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

[Cap]

The club was talking finals, Silvers between round zero and our opening bounce was still on the finals train.

Yeah that's true too.

We should have remembered AFC talk more shit than Linda Renyolds.

 

[Cap]

Your storytelling fairytales are impressive .....you have quite the imagination

How have you seen the season play out?

 

[Milo Cyrus]

Is today the day?

 

[kirky]

Is today the day?

Doubt it.

The more interesting thing tho is all the players out of contract.

The lists for all teams is quite large.

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

Is today the day?

No, the club are 100% on board

Minor blip this season, overall direction positive. A few injuries, couple of close losses... just unlucky. Just a whisker away from a coveted 3rd flag.

 

[Milo Cyrus]

No, the club are 100% on board

Minor blip this season, overall direction positive. A few injuries, couple of close losses... just unlucky. Just a whisker away from a coveted 3rd flag.

 

[jackster83]

No, the club are 100% on board

Minor blip this season, overall direction positive. A few injuries, couple of close losses... just unlucky. Just a whisker away from a coveted 3rd flag.

100% this.

It's just going to make the fallout bigger when the club finally implodes.

 

[adelaidecrows]

How have you seen the season play out?

He disappears faster than people at a Trump rally.

 

[WaynesWorld19]

How have you seen the season play out?

I always benchmark everything ....rookies, other team trends ....as you know, I watch every game of every round ....and then study stats extensively

It's certainly not the first time a very young team has hit a hurdle in developing .....even last year, the Club was talking about development not being linear
So the big question is .....is this an event or a trend ?

COLL missed the Finals after winning a flag ....they had just 2-3 key injuries ...but enough to unbalance them & remember COLL have one of the oldest and most experienced lists

CARL ....were easily making the top 4 for most of the year ....and only luck had them scrape into 8th spot
IMO supporters would be justified questioning Voss, given the quality & experience on his list

I could add another 3-4 teams .....so what makes the Crows season standout ?

Yep, we didn't get the start to the season correct .....missing Thilthorpe and Murray was huge ....playing Rankine fwd, with our midfield quality, being an issue .....but most on this board wanted Rankine fwd

Players being young & hearing from the Adelaide fishbowl media, Finals was a mere formality .....did get in front of themselves

But, you'll never convince me, that with such a young list, the injuries weren't going to be impactful .....our depth is to young to make any difference .....Edwards, Curtin, Dowling, Taylor ect, don't change team fortunes, they merely compliment a team
No 2-4 game player is going to make a difference to an outcome .....but then the fall-off of Laird & Smith was dramatic ....the injury to Milera consequently was huge, given the need by all teams for a distributor off HB

Rookie players games played in year 1 is fairly standardised across the industry, if you look at the history
Curtin - 4 games
Dowling - 8 games
Taylor - 6 games
Bond - 4 games

Our problem remains, as everyone can see, is the Midfield .....Crouch was **** for most of this year, with his handball crabbing and failing to use space in front of him .....however his last two games was the Crouch of late 2023, kicking V handball & fwd
Soligo, despite his obvious talent ...struggles to play every game at a high level, struggles defensively as a Mid ....but the kid is 21 YO ....and he shouldn't be the #1 or #2 mid for another 2 years

Taylor is a ripper, and I expect big things ....Nankervis another ...but I don't think people allow for these footy baby's at 20 - 21 yo ....they're a long way off being consitently good players

Finally, the Coach ....yeah every young Coach makes mistakes, but that's not the reason for the year .....he can only be judged on the list at his disposal ....and everyone acknowledges the list is thin, inconsistent, but developing

One year blip ....yep, people will accept ....2 years, nah, it's becoming a trend then

 

[jackster83]

I always benchmark everything ....rookies, other team trends ....as you know, I watch every game of every round ....and then study stats extensively

It's certainly not the first time a very young team has hit a hurdle in developing .....even last year, the Club was talking about development not being linear
So the big question is .....is this an event or a trend ?

