Preview R8: Changes vs. Carlton - Nicks Sucks and Must be Sacked

[davos44]

There's no way Smith is named? Rubbish

He is named lol

 

[Crows I Am]

It took ONE half back to be missing for him to go for the guy that should have been delisted. He literally can't help himself.

100% agreed. The young guys in the SANFL have been busting their ass trying to get a call up in to the AFL side for a long time now and they know their only chance is through injury. Nicks won't drop experienced guys for them to come in.

Then we have an opportunity this week to give one of them a crack and he goes back to the 33 year old washed up veteran instead. What does that say to the young kids? It tells them that their coach has no trust in them and that they are unlikely to get a game any time soon. What motivation is there for them to continue to crack in at SANFL level if their coach doesn't believe in them.

 

[DJ75]

The club is never going to come out and say it’s finals or bust for nicks. But everyone knows that’s pretty much the case. The media know it. Nicks knows it. We know it.

There is no other answer. Clearly our coach is coaching for his job. Not the long term success of the club.

And so we are on a highway to nowhere. This bloke — and the club itself — is stalling our success. And the decision to pick Smith alone says everything we need to know — and suspected.

What’s even more damning is that Nicks genuinely thinks a cooked smith has something to offer in the first place.

Mind boggling club, this one.

What is staggering is that the club think of themselves as being a leading club. It's like we are thoroughly convinced that what we do is the best of the best and everyone else is wrong - despite all evidence to the contrary.

Case in point - Matty Roberts was drafted by Sydney in the second round in the 2021 draft. He was regarded as a 184 cm midfielder who accumulates the ball and can play forward a bit. He played 1 game in 2022, 6 in 2023 and 23 games in 2024 including the finals. As a midfielder, he is a bit on the slower side and is definitely not a forward, so they moved him to half back and used his kicking skills to their advantage. He has been exceptional there ever since.

I suspect that if we had drafted him, Roberts would currently be playing in the SANFL, after we played him for a dozen games where he rotated through the sub position and half forward. He would be Billy Dowling. What would Billy be if he was drafted by Sydney?

The AFC - where senior players are protected by being played in the easiest positions on the ground, while the rookies are buried at half forward and then blamed for failing.

 

[Syd Crow]

Also, what is the go with Facebook. It’s like a black hole of misguided boomers (sorry to all boomers on here) with no ****n idea. The support for nicks/smith selection is sickening.

Meanwhile we are over here pretty much all on the same page, with the total opposite view.

Big footy: a place for people who actually get it.

There are none so blind as those who will not see

 

[Jarman3]

The club is never going to come out and say it’s finals or bust for nicks. But everyone knows that’s pretty much the case. The media know it. Nicks knows it. We know it.

There is no other answer. Clearly our coach is coaching for his job. Not the long term success of the club.

And so we are on a highway to nowhere. This bloke — and the club itself — is stalling our success. And the decision to pick Smith alone says everything we need to know — and suspected.

What’s even more damning is that Nicks genuinely thinks a cooked smith has something to offer in the first place.

Mind boggling club, this one.

This is the part I don't get. Smith has been at the club, and a regular selection, since well before Nicks' time. He has been routinely selected during Nicks' entire tenure until missing a few games last year and not being selected early this year.

So Nicks has been coaching for just over 5 years with no finals. If you're coaching for your career, why would you keep going back to selecting the same guys who have consistently failed to get the job done for you during your entire tenure? Surely you'd be at the point where you'd want and/or need to roll the dice on something and someone different to see if you go better with them?

Isn't the definition of madness something about doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result?

I also hate what this does to Brodie Smith himself. He was a very, very good player for this club for a very long time. Absolutely elite when at his peak. And yet here we are, watching the sad spectacle of him dragging himself through a couple of seasons more than he should have. The club does this because nobody has the balls to make a hard decision on club greats who can't see for themselves that it's over. We end up in a situation where, instead of celebrating club greats as they walk off after their last game, we're sitting here begging for somebody to put them (and us) out of their misery. It's Rory Sloane, Scott Thompson, Sam Jacobs etc etc all over again.

 

[WeeBlake]

It took ONE half back to be missing for him to go for the guy that should have been delisted. He literally can't help himself.

In the position most widely used to give new players an introduction to league footy

 

[Hodgy]

There are none so blind as those who will not see

You do realise the vast majority of supporters would say exactly this about the groupthink mentality on here. I don’t read this board very often, but everytime I do, I find myself wondering if this whole board is actually 4 or 5 people with 20 accounts each.

 

[DJ75]

In the position most widely used to give new players an introduction to league footy

Most widely used by good clubs.
We are not a good club. We use it to protect senior players.

 

[kirky]

View attachment 2301308

Rachele on the bench, not in the starting 18, but Luke Nankervis on a HFF. Brodie Smith on the bench? Would Hinge be on the bench?

Seriously, who puts this shit together?

