Opinion Matthew Nicks: Adelaide's Coach

[Pick4To6]

How can you possibly say the midfield has no improvement left in them? There are literally dozens of examples of players who did not reach their peak in their 3rd year at 21 years of age. Even Crouch has only played 2 games after missing a whole year. And our 2 best from last year havent made it on the park in the first 2 games. Our up and coming mids have a handful to 30 games experience and arent even 22 years old yet.

Our improvement comes from developing the players we have drafted in the last 4 years, many of whom have only had a taste of AFL at this stage.
Or are you completely unaware that 13 players yesterday have less than 40 games experience?

Who are these 21 year old midfielders?

Laird isn’t 21, Keays isn’t 21, Crouch isn’t 21 and Sloane is almost 31

The midfield is made up of those players who actually play in the midfield, who spend the time in the midfield and contest the moments around the ball.

Not half forward flankers or stuck in a pocket.

 

[Pilchard_Adams]

Who are these 21 year old midfielders?

Laird isn’t 21, Keays isn’t 21, Crouch isn’t 21 and Sloane is almost 31

The midfield is made up of those players who actually play in the midfield, who spend the time in the midfield and contest the moments around the ball.

Not half forward flankers or stuck in a pocket.

Are you actually arguing about Ben Keays? Who is only 25, arguably 7 years left in his career, and improved from scrap heap to 2nd in our BnF at age 24? He is a prime example of an improved player

Just looking at the AFL minigame footage you see 3 centre bounces and every one of them Schoenberg was there. Sholl, Cook and Dawson on the wings and Soligo in one of the bounces too. I would say thats a fair indication that they play midfield. Their ages? 21, 22, 19, 24 and 19

Midfielders usually play forward flank and pocket while they build their fitness and body, and learn the speed of AFL, with tastes in the middle.

Or would you prefer we play a midfield line up of Cook, Schoenberg, Soligo, Pedlar and Berry each bounce and get belted due to lack of body size, AFL strength and fitness, and a complete lack of leadership and experience? Id wager then you would complain and call for Crouch, Laird and Keays back in the guts

 

[Geoffa32]

Two games in, bad start to the year.

But if we got that goal and won last week few would be calling for his head now.

Even though we have barely played 50 minutes of good footy



Personally, I don't think he is a great coach. But we do gave the youngest list in the comp so inconsistency is expected. Which makes it hard to judge the coach.

We do need to rise up into the 10 to 14 ladder bracket for this season to be considered a good one.


The biggest negative is our midfield rotations. We can accept losses if we see more kids in there instead of the safer Sloane/Keays/Laird/Crouch. If we persist with this, and so far we have, this year is a disappointment.

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[Cap]

The biggest negative is our midfield rotations. We can accept losses if we see more kids in there instead of the safer Sloane/Keays/Laird/Crouch. If we persist with this, and so far we have, this year is a disappointment.

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That's the issue for me too.

Two matches in and our midfield is pretty much unchanged what did we actually achieve over pre season?

 

[jackster83]

That's the issue for me too.

Two matches in and our midfield is pretty much unchanged what did we actually achieve over pre season?

We thought Crouch coming back was going to fix everything.

 

[Barneythecrab]

Are you actually arguing about Ben Keays? Who is only 25, arguably 7 years left in his career, and improved from scrap heap to 2nd in our BnF at age 24? He is a prime example of an improved player

Just looking at the AFL minigame footage you see 3 centre bounces and every one of them Schoenberg was there. Sholl, Cook and Dawson on the wings and Soligo in one of the bounces too. I would say thats a fair indication that they play midfield. Their ages? 21, 22, 19, 24 and 19

Midfielders usually play forward flank and pocket while they build their fitness and body, and learn the speed of AFL, with tastes in the middle.

Or would you prefer we play a midfield line up of Cook, Schoenberg, Soligo, Pedlar and Berry each bounce and get belted due to lack of body size, AFL strength and fitness, and a complete lack of leadership and experience? Id wager then you would complain and call for Crouch, Laird and Keays back in the guts

I’d agree that you are spot on here. The problem is that sloane and crouch are major negatives in our midfield. We need a couple of mature players to replace them so that the rotations involve a combo of mature mids and the developing mids.

 

[Eagleboy2011]

What coaches are available next season. Clarkson, Buckley, Teague.... I'm fed up our club is a training for untied coaches.

 

[UcantCme]

What coaches are available next season. Clarkson, Buckley, Teague.... I'm fed up our club is a training for untied coaches.

Buckley is only available for Vic based clubs, so he is not available to us...

