Opinion Matthew Nicks: Adelaide's Coach

[1970crow]

Collingwood prefer to pay players to play for other clubs instead...

betts, JJ, Gibbs, we've not been too bad at it ourselves recently. Gibbs is the odd one. A list SCREAMING out for leadership, and instead of paying him $600k or so to be a leader and role model around the club, we pay him that to be anywhere else. Makes sense.

 

[Danger in Texas]

Now that the draw is out, I think the first 11 games could either make or break Nicks.

GWS (A)
Rich (H)
Port (A)
Freo (H)
Carl (H)
Haw (A Tas)
Collingwood (H)
Geel (A)
St Kilda (H)
Bulldogs (A)
Brisbane (H)

It's a relatively tough start and we could be anywhere from 1-10 to about 6-5 going into Round 12.

I tend to think that if we're sitting close to 1-10 that Nicks won't be finishing the season.

Nicks would be feeling the heat if he is 3-8 or below, IMO (which is entirely possible)

I don’t think we’ll be that bad, I reckon we’ll get to around 4-7 or 5-6 during that period, but he can’t afford to have a poor run of form at any point in the year, like we saw from around R7 to R14 last season - let alone finish the year with only 4 wins against AFL-standard teams

 

[MRB37]

betts, JJ, Gibbs, we've not been too bad at it ourselves recently. Gibbs is the odd one. A list SCREAMING out for leadership, and instead of paying him $600k or so to be a leader and role model around the club, we pay him that to be anywhere else. Makes sense.

Gibbs had no interest in the defensive side of football (which is why he originally got onto Pyke's shitlist), so was hardly going to be one that Nicks looked to to be a role model for the kids.

 

[AFC979810]

You reckon the only cap changes related to Gibbs, lever and CC? It's well known that Tex backended his contract to keep the contending group together. And both CC and Lever were offered $ we couldn't match, of course we're tight for space. Roo has said it, it's on record Tex took a 'pay cut' aka backload. You seriously reckon we weren't maxxed out trying to keep the dream alive? What is it that you need to believe so strongly that you need to build your temple upon this quicksand? Don't tell me that it's $ aren't a driving factor?

100% believe our player exodus had nothing to do with salary cap.

McGovern signed a 3 year contract extension in 2017 and then demanded a trade one year later - that aint about money. Charlie Cameron was contracted until the end of 2018 and demanded a trade - that aint about money.

Of course Roo came out and said it was all about the money! What is he gonna say? "Our club is in shambles we have a divided playing list and everyone wants out?". You remember - this was a time of hamstring awareness, the club denying the camp.

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

100% believe our player exodus had nothing to do with salary cap.

McGovern signed a 3 year contract extension in 2017 and then demanded a trade one year later - that aint about money. Charlie Cameron was contracted until the end of 2018 and demanded a trade - that aint about money.

Of course Roo came out and said it was all about the money! What is he gonna say? "Our club is in shambles we have a divided playing list and everyone wants out?". You remember - this was a time of hamstring awareness, the club denying the camp.

It was clearly about money to some degree.

Lever, Cameron, McGovern all got bigger offers we couldn't match and the pull of playing here wasn't strong enough to offset the difference.

I think our culture is better now. But there's been no test. No one is after our players because they haven't done anything. No one is trying to entice them away.

There's no upward pressure on our salary cap through performances because we've been poor and have lots of young players.

The test will be if we start to play better and then we're able to still retain interstaters like Rachele and Soligo when Vic clubs come knocking.

 

[AFC979810]

It was clearly about money to some degree.

Lever, Cameron, McGovern all got bigger offers we couldn't match and the pull of playing here wasn't strong enough to offset the difference.

Money always factors into these decisions, but you have to be blind Freddy to think it was the primary reason for all 3 leaving.

Lever was so pissed at the club that he leaked footage of him throwing away all his crows gear and didn't show up for the B&F. All kinds of media noise about McGovern being pissed off about the club mismanaging his hammy, the camp, how he wanted out, forced into signing an extension etc. Cameron made his disdain for the club very very clear.

These players couldn't wait to get out. They refused to keep playing. The situation was so untenable that we actually traded them despite McGovern being contracted until 2020.

I think our culture is better now. But there's been no test. No one is after our players because they haven't done anything. No one is trying to entice them away.

There's no upward pressure on our salary cap through performances because we've been poor and have lots of young players.

The test will be if we start to play better and then we're able to still retain interstaters like Rachele and Soligo when Vic clubs come knocking.

Thats definitely fair and the challenge will definitely be on retention moving forward.

For me the ability to secure Rankine and Dawson is a big tick for us and if we were a rabble like 2018/2019 I doubt we would have secured them.

 

[FR0GGY]

100% believe our player exodus had nothing to do with salary cap.

