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

[AFC979810]

Matty Nicks and Slippery Pete are right. No place for selfish fun in the AFL.

Mitchell and the Hawks have no idea what they are doing! Embracing Ginnivan??? What nonsense.

 

[FullyBigKPro]

Watching the Hawks players celebrating and getting around each other....

And to think we had to put up with this garbage a few weeks ago... .... Jesus wept

https://7news.com.au/sport/afl/misa...rory-laird-after-showdown-comments-c-15761146

 

[Samcro24]

Matty Nicks and Slippery Pete are right. No place for selfish fun in the AFL.

Mitchell and the Hawks have no idea what they are doing! Embracing Ginnivan??? What nonsense.

You can do what you want when you win.

 

[AFC979810]

You can do what you want when you win.

Win a game?

 

[GreyCrow]

Watching the Hawks players celebrating and getting around each other....

And to think we had to put up with this garbage a few weeks ago... .... Jesus wept

https://7news.com.au/sport/afl/misa...rory-laird-after-showdown-comments-c-15761146

There were a few here supporting Racheles axing

But oh so quiet about the Hawks players

 

[Crowboto]

Imagine if Nicks coached Hawthorn. There would be no prioritising and encouraging the young ones. There would be no subbing on and off the veterans for short bursts to impact because they would all be locks. There would be no smiles, no celebrations and no success. No no no. Hawthorn would not be in the 8 let alone challenging for a flag. Nicks is an egotistical w***er in my opinion.

 

[Crowboto]

You can do what you want when you win.

If you are allowed to do what you want you will win.

 

[Pilchard_Adams]

Put similar in another thread but relevant here too

Mitchell was announced next coach in July 2021.
They took Newcombe in 2021 mid season draft, picked Josh Ward and Connor McDonald in 2021.
Amon as a free Agent 2022, Traded out Gunston, Mitchell and O'Meara, traded in Meek, drafted Weddle and McKenzie.
2023 traded Ginnivan in for a packet of chips, Brought Gunston back for basically free, Chol for a late 2nd, D'Ambrossio for nothing, drafted Watson and Dear.

Thats 13 players making an impact now across 3 draft periods. In the same time we have Dawson, Rankine, Rachele, Nank, Taylor, Soligo, Michalanney, Dowling, Curtin. 9 players with 3 players not mainstays this season, although they should be

Im starting to think that the AFC as a whole has an overly pacifistic, amiable, gentle submissive nature.

• We are not aggressive at the trade table regarding trading in or out.
• We do not trade current players even if the trade betters our position
• We do not read players ceiling well, and drop plodders for players who will in time be better than said plodder

This has been the case long before Nicks came to the club

 

[Mutineer]

Put similar in another thread but relevant here too

Mitchell was announced next coach in July 2021.
They took Newcombe in 2021 mid season draft, picked Josh Ward and Connor McDonald in 2021.
Amon as a free Agent 2022, Traded out Gunston, Mitchell and O'Meara, traded in Meek, drafted Weddle and McKenzie.
2023 traded Ginnivan in for a packet of chips, Brought Gunston back for basically free, Chol for a late 2nd, D'Ambrossio for nothing, drafted Watson and Dear.

Thats 13 players making an impact now across 3 draft periods. In the same time we have Dawson, Rankine, Rachele, Nank, Taylor, Soligo, Michalanney, Dowling, Curtin. 9 players with 3 players not mainstays this season, although they should be

Im starting to think that the AFC as a whole has an overly pacifistic, amiable, gentle submissive nature.

• We are not aggressive at the trade table regarding trading in or out.
• We do not trade current players even if the trade betters our position
• We do not read players ceiling well, and drop plodders for players who will in time be better than said plodder

This has been the case long before Nicks came to the club

Andy Collins!!!

 

[GreyCrow]

This has been the case long before Nicks came to the club

While this is true it is our pacifistic submissive nature to also keep a deadwood coach

 

[jackster83]

Imagine if Nicks coached Hawthorn. There would be no prioritising and encouraging the young ones. There would be no subbing on and off the veterans for short bursts to impact because they would all be locks. There would be no smiles, no celebrations and no success. No no no. Hawthorn would not be in the 8 let alone challenging for a flag. Nicks is an egotistical w***er in my opinion.

We were like this before Nicks though. It's like Neil Craig never left our club.

 

[Cap]

Jealous

Its embarrassing for the AFC.

But you know the response will be 'its different'

 

[Crow till I die]

I saw this thread get bumped since i looked 10 minutes ago and got excited that he an announcement may have hit he has been sacked...but sadly no

 

[TubbsFarquhar]

I saw this thread get bumped since i looked 10 minutes ago and got excited that he an announcement may have hit he has been sacked...but sadly no

He's not getting sacked, probably time to give up any hope.

 

[Jcpdragonx]

He's not getting sacked, probably time to give up any hope.

wait for next year

 

[mr.sheen]

You can do what you want when you win.