COLL missed the Finals after winning a flag ....they had just 2-3 key injuries ...but enough to unbalance them & remember COLL have one of the oldest and most experienced lists

CARL ....were easily making the top 4 for most of the year ....and only luck had them scrape into 8th spot
IMO supporters would be justified questioning Voss, given the quality & experience on his list

I could add another 3-4 teams .....so what makes the Crows season standout ?

Yep, we didn't get the start to the season correct .....missing Thilthorpe and Murray was huge ....playing Rankine fwd, with our midfield quality, being an issue .....but most on this board wanted Rankine fwd

Players being young & hearing from the Adelaide fishbowl media, Finals was a mere formality .....did get in front of themselves

But, you'll never convince me, that with such a young list, the injuries weren't going to be impactful .....our depth is to young to make any difference .....Edwards, Curtin, Dowling, Taylor ect, don't change team fortunes, they merely compliment a team
No 2-4 game player is going to make a difference to an outcome .....but then the fall-off of Laird & Smith was dramatic ....the injury to Milera consequently was huge, given the need by all teams for a distributor off HB

Rookie players games played in year 1 is fairly standardised across the industry, if you look at the history
Curtin - 4 games
Dowling - 8 games
Taylor - 6 games
Bond - 4 games

Our problem remains, as everyone can see, is the Midfield .....Crouch was **** for most of this year, with his handball crabbing and failing to use space in front of him .....however his last two games was the Crouch of late 2023, kicking V handball & fwd
Soligo, despite his obvious talent ...struggles to play every game at a high level, struggles defensively as a Mid ....but the kid is 21 YO ....and he shouldn't be the #1 or #2 mid for another 2 years

Taylor is a ripper, and I expect big things ....Nankervis another ...but I don't think people allow for these footy baby's at 20 - 21 yo ....they're a long way off being consitently good players

Finally, the Coach ....yeah every young Coach makes mistakes, but that's not the reason for the year .....he can only be judged on the list at his disposal ....and everyone acknowledges the list is thin, inconsistent, but developing

One year blip ....yep, people will accept ....2 years, nah, it's becoming a trend

Last year was the blip.

 

[WaynesWorld19]

Last year was the blip.

If you say so ....but it doesn't make it so

And what about Longmuir .....two years out of the Finals, with one of the best midfield's in the AFL ....there should be questions asked of him ....no excuses, few injuries

 

[1970crow]

Yeah that's true too.

We should have remembered AFC talk more shit than Linda Renyolds.

Interesting.

 

[jenny61_99]

Last year was the blip.

I think that this year was the blip. Of the 14 games we lost, half were by less than 2 goals. I've been saying all year we are there and thereabouts. The real concern is: IS Nicks the coach to take us forward, and I think the blip this year has been 100% as a direct result of coaching, selection and recruiting. That is, the playing group we have which is something like the second youngest and least experienced, achieved pretty good results considering the handicaps they have (meaning the coaching/selection and players at our disposal). Bring in a better coaching panel... have some decent recruiting, and the results will improve.

 

[1970crow]

If you say so ....but it doesn't make it so

And what about Longmuir .....two years out of the Finals, with one of the best midfield's in the AFL ....there should be questions asked of him ....no excuses, few injuries

There are, they only extended him for 12 months. If they don't perform next year, he's in a lot of trouble.

 

[dogs105]

There are, they only extended him for 12 months. If they don't perform next year, he's in a lot of trouble.

Look on the bright side. Nicksy is almost about to start his new contract

 

[Cap]

If you say so ....but it doesn't make it so

And what about Longmuir .....two years out of the Finals, with one of the best midfield's in the AFL ....there should be questions asked of him ....no excuses, few injuries

I thought he was under some scrutiny early in the season?

You would hope, if you were a Freo fan, that final loss of the season would have the microscope on him.

Freo and GC (outside us) probably two of the more disappointing teams.

 

[Scorpus]

Teams above 100%

2020: 0W-9L
2021: 2W-7L
2022: 4W-10L
2023: 5W-9L
2024: 4W-1D-10L

Teams below 100%

2020: 3W-5L
2021: 5W-8L
2022: 4W-4L
2023: 6W-3L
2024: 4W-4L

Teams below 90%

2020: 1W-3L
2021: 4W-4L
2022: 4W-3L
2023: 4W-1L
2024: 2W-1L

Looking like 2023 is an outlier due to us playing and winning against more poor teams.