Teague, I'm not sure you are serious but he was a massive failure with a list that was ready to play finals

Clarkson, as long as the entire club is align with Clarko, he does not believe in the draft no matter where your clubs list is at.... he preferes the knows over unknowns

2022 hasn't been a great start for the coaching group, the team needs to show improvement again this year, we must play finals in 2023

We keep hearing the players are engaged and have done the work, well let's see it on game day

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[George Kramer]

Nicks need to sort out his selections, they suck. Soligo as sub when he can’t impact and needs sanfl games was super dumb

 

[craig crowing]

What with all the policing going on our supporters board currently .
A Hamish open discussion our drafting performance --- closed ??
Is Nicks coaching good enough. ---- Closed ?? Transferred to be hidden here.
Personal attacks on posters continue to happen but with club really struggling, supporters not seeing a lot of reward at this stage from many top picks and our on field lack of skills and general game plan not good enough or not working surely posters can raise posts and views.
I know there can be a lot of negativity on here but in low times to continue to love the club maybe helps to get things off chest to hang in there.
Been fairly positive about Nicks but certainly not a lot of positives in game this season so far.

 

[beartoo]

Are you actually arguing about Ben Keays? Who is only 25, arguably 7 years left in his career, and improved from scrap heap to 2nd in our BnF at age 24? He is a prime example of an improved player

Just looking at the AFL minigame footage you see 3 centre bounces and every one of them Schoenberg was there. Sholl, Cook and Dawson on the wings and Soligo in one of the bounces too. I would say thats a fair indication that they play midfield. Their ages? 21, 22, 19, 24 and 19

Midfielders usually play forward flank and pocket while they build their fitness and body, and learn the speed of AFL, with tastes in the middle.

Or would you prefer we play a midfield line up of Cook, Schoenberg, Soligo, Pedlar and Berry each bounce and get belted due to lack of body size, AFL strength and fitness, and a complete lack of leadership and experience? Id wager then you would complain and call for Crouch, Laird and Keays back in the guts

Errr...our midfield is getting belted anyway because the incumbent old fellas look as though they are running through treacle.

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[Scorpus]

What coaches are available next season. Clarkson, Buckley, Teague.... I'm fed up our club is a training for untied coaches.

Ross Lyon

Not that I want him as a head coach but his insights as a commentator are excellent. Would be an upgrade on VB as midfield coach

 

[FAITH]

How long does Matthew Nicks have until his coaching tenure becomes untenable?

He is playing the kids through a necessity, we have no one else but the midfield has not changed or improved in almost 18 months.

We still stay with O’Brien in the ruck with Crouch, Sloane, Keays and Laird in the middle. That has never changed, regardless of the result, abs this is a prime reason we have stalked into the development of the younger player.

So, how long does Matthew Nicks have before question are being asked about his coaching future.

You must be a Port Troll.

 

[Bay62]

Ross Lyon

Not that I want him as a head coach but his insights as a commentator are excellent. Would be an upgrade on VB as midfield coach

Not my favourite either but I feel he has something left to offer a club

Although I doubt he’d be interested in an assistant role. Didn’t want to have to present for the Carlton job, just give it to me

 

[Pick4To6]

You must be a Port Troll.

Takes one to know one, ya reckon?

 

[Smoooothy]

We thought Crouch coming back was going to fix everything.

We did???

 

[FAITH]

Takes one to know one, ya reckon?

how old are you, 8?
Nicksy is the last person to blame for the state the club is in right now.

 

[Mr_Moogle]

I've seen enough of Nicks to make a call. He's shit, his brand is shit, he can't develop players and his recruiters will make sure he has no talent to work with. Get rid of Hamish and pay out Nicks contract. This year is already a bust, may as well go the full tank and hand the reigns over to Van Berlo.

 

[MrBarry]

Are you actually arguing about Ben Keays? Who is only 25, arguably 7 years left in his career, and improved from scrap heap to 2nd in our BnF at age 24? He is a prime example of an improved player

Just looking at the AFL minigame footage you see 3 centre bounces and every one of them Schoenberg was there. Sholl, Cook and Dawson on the wings and Soligo in one of the bounces too. I would say thats a fair indication that they play midfield. Their ages? 21, 22, 19, 24 and 19

Midfielders usually play forward flank and pocket while they build their fitness and body, and learn the speed of AFL, with tastes in the middle.

Or would you prefer we play a midfield line up of Cook, Schoenberg, Soligo, Pedlar and Berry each bounce and get belted due to lack of body size, AFL strength and fitness, and a complete lack of leadership and experience? Id wager then you would complain and call for Crouch, Laird and Keays back in the guts

Pedlar, Cook, Berry, Schoey and Keays should be the midfield mix 70-75% of the game. Crouch and Sloane should be rotating through for the other 25% of the game to give those guys a spell, it's as simple as that.

It's a rebuild and it is possible to be aggressive with getting games into young players without totally ruining there development.

 

[1970crow]

These sack the coach threads belong on the facebook fan pages where people think a rebuild takes exactly 24 months. Nicks has done plenty in his time.

