its probably a 6 week search at a minimum. So time is running out. 4 more days max.

I can almost hear them:
Board ****wit #1: "Fellas, we gotta get rid of Nicks; he's hopeless".
<<murmurs of general agreement>>
Board ****wit #2: "Yeah, but we're the ones who extended his Contract after that first-round loss. We'll look like total ****wits if we sack him now".
Board ****wit #1: "hang on, that was your idea"
Board ****wit #2: "No, it wasn't, it was yours!"

[lots of no-it-wasn't-yes-it-was descending into general rabble/pushing/shoving etc]

Board ****wit #3:"Fellas, FELLAS!! Calm down. What are we gonna do...?"
...
...
<<crickets chirping>>

 

[DJ75]

An oldie by good cliche .....utter meaningless to the discussion

Cliche? It's true. We have at best been mediocre.

When you have an admin that is continuously convinced they have the best people and are doing everything perfectly, despite 30 years showing otherwise, smart is not what I would call them.

 

[WaynesWorld19]

Cliche? It's true. We have at best been mediocre.

When you have an admin that is continuously convinced they have the best people and are doing everything perfectly, despite 30 years showing otherwise, smart is not what I would call them.

Unless you're in the inner sanctum ....no-one has any idea of the calibre of people .....it's pure emotional finger in the air stuff

If you look at the 2017 Grand Final side .....I'd hazzard a guess, we'll be saying this current list will easily surpass that team for quality .....bookmark it, you can come at me if I'm wrong

 

[CrowBloke]

despite 30 years showing otherwise

DJ, I like and respect your posting but you and others keep referring to "30 years" ... 30 years ago, it was 1994. Our last Flag was 1998. All you're doing is giving WW a distraction, an excuse to digress/deflect, and it's hard enough to reason with him without that.
Personally, I was reasonably happy with 2016/17 most recently, although not as happy as 1997/98 of course.
I think I still feel traumatised by the 2017 GF.
Since then, 7 years of bleakness and disappointment for me/us.

jenny61_99 keeps saying the Crows have been "there and thereabouts" lately, although it's clear that she wants Nicks sacked too. She just has the inner calm to accept he won't be, looks like .
I disagree.
To be "there and thereabouts", the Crows need to
--- win more games than they lose (in the last 5 years they have lost twice as often as they have won )
--- at least finish in the Top 8 for 2 or more consecutive years, or better yet,
--- finish Top 4 from which group most Premiers come (exceptions Adelaide, Bulldogs ...).

Brisbane, GWS, PA, Sydney have been "there and thereabouts" ie close to a Flag without getting one recently.

The Crows are well away from that kind of contending.

 

[1970crow]

Going to have a real hard time looking forward to the 2025 season with Nicks still around and doesn't seem like he's copping anywhere near the attention he should be from the media for his failings.

Media's focus is definitely elsewhere, especially with finals on the doorstep and what's going on at Melbourne.

 

[1970crow]

This guy has ruined the enjoyment for me
Normally my weekend would involve making sure I am free when the Crows are playing

Nicks has killed it, there was 5 games this season I did not watch 1 minute

Sooner he is gone the better

Definitely it's during his tenure that weekend plans aren't filtered through the lens of when we're scheduled to play.

 

[1970crow]

Hate to say it people, but we have until probably until Friday morning. If Nicks is not sacked or resigned at this point in time, he will almost certainly be our coach R1 2025. The club would want to start any coaching search asap to hopefully have a coach in place probably by mid October at the latest. Its probably a 6 week search at a minimum. So time is running out. 4 more days max.

Once they extended him, he was never not making round 1 2025.

 

[1970crow]

Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge
Charles Darwin.

This is our Waynus.

 

[1970crow]

Totally agree. He needs a good to great start next year or will be gone around the bye

Watching the field for the West Coast job with interest. Does not seem to be a deep pool to choose from so far


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How much of that is first timers not wanting to be the sacrificial 'first rebuilding' coach though? We don't seem to do a lot of recycling, so taking on a group at that point is for the desperate or the brave. What's Gary Ayres doing these days?

 

[ltdamn]

How much of that is first timers not wanting to be the sacrificial 'first rebuilding' coach though? We don't seem to do a lot of recycling, so taking on a group at that point is for the desperate or the brave. What's Gary Ayres doing these days?

He's coaching your Port Melbourne's, your Montrose's, your local sorts of types

 

[FR0GGY]

The way I see it is this. I barrack for this Footy Club. I’ve got no control over anything - selection, recruiting, coaching panel etc - so I’ll still support my team regardless of who is coach. But, I’m not as passionate as I once was. I no longer hang off every minute of every game (more as a self-preservation thing). Perhaps I have become a “fair weather” supporter? I’ll start getting excited when they give me something to be excited about.

Don’t take this the wrong way Jen, but we’ve got a serious problem when the ever optimistic people have lost hope.

 

[skam85]

I like winning but I feel nothing when we lose anymore.
Except the showdown, port can get stuffed