 

[Burtonsgottago]

I went to the Facebook page for the first time and read this…


Clap, clap

 

[Cap]

I always benchmark everything ....rookies, other team trends ....as you know, I watch every game of every round ....and then study stats extensively

It's certainly not the first time a very young team has hit a hurdle in developing .....even last year, the Club was talking about development not being linear
So the big question is .....is this an event or a trend ?

COLL missed the Finals after winning a flag ....they had just 2-3 key injuries ...but enough to unbalance them & remember COLL have one of the oldest and most experienced lists

CARL ....were easily making the top 4 for most of the year ....and only luck had them scrape into 8th spot
IMO supporters would be justified questioning Voss, given the quality & experience on his list

I could add another 3-4 teams .....so what makes the Crows season standout ?

Yep, we didn't get the start to the season correct .....missing Thilthorpe and Murray was huge ....playing Rankine fwd, with our midfield quality, being an issue .....but most on this board wanted Rankine fwd

Players being young & hearing from the Adelaide fishbowl media, Finals was a mere formality .....did get in front of themselves

But, you'll never convince me, that with such a young list, the injuries weren't going to be impactful .....our depth is to young to make any difference .....Edwards, Curtin, Dowling, Taylor ect, don't change team fortunes, they merely compliment a team
No 2-4 game player is going to make a difference to an outcome .....but then the fall-off of Laird & Smith was dramatic ....the injury to Milera consequently was huge, given the need by all teams for a distributor off HB

Rookie players games played in year 1 is fairly standardised across the industry, if you look at the history
Curtin - 4 games
Dowling - 8 games
Taylor - 6 games
Bond - 4 games

Our problem remains, as everyone can see, is the Midfield .....Crouch was **** for most of this year, with his handball crabbing and failing to use space in front of him .....however his last two games was the Crouch of late 2023, kicking V handball & fwd
Soligo, despite his obvious talent ...struggles to play every game at a high level, struggles defensively as a Mid ....but the kid is 21 YO ....and he shouldn't be the #1 or #2 mid for another 2 years

Taylor is a ripper, and I expect big things ....Nankervis another ...but I don't think people allow for these footy baby's at 20 - 21 yo ....they're a long way off being consitently good players

Finally, the Coach ....yeah every young Coach makes mistakes, but that's not the reason for the year .....he can only be judged on the list at his disposal ....and everyone acknowledges the list is thin, inconsistent, but developing

One year blip ....yep, people will accept ....2 years, nah, it's becoming a trend

I can agree that a developing team can have a blip on its journey (hopefully up)

But my concern with this clip is the games played by developing players like you outlined.

If we'd had the blip and those guys played 12+ each, then sure happy days we are lining on the right track.

But they didn't.

I'll agree injuries to TT, Rankine etc didn't help

 

[Scorpus]

Wins and losses under Nicks sorted by the percentage of our opponents

 

[WaynesWorld19]

I can agree that a developing team can have a blip on its journey (hopefully up)

But my concern with this clip is the games played by developing players like you outlined.

If we'd had the blip and those guys played 12+ each, then sure happy days we are lining on the right track.

But they didn't.

I'll agree injuries to TT, Rankine etc didn't help

Young players can only play on average in 4 game blocks ....the step up in pressure and speed from the SANFL is too great

There are exceptions for the running machines like Wilson at the SAINTS .....but even he wore out a few rounds back

 

[FR0GGY]

Is it school holidays already

No, people can just see the obvious.

 

[Brown_DOG68]

Is it possible to put a moderator on Ignore?

Unfortunately not - its ridiculous that mod from a fantasy board can not be ignored on this board when he is clearly either a troll or paid employee of the AFC social media team

 

[jenny61_99]

Unfortunately not - its ridiculous that mod from a fantasy board can not be ignored on this board when he is clearly either a troll or paid employee of the AFC social media team

You really think that?

 

[Brown_DOG68]

You really think that?

No I actually think he is simply a troll. But still it wouldn't surprise me.