McGovern signed a 3 year contract extension in 2017 and then demanded a trade one year later - that aint about money. Charlie Cameron was contracted until the end of 2018 and demanded a trade - that aint about money.

Of course Roo came out and said it was all about the money! What is he gonna say? "Our club is in shambles we have a divided playing list and everyone wants out?". You remember - this was a time of hamstring awareness, the club denying the camp.

It came out recently McGovern was on 800ish at Carlton, he clearly got a lot bigger offer.

 

[AFC979810]

It came out recently McGovern was on 800ish at Carlton, he clearly got a lot bigger offer.

Sure - he made the most of it and maximized his earnings. Well done Mitch.

But he was out of contract at the end of 2017 and signed a contract extension for 3 years in August of 2017. He had a huge offer from Fremantle during 2017. It become public that he wanted out in the middle of 2018 while he still had 2 and a half years to run. Thats a slap in the face to the club.

Did he just become money hungry between August and July? Or was the club so toxic that he demanded to get out?

And once more - this isn't a one off!

Who are players who have demanded trades mid contract? I can think of Dunkley wanting to leave Bulldogs because he wasn't getting midfield time in 2018 and they forced him to stay - anyone else?

 

[FR0GGY]

Sure - he made the most of it and maximized his earnings. Well done Mitch.

But he was out of contract at the end of 2017 and signed a contract extension for 3 years in August of 2017. He had a huge offer from Fremantle during 2017. It become public that he wanted out in the middle of 2018 while he still had 2 and a half years to run. Thats a slap in the face to the club.

Did he just become money hungry between August and July? Or was the club so toxic that he demanded to get out?

And once more - this isn't a one off!

Who are players who have demanded trades mid contract? I can think of Dunkley wanting to leave Bulldogs because he wasn't getting midfield time in 2018 and they forced him to stay - anyone else?

Lobb.
I think there was talk of mcgoverns girl friend needing to do her uni course in Melbourne too.

 

[AFC979810]

Lobb.

Good one. Any others?

I know we traded Jonathan Griffin mid contract for pick 61.

I think there was talk of mcgoverns girl friend needing to do her uni course in Melbourne too.

Lots of rumors around from both sides no doubt.

 

[AFC979810]

100% believe our player exodus had nothing to do with salary cap.

McGovern signed a 3 year contract extension in 2017 and then demanded a trade one year later - that aint about money. Charlie Cameron was contracted until the end of 2018 and demanded a trade - that aint about money.

Of course Roo came out and said it was all about the money! What is he gonna say? "Our club is in shambles we have a divided playing list and everyone wants out?". You remember - this was a time of hamstring awareness, the club denying the camp.

Mutineer

It was those bloody greedy mercenaries right - just like Kurt Tippett!!!!!

Thankful we didn't pursue that greedy mercenary Dustin Martin. Imagine the damage a player like that would do to a club like ours!

 

[rabidcrow]

One thing the club excels at, is paying out contracts. Nobody does it better.

Carlton. North. Essendon. All easily beat us in that regard


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[rabidcrow]

It came out recently McGovern was on 800ish at Carlton, he clearly got a lot bigger offer.

Carlton did a Bulldogs. They offered McGovern a monster deal after we tried to poach Gibbs and that made McGovern desperate to get out. signed for around $500k for us - then sees we have a chunk to go after Gibbs with - and Carlton knock on his door with $800k plus.

McGovern was all about the cash and the deal worked well for us

In his defence though the culture under Pyke was terrible. We seemingly had a big divide between the younger and older players - and the best younger players decided to go where they wanted to play, we’re treated with greater importance and got significantly better offers. The full package


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[Jeffcrowe]

Re Nicks

8 wins or less a fail and under pressure to survive

9 wins Meh but holds on

10 wins pass

More than 10 wins - not tracking too badly at all , time for a crack at finals in 2024

Most importantly need to keep developing U24 players like some did in 2022 eg Berry Fog Soligo etc

 

[AFC979810]

Carlton did a Bulldogs. They offered McGovern a monster deal after we tried to poach Gibbs and that made McGovern desperate to get out. signed for around $500k for us - then sees we have a chunk to go after Gibbs with - and Carlton knock on his door with $800k plus.

McGovern was all about the cash and the deal worked well for us

In his defence though the culture under Pyke was terrible. We seemingly had a big divide between the younger and older players - and the best younger players decided to go where they wanted to play, we’re treated with greater importance and got significantly better offers. The full package


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So McGovern signed for us $500k a year. After refusing a deal worth around $750k a year with Freo.

Media Watch: Fremantle’s big offer for Mitch McGovern, Jobe Watson too ‘slow’, Gary Ablett slammed

Freo’s big offer for Crow, ‘slow’ Don slammed

www.foxsports.com.au

Then a year later - he decides that $800k is the magic number?

