Opinion Matthew Nicks: Adelaide's Coach (Part 3) - Re-Signed to 2027...

[Amacca 23]

So far no one has been able to explain why the extension is good if we have to sack him at the end of 2026

Or why the extension is necessary at all

Thats on the presumption he has to be sacked and is it a good deal if he doesnt ? Or is it your prejudice that he must be sacked ? I for one cant tell the future if he is to be sacked then so be it, let the season play out and we will see if it was a good decision or not

 

[FR0GGY]

Thats on the presumption he has to be sacked and is it a good deal if he doesnt ? Or is it your prejudice that he must be sacked ? I for one cant tell the future if he is to be sacked then so be it, let the season play out and we will see if it was a good decision or not

The main point is there was no need to do it yet.
Look what happened last time we did it

 

[Southerntakeover]

It's a pretty small sample size though. It's two finals games surrounded by a national scandal that resulted in our best player sitting on the sideline.

So many dramatic posts on here, when really the extension isnt a big deal. We flame out and it all falls apart in 2026 - we can fire Nicks without too much of a hit to our soft cap in 2027.

Noble went 1-5 in his first 3 finals tilts (5 home games, 1 neutral site).

It's a small sample size because he failed to make the finals in any other season.

Brisbane continued to aggressively improve the list, and never finished top and failed to win a quarter. Our club's sat still, and rewarded the failure. We're not alike.

 

[Scorpus]

Thats on the presumption he has to be sacked and is it a good deal if he doesnt ? Or is it your prejudice that he must be sacked ? I for one cant tell the future if he is to be sacked then so be it, let the season play out and we will see if it was a good decision or not

Well let's assume for a moment in 2026 it's revealed that Nicks is a master coach and he takes us to high places

If he was out of contract, there would be little to no discussion on his contract, he would get an extension at some point, Nicks would have leverage to get a good deal and we'd give him a multi-year deal

Now let's say we've contracted him to 2027. There's little to no difference. He would still be extended beyond 2027 if he had an amazing season in 2026. He would still have leverage to get a good deal. We might save a small amount of money depending on the fixed terms for 2027. Like let's be real here, if Nicks made the grand final he is not going to enter 2027 as a coach on a one year deal.

So if Nicks is good, a one year extension doesn't benefit the club in any real sense. He will get a longer contract during or shortly after the 2026 season regardless of whether he was contracted for 2027.

The risk we take on signing him for that one year deal is that we now have an increased liability if we need to sack him. So there's no real benefit to us if he is good, with the downside of an added expense if he is bad.

What might have made sense if the club believed Nicks is amazing is to sign him up for a longer deal on low money. That way if he does become a great in-demand coach, we suddenly have him on a fantastic contract. Or if they don't believe he is the guy or aren't sure, don't sign him, just wait and see.

Instead for some reason we signed him for one year, which achieves nothing. No benefit to the club whether he's good or bad in 2026

 

[Crow till I die]

So far no one has been able to explain why the extension is good if we have to sack him at the end of 2026

Or why the extension is necessary at all

Scary (for us) option...even if we regress, he won't be getting sacked

 

[Pugsley]

Thats on the presumption he has to be sacked and is it a good deal if he doesnt ? Or is it your prejudice that he must be sacked ? I for one cant tell the future if he is to be sacked then so be it, let the season play out and we will see if it was a good decision or not

Nice deflection.

 

[Pugsley]

Scary (for us) option...even if we regress, he won't be getting sacked

#jobforlyfe

 

[George CantStandYa]

Well let's assume for a moment in 2026 it's revealed that Nicks is a master coach and he takes us to high places

If he was out of contract, there would be little to no discussion on his contract, he would get an extension at some point, Nicks would have leverage to get a good deal and we'd give him a multi-year deal

Now let's say we've contracted him to 2027. There's little to no difference. He would still be extended beyond 2027 if he had an amazing season in 2026. He would still have leverage to get a good deal. We might save a small amount of money depending on the fixed terms for 2027. Like let's be real here, if Nicks made the grand final he is not going to enter 2027 as a coach on a one year deal.

So if Nicks is good, a one year extension doesn't benefit the club in any real sense. He will get a longer contract during or shortly after the 2026 season regardless of whether he was contracted for 2027.

The risk we take on signing him for that one year deal is that we now have an increased liability if we need to sack him. So there's no real benefit to us if he is good, with the downside of an added expense if he is bad.

What might have made sense if the club believed Nicks is amazing is to sign him up for a longer deal on low money. That way if he does become a great in-demand coach, we suddenly have him on a fantastic contract. Or if they don't believe he is the guy or aren't sure, don't sign him, just wait and see.