 

[Hodgy]

In the position most widely used to give new players an introduction to league footy

Unfortunately we aren’t looking to introduce a new player, we are trying to replace an existing player for 1 week.

Carlton have 3 big key forwards which will have to be Butts, Max and Worrell, this would normally leave Hinge to take Cripps or Walsh when they rest forward.

If you honestly think a first game player who has only 4 games of experience playing in the backline would do a better job on Patrick Cripps than Brodie Smith then I’m sorry, you aren’t being honest. Cripps would absolutely monster him.

 

[BRL121]

Rachele on the bench, not in the starting 18, but Luke Nankervis on a HFF. Brodie Smith on the bench? Would Hinge be on the bench?

Seriously, who puts this shit together?

Hinge was on the bench last week and in some previous weeks, so yes.

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

Unfortunately we aren’t looking to introduce a new player, we are trying to replace an existing player for 1 week.

Carlton have 3 big key forwards which will have to be Butts, Max and Worrell, this would normally leave Hinge to take Cripps or Walsh when they rest forward.

If you honestly think a first game player who has only 4 games of experience playing in the backline would do a better job on Patrick Cripps than Brodie Smith then I’m sorry, you aren’t being honest. Cripps would absolutely monster him.

Has Keane been dropped?

 

[Betts are off]

On a happy note, good to see TT and Fog are both playing.

If we are going to win the key forwards are gonna need to have a game IMO

 

[Cromulant]

Rachele on the bench, not in the starting 18, but Luke Nankervis on a HFF. Brodie Smith on the bench? Would Hinge be on the bench?

Seriously, who puts this shit together?

People who pay attention to those team sheets are stuck in the 90s

 

[Betts are off]

I really want to see Rach up his midfield minutes this week with Crouch out. He's played well in every game he's played this year. Unfortunate injury when it occurred but now he's back and the cobwebs are blown out time to get him more involved

 

[Coopers]

Most widely used by good clubs.
We are not a good club. We use it to protect senior players.

And worse, we put the young guys at half forward in a very difficult position to contribute to.

 

[kirky]

People who pay attention to those team sheets are stuck in the 90s

I get that it changes in the first two minutes or so but why bother with playing those stupid games in the first place.

 

[WeeBlake]

Unfortunately we aren’t looking to introduce a new player, we are trying to replace an existing player for 1 week.

Carlton have 3 big key forwards which will have to be Butts, Max and Worrell, this would normally leave Hinge to take Cripps or Walsh when they rest forward.

If you honestly think a first game player who has only 4 games of experience playing in the backline would do a better job on Patrick Cripps than Brodie Smith then I’m sorry, you aren’t being honest. Cripps would absolutely monster him.

I am not expecting great things of any first gamer. The last two years tells any sane person we should not expect great things of Smith either. However, one of these two players has upside, and might benefit us in the medium term, whereas the other is already on a steep decline.

 

[CrowBloke]

How bad can his body be when he just outplayed everyone else in the SANFL while playing 1/4 less? So we can rule out fatigue. And if he needed the hitout, he just got it.

With Crouch out makes no sense to drop a raring-to-go young mid like Draper.
Carlton's mids need to be countered to at least a break-even F50 supply, then hope we kick better for goal.

We've got <<crickets chirping>> from the Club as to why Draper was omitted.
I can't imagine Nicks is saving him for a full game vs the Ferals next week (that requires some imagination and forward planning) and I reckon he'd be better off playing AFL tomorrow as preparation, anyway.

Yet another frustrating Nicks mystery.
SACK NICKS.

 

[Cromulant]

I get that it changes in the first two minutes or so but why bother with playing those stupid games in the first place.

Its an AFL rule to have the players in the spots, who cares what the clubs do with them.

 

[Cromulant]

I get that it changes in the first two minutes or so but why bother with playing those stupid games in the first place.

Its an AFL rule to have the players in the spots, who cares what the clubs do with them.

 

[Hodgy]

Has Keane been dropped?

I had him as one of the 3 talls standing their 3. Michalaney (the other Max) will be on Motlop.

 

[kirky]

Its an AFL rule to have the players in the spots, who cares what the clubs do with them.

Ok, if at the first bounce the ball goes into our forward line - is Nankervis or Rachele likely to kick the goal?

Stop playing stupid juvenile games and name your side as it should be. FFS

 

[SugarShane]

Fly Draper back after his sub appearance to play SANFL because he hasn't had enough footy...

...now a rest because he's had too much footy.

Decisions made a handful of days apart.

It's almost as though we don't have any idea what we're doing.

As soon as they said they were playing him in the SANFL as well I thought, pessimistically and half jokingly, "I bet they'll have to rest him now that he's played 2 games."

 

[Cromulant]

Ok, if at the first bounce the ball goes into our forward line - is Nankervis or Rachele likely to kick the goal?

Stop playing stupid juvenile games and name your side as it should be. FFS

Mountains and molehills really.

Im guessing youre a gambler.