 

[Jeffcrowe]

Carlton did a Bulldogs. They offered McGovern a monster deal after we tried to poach Gibbs and that made McGovern desperate to get out. signed for around $500k for us - then sees we have a chunk to go after Gibbs with - and Carlton knock on his door with $800k plus.

McGovern was all about the cash and the deal worked well for us

In his defence though the culture under Pyke was terrible. We seemingly had a big divide between the younger and older players - and the best younger players decided to go where they wanted to play, we’re treated with greater importance and got significantly better offers. The full package


Sent from my iPhone using BigFooty.com

Agree !

Pyke didn’t have much empathy so it was suck it up approach to anyone that didn’t go along with him

It’s always a fine balance

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

Money always factors into these decisions, but you have to be blind Freddy to think it was the primary reason for all 3 leaving.

Lever was so pissed at the club that he leaked footage of him throwing away all his crows gear and didn't show up for the B&F. All kinds of media noise about McGovern being pissed off about the club mismanaging his hammy, the camp, how he wanted out, forced into signing an extension etc. Cameron made his disdain for the club very very clear.

These players couldn't wait to get out. They refused to keep playing. The situation was so untenable that we actually traded them despite McGovern being contracted until 2020.



Thats definitely fair and the challenge will definitely be on retention moving forward.

For me the ability to secure Rankine and Dawson is a big tick for us and if we were a rabble like 2018/2019 I doubt we would have secured them.

You're off on this imho

Lever wanted a new contract from us. Gov had literally signed a new contract less than 12 months before (and there were whispers he wanted out literally weeks after signing the year before when Carlton's offer came through too late). Cameron was contracted.

They were very happy with here until their footy exploded and the $$$ signs started flashing

The source of where our wheels fell off as a club is an interesting debate however

 

[Mutineer]

https://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/afl-crystal-ball-superfooty-reporters-give-their-waytooearly-predictions-for-2023/news-story/effd03b5b5c89444681e297aec749d53

 

[Rabish Binney]

Lobb.
I think there was talk of mcgoverns girl friend needing to do her uni course in Melbourne too.

Didnt McGovern gets the shits up because we told him there was no more money to offer - only to then recruit Gibbs on big $$$$ ??

 

[beartoo]

Money always factors into these decisions, but you have to be blind Freddy to think it was the primary reason for all 3 leaving.

Lever was so pissed at the club that he leaked footage of him throwing away all his crows gear and didn't show up for the B&F. All kinds of media noise about McGovern being pissed off about the club mismanaging his hammy, the camp, how he wanted out, forced into signing an extension etc. Cameron made his disdain for the club very very clear.

These players couldn't wait to get out. They refused to keep playing. The situation was so untenable that we actually traded them despite McGovern being contracted until 2020.



Thats definitely fair and the challenge will definitely be on retention moving forward.

For me the ability to secure Rankine and Dawson is a big tick for us and if we were a rabble like 2018/2019 I doubt we would have secured them.

Was McGovern at the camp?

On SM-A115F using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[FR0GGY]

Didnt McGovern gets the shits up because we told him there was no more money to offer - only to then recruit Gibbs on big $$$$ ??

Sounds familiar

 

[Scorpus]

Didnt McGovern gets the shits up because we told him there was no more money to offer - only to then recruit Gibbs on big $$$$ ??

And didn't we lowball Lever to such an embarrassing degree that it opened up the door for other offers mid-season?

Meanwhile we were overpaying absolute hacks like Curtly Hampton

Our list management was too busy overpaying bad players leaving no room for emerging talent, which made guys like Lever and Cameron easy targets for poaching. On top of that we hardly had an environment where players wanted to stay for unders

 

[Mr MysteryGuest]

And didn't we lowball Lever to such an embarrassing degree that it opened up the door for other offers mid-season?

Meanwhile we were overpaying absolute hacks like Curtly Hampton

Our list management was too busy overpaying bad players leaving no room for emerging talent, which made guys like Lever and Cameron easy targets for poaching. On top of that we hardly had an environment where players wanted to stay for unders

not sure about that, our opening offer at the beginning of the season was 400k

 

[Scorpus]

not sure about that, our opening offer at the beginning of the season was 400k

So the same amount we were allegedly paying players like Hampton, Menzel and Mackay

...an embarrassingly low amount

 

[Mr MysteryGuest]

So the same amount we were allegedly paying players like Hampton, Menzel and Mackay

...an embarrassingly low amount

no, it was right at the tme based on his first 2 seasons. Mackay was obviously on too much and was senior player bonus.

I've never seen anything to suggest we were paying hampton 400k