Instead for some reason we signed him for one year, which achieves nothing. No benefit to the club whether he's good or bad in 2026

Yep, there is no reason why we’d couldn’t have waited until the bye. If it looks like we are missing finals he’s gone at the end of the year if we don’t. If it looks like we are, he gets a year to see how he performs in finals.

One year now just highlights they aren’t sure about him and he can’t get another gig otherwise he wouldn’t have signed.

This is a pissweak decision made because they cant handle the media scrutiny of an unsigned coach who has underperformed.

 

[Pugsley]

Yep, there is no reason why we’d couldn’t have waited until the bye. If it looks like we are missing finals he’s gone at the end of the year if we don’t. If it looks like we are, he gets a year to see how he performs in finals.

One year now just highlights they aren’t sure about him and he can’t get another gig otherwise he wouldn’t have signed.

This is a pissweak decision made because they cant handle the media scrutiny of an unsigned coach who has underperformed.

Piss weak club doing piss weak things.

 

[Amacca 23]

Nice deflection.

Not a deflection at all just pointing out the bias that exists on this board who knows what happens next year ,can anybody see into the future ?

 

[Pugsley]

Not a deflection at all just pointing out the bias that exists on this board who knows what happens next year ,can anybody see into the future ?

Yes. I know I will be having lunch at 12 pm.

 

[Mr_Moogle]

So far no one has been able to explain why the extension is good if we have to sack him at the end of 2026

Or why the extension is necessary at all

Purely from a carrots and sticks point of view, I don't get it. Make the guy sweat if he wants job security.

 

[George CantStandYa]

Not a deflection at all just pointing out the bias that exists on this board who knows what happens next year ,can anybody see into the future ?

Can the club see into the future? No, so why sign him now?

 

[AFC979810]

Yeah, not winning a quarter isn’t an indication of how poor we played in our 2 home finals after finishing minor premier. We were just “off”. Nothing wrong with the coaching.

Can you name another team that failed to win a quarter in 2 finals and went out in straight sets? Or are we the only “off” team?

Who gives a shit?

We lost 3 of the Collingwood quarters by a combined 11 points. Would you honestly think more highly of Nicks or the clubs performance if we won the first quarter by a point instead of losing it by 2 points? What about if we won the first two quarters but still lost by the same amount in the end?

Our finals performance was definitely a disappointment, particularly after our regular season performances.

Our worst statistical quarter was losing by 13 points.

We were slightly off in the finals, which is enough to lose by in the business end of the season.

 

[AFC979810]

It's a small sample size because he failed to make the finals in any other season.

Yup. I wanted him sacked earlier, but after the footy we played this year I am happy to keep him for 2026.

The coaching record from 2020 /2021 / 2022 becomes far less important in 2026.

I am also a lot more forgiving than many on here with regards to finals. I think the Rankine scandal had a way bigger impact on the group and our performance than anyone wants to acknowledge.

Brisbane continued to aggressively improve the list,

So have we. Dawson, Rankine, Cumming, Peatling, ANB, Ah Chee.

and never finished top and failed to win a quarter.

C'mon. Let's not die on this stupid 'didnt win a quarter bullshit'.

Brisbane lost 5 of their first 6 finals. Including finish 2nd in the first tilt and going out in straight sets. That being said - I am sure winning 3 of the 4 quarters in a losing final to GWS gave the Brisbane faithful plenty of belief in their coach.

Our club's sat still, and rewarded the failure. We're not alike.

C'mon. We havent sat still. We have added those players mentioned above. Brought in Davis. Brought in Balme.

 

[AFC979810]

Round 20 is a lot different to round 1

But hey let people bring their racism to the fore again

Good point. Let's hide it and pretend it wasn't an issue. That'll fix everything.

 

[George CantStandYa]

Who gives a shit?

We lost 3 of the Collingwood quarters by a combined 11 points. Would you honestly think more highly of Nicks or the clubs performance if we won the first quarter by a point instead of losing it by 2 points? What about if we won the first two quarters but still lost by the same amount in the end?

Our finals performance was definitely a disappointment, particularly after our regular season performances.

Our worst statistical quarter was losing by 13 points.

We were slightly off in the finals, which is enough to lose by in the business end of the season.

You don’t, that’s up to you.

We lost every quarter, doesn’t matter what the margin was. You could lose a game by 1 point, you still lose.

What it indicates is we were not better than our opposition in any of the 8 quarters we played at home after finishing top. That is damming and a record only Nicks holds.

 

[Amacca 23]

You don’t, that’s up to you.