Plenty is a stretch. Player mood has certainly improved, but how much of that was achieved simply by seeing the back of Pyke, Burton and campo? I doubt there’s many past or future coaches that wouldn’t have achieved similarly in that area.

In terms of Football, I’m not seeing much improvement at all. I don’t think we’ve gone backwards, but I’d not make a call confidently either way.

 

[1970crow]

Are you actually arguing about Ben Keays? Who is only 25, arguably 7 years left in his career, and improved from scrap heap to 2nd in our BnF at age 24? He is a prime example of an improved player

Just looking at the AFL minigame footage you see 3 centre bounces and every one of them Schoenberg was there. Sholl, Cook and Dawson on the wings and Soligo in one of the bounces too. I would say thats a fair indication that they play midfield. Their ages? 21, 22, 19, 24 and 19

Midfielders usually play forward flank and pocket while they build their fitness and body, and learn the speed of AFL, with tastes in the middle.

Or would you prefer we play a midfield line up of Cook, Schoenberg, Soligo, Pedlar and Berry each bounce and get belted due to lack of body size, AFL strength and fitness, and a complete lack of leadership and experience? Id wager then you would complain and call for Crouch, Laird and Keays back in the guts

Schoey is in there because Laird is injured. Schoey will lose a lot of minutes if Laird returns and both Sloane and Crouch are at least half fit.

 

[davos44]

Buckley is only available for Vic based clubs, so he is not available to us...

Teague, I'm not sure you are serious but he was a massive failure with a list that was ready to play finals

Clarkson, as long as the entire club is align with Clarko, he does not believe in the draft no matter where your clubs list is at.... he preferes the knows over unknowns

2022 hasn't been a great start for the coaching group, the team needs to show improvement again this year, we must play finals in 2023

We keep hearing the players are engaged and have done the work, well let's see it on game day

On SM-G973F using BigFooty.com mobile app

I disagree with the sentiment we should be playing finals next Year. we will be down for a long time, Sloane smith and walker wont play finals again. Maybe 2025

 

[Pilchard_Adams]

Dont get deluded with what kind of rebuild we are in here.

Its certainly not a quick flash style rebuild - needing a trade or 2 plus a couple years decent picks to add to a decent list to jump back into finals and retaining coaching staff.

And its not a medium size rebuild where the foundations of a premiership squad are still middle aged and contributing week in week out to build around, but a few aging players have had to be retired to force the youth injection

This is a full blown clean out, largely only the club jumper is escaping the broom here. Coaching staff, game plan, CEO, 5 years of forcing mid range B to C grade players out who still have adequate AFL level footy in them in exchange for picks to strip the age demographic of the club. The only aging players to survive the cull have been absolute club icons and leaders, and players who are on reasonably cheap salary who if removed would be counterproductive in the rebuild either financially or due to their on-field leadership and knowledge.

We have 25 players 22 or under.
Geelong have 13
Melbourne 19
Bulldogs 15
Port have 18

As that number moves below 20 I fully expect our onfield performance to improve as the younger players have developed their AFL fitness, bodies, and adapted to the AFL level. I believe this is the kind of rebuild that many of the top teams have endured which has seen them remain in contention / win flags for periods of 5 to 10 years.

 

[George Kramer]

Dont get deluded with what kind of rebuild we are in here.

Its certainly not a quick flash style rebuild - needing a trade or 2 plus a couple years decent picks to add to a decent list to jump back into finals and retaining coaching staff.

And its not a medium size rebuild where the foundations of a premiership squad are still middle aged and contributing week in week out to build around, but a few aging players have had to be retired to force the youth injection

This is a full blown clean out, largely only the club jumper is escaping the broom here. Coaching staff, game plan, CEO, 5 years of forcing mid range B to C grade players out who still have adequate AFL level footy in them in exchange for picks to strip the age demographic of the club. The only aging players to survive the cull have been absolute club icons and leaders, and players who are on reasonably cheap salary who if removed would be counterproductive in the rebuild either financially or due to their on-field leadership and knowledge.

We have 25 players 22 or under.
Geelong have 13
Melbourne 19
Bulldogs 15
Port have 18

As that number moves below 20 I fully expect our onfield performance to improve as the younger players have developed their AFL fitness, bodies, and adapted to the AFL level. I believe this is the kind of rebuild that many of the top teams have endured which has seen them remain in contention / win flags for periods of 5 to 10 years.

It all depends on how well we’ve drafted and we’ve made some costly misses with top draft picks.

Hamish has to go

 

[Redline]

I think Nicksy will go at the end of next year and we will pay him out a year.

Our 2020 year was so bad under him that we were always going to improve and there have been some signs but we are still a long way off and a big contender for the spoon.

I'd settle for a bit more improvement from inderviduals. Not so much Rachele or Thilthorpe who are naturally talented but some of the others.