The problem with this line of thinking (very crows like) : who is to say it’s not the other way around (which more and more is what both players and coach are emphasising)— happier players given freedom to play to their strength and personality means confidence and this is what is leading to wins. Not that wins is leading them to show more personality.

Remember— hawks were absolute NOT winning earlier this year, bottom of the table, no wins until they met north in ?round five, yet they stayed the course and backed their style and players in and now the results are speaking for themselves. Remember the absolute heat ginnavan has had for the last year now— contrast this with how the coach and leaders (Sicily) have handled it; both came out during the week and backed him in after media piled on for going to the pub. Ginni as a result has repaid them.

It been said for over a decade now, but the crows very much err on the side of being conservative and “good enough”. Even this board, it seems people are more than happy with players being serviceable or workman like(seems the player profile nicks gravitates towards). The bottom half of your list is just as important as your elites, and I would argue the crows worst players that get games are close to the worst in the league (Richmond, saints and west coast are on the same level imo, Essendon and north close). The disparity between a team with actual culture that brings out the best in their players and is willing to make changes and have strong game day coach— Geelong and hawks— to ours is increasingly clear. And you wonder why they have sustained success coming up to 20 years now.

 

[Mr_Moogle]

Matty Nicks and Slippery Pete are right. No place for selfish fun in the AFL.

Mitchell and the Hawks have no idea what they are doing! Embracing Ginnivan??? What nonsense.

Pete was saying only winners should be having fun. I agree with that in theory but on a practical level, seems like a sure fire way to encourage a morose loser culture. I don't think any of the current top sides are taking that approach, even the ones that haven't recently won a flag.

 

[GreyCrow]

The problem with this line of thinking (very crows like) : who is to say it’s not the other way around (which more and more is what both players and coach are emphasising)— happier players given freedom to play to their strength and personality means confidence and this is what is leading to wins. Not that wins is leading them to show more personality.

One of the main criticisms of the club is how we wait too long to debut players - cue the But Rachele mob - its because we drain any enjoyment out of them and make sure they 'run the lines ' before they get selected

Robot football

Remember the joy and fun Rachele had in his first game? Then he got clipped

Its like watching a Bird of Paradise scratching in the dirt because its beautiful feathers have been clipped back

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

Why does all this happy,happy ,feel- good talk comming out of Hawthorn(and Geelong to an extent) the last few weeks, seem like it's deliberately directed at the AFC?

Coincidence, or is the chip on my shoulder just getting too heavy?

Same!

Every time a coach says something interesting or insightful it feels like a direct shot at us too

 

[The Karma Bus]

Its embarrassing for the AFC.

But you know the response will be 'its different'

A year or 2 ago, we were turning into what Hawthorn are now.

Exciting play but also our players behaviours. People were calling us box office, must watch etc.

They have had that knocked out of them, they became so much more "well behaved" and subdued. Look far less happy and it has helped contribute to our drop off.

Said it for years, such a safe, boring, robotic, structured, conservative, well behaved culture. Heard that anyway but you can see it in so many ways and things, eg just the fear to play youth and then trust them at all.

What a frustrating ****ing club.

 

[Multiballz]

Imagine if Nicks coached Hawthorn. There would be no prioritising and encouraging the young ones. There would be no subbing on and off the veterans for short bursts to impact because they would all be locks. There would be no smiles, no celebrations and no success. No no no. Hawthorn would not be in the 8 let alone challenging for a flag. Nicks is an egotistical w***er in my opinion.

Sam Mitchell would still be playing in the guts.

 

[WaynesWorld19]

I saw this thread get bumped since i looked 10 minutes ago and got excited that he an announcement may have hit he has been sacked...but sadly no

You need a new hobby

 

[Multiballz]

A year or 2 ago, we were turning into what Hawthorn are now.

Exciting play but also our players behaviours. People were calling us box office, must watch etc.

They have had that knocked out of them, they became so much more "well behaved" and subdued. Look far less happy and it has helped contribute to our drop off.

Said it for years, such a safe, boring, robotic, structured, conservative, well behaved culture. Heard that anyway but you can see it in so many ways and things, eg just the fear to play youth and then trust them at all.

What a frustrating ****ing club.

Players aren't idiots. Watching our integrity free selection policy along with all the other flawed direction Nicks imparts would be quite demoralising for a young team.

I often wonder if all of those times Rachelle fronted the media hinting at midfield minutes this year(without recieving any)were in fact a subtle back hander to Nicks. I thought it was club speak at first. No so sure anymore.

 

[Crow till I die]

You need a new hobby

Good call because following the crows over the last few seasons has been a struggle

 

[nummy217]

If you stand still, you go backwards. Why is nicks still at our club? After taking us backwards this year from an already non finals finish why did he deserve to NOT be sacked?

Because he's a nice guy according to the board members lmao