We lost every quarter, doesn’t matter what the margin was. You could lose a game by 1 point, you still lose.

What it indicates is we were not better than our opposition in any of the 8 quarters we played at home after finishing top. That is damming and a record only Nicks holds.

Was it nicks fault 12 players were ill that week ? Or rankine did what he did or dawson had an injured foot ?

 

[AFC979810]

You don’t, that’s up to you.

We lost every quarter, doesn’t matter what the margin was. You could lose a game by 1 point, you still lose.

What it indicates is we were not better than our opposition in any of the 8 quarters we played at home after finishing top. That is damming and a record only Nicks holds.

And you can win 3 quarters like Brisbane did and still lose. Its a stupid thing that is meaningless that you keep referencing as though it matters.

 

[George CantStandYa]

And you can win 3 quarters like Brisbane did and still lose. It’s a stupid thing that is meaningless that you keep referencing as though it matters.

Oh so you can win by winning just one quarter, yeah, winning a quarter doesn’t matter, it’s just a stupid thing winning quarters.

 

[Southerntakeover]

Yup. I wanted him sacked earlier, but after the footy we played this year I am happy to keep him for 2026.

The coaching record from 2020 /2021 / 2022 becomes far less important in 2026.

I am also a lot more forgiving than many on here with regards to finals. I think the Rankine scandal had a way bigger impact on the group and our performance than anyone wants to acknowledge.



So have we. Dawson, Rankine, Cumming, Peatling, ANB, Ah Chee.



C'mon. Let's not die on this stupid 'didnt win a quarter bullshit'.

Brisbane lost 5 of their first 6 finals. Including finish 2nd in the first tilt and going out in straight sets. That being said - I am sure winning 3 of the 4 quarters in a losing final to GWS gave the Brisbane faithful plenty of belief in their coach.



C'mon. We havent sat still. We have added those players mentioned above. Brought in Davis. Brought in Balme.

Is 2023 and 2024 irrelevant? We underachieved in both years.

Brisbane improved the list from the team that finished top four. Not just in the rebuild.

Just saying that judging us poorly for not winning a quarter is bullshit and stupid doesn't make it so. It's a raw tool, sure, but boiled down it's a reference to how we lost.

If you're assessing a coach on finals, you don't think there's a difference between competitive losses and getting dominated by inferior opposition at home?

Which one is more likely to be correctable?

 

[Southerntakeover]

And you can win 3 quarters like Brisbane did and still lose. Its a stupid thing that is meaningless that you keep referencing as though it matters.

It's the opposite of meaningless. It's a very clear indicator that at no point across two entire home finals did we play good football.

It was a complete systemic failure.

 

[George CantStandYa]

Was it nicks fault 12 players were ill that week ? Or rankine did what he did or dawson had an injured foot ?

Was it Nicks fault that he selected 9 defenders?
Was it Nicks fault he played Max out of position?
Was it Nicks fault he left Bond on Elliot?
Was it Nicks fault we didn’t tag Daicos?
Was it Nicks fault Moore was left a loose man all game taking the record interception marks in a final?
Was it Nicks fault he didn’t tag Newcombe?
Was it Nicks fault he didn’t move Keane off Gunston?
Was it Nicks fault he played Rach as the sub?
Was it Nicks fault he created a gameplan with slow ball movement, with the least amount of handballs in the final and the rest of the finalists ran and handballed?
Was it Nicks fault he didn’t rotate the squad so we had more options?

 

[AFC979810]

Is 2023 and 2024 irrelevant? We underachieved in both years.

No, but they are less relevant than 2025.

Would have been happy to sack Nicks after 2022,2023,2024. Think he gets a mulligan for the finals this year due to the Rankine saga.

Brisbane improved the list from the team that finished top four. Not just in the rebuild.

We added Ah Chee after our top 4 tilt.

Just saying that judging us poorly for not winning a quarter is bullshit and stupid doesn't make it so. It's a raw tool, sure, but boiled down it's a reference to how we lost.

We were off in the finals no doubt. But C'mon, we lost the 3 of the 4 quarters against Collingwood by a combined 11 points. Would you honestly be happier if we won those 3 quarters but lost the other quarter by 12 points more?

If you're assessing a coach on finals, you don't think there's a difference between competitive losses and getting dominated by inferior opposition at home?

Which one is more likely to be correctable?

I think he gets a mulligan for this finals series as stated previously. We were marginally off and missing two of the 4 players that have an ability to change a final for us.

 

[George CantStandYa]

I think we should change the rules, you can win a game even if you haven’t won a quarter. Nicks would win that trophy.