Opinion Matthew Nicks: Adelaide's Coach (Part 2) - Full Support of the Board

[SugarShane]

The best analysis of Nicks' coaching vs the cats that I've read. Maybe his assistants did more that we think last year?

Footy Fix: The Crows played 2024's dumbest game against the AFL's smartest team - and it was ghastly

In my Six Points column last week, I loudly and whatever is the opposite of proudly proclaimed that the Western Bulldogs were the AFL's…

www.theroar.com.au

This is some good heat. It's all well and good to say we stunk and leave it at that but to go into that much depth about how dumb we were and prove it with multiple examples can only be good for us in the long run. Either we fix it, or the heat just gets hotter and hotter and focused in one spot.

 

[Jarman3]

To some degree I agree, the list we gave Nicks is worse

However it's not that much worse. In 2020 Nicks had a midfield of Sloane, Gibbs, M. Crouch, B. Crouch plus guys like Laird, Smith, Talia, Hartigan, Seedsman, Mackay, Brown, Atkins and of course Walker

I think that compares well to a list of Dangerfield, Thompson, Douglas, Van Berlo, Reilly, Rutten, Johncock, Vince, Porplyzia plus Tippett in terms of experience. You have to remember back then that players like Walker and Sloane had less than 50 games of experience. Yes the better players Sando had were better.

Sanderson took over a list with 20 guys that had played less than 10 games, 15th for experience and 14th for age. Nicks had 19 guys in that position, 13th for overall experience and age.

Where Sanderson did well is that he saw the holes in the 22 and filled them with the right players, like Talia, Smith, Sloane and Walker. He didn't faff about. Sloane played his best position, he identified Walker as a focus point of the forward line, Talia went straight to key defense in his 3rd season. He didn't leave first round picks in the SANFL. Most of the players he brought in he played as best he could in their best positions.

When Nicks came in, Fogarty for example played fewer games in his first year than Himmelberg. Gallucci didn't get a run at all. We coached Jones terribly and played him out of position. Worrell wasn't best 22 until his FIFTH season. We debuted Berry as a small forward! Pedlar doesn't play serious time until his third season. And that's not counting his game wasting with guys like Rowe and Murphy

To this day Nicks has been too slow to identify and develop players that are the future of the club. Yes we've made some drafting errors and in hindsight you would call someone like Gallucci a fail. How much did not backing him in affect him, versus Sanderson backing in (say) Brodie Smith? Or not backing in Jones so we could prioritize Mackay or some s**t. Or playing a spud like Frampton over McAsey, did that affect his passion for AFL when he sees such a trash player preferred over him?

I think people forget that Brodie Smith and Matt Crouch were All Australians in their fourth season. Rory Laird AA in his 5th and 6th seasons. Talia in his 5th. Those are the guys Sanderson developed.

That's like Pedlar being an All Australian THIS YEAR. Except Smith and Crouch had 54 and 47 games going into their fourth seasons. Pedlar? He sat on just 26.

Re Pedlar, though, he had a lot of injury issues in his first few seasons. Ankle injury, shoulder reconstruction, OP. Last year was the first time he was really able to get a decent run at it.

Gallucci was never going to make it - had no attributes to suggest he would be an elite AFL footballer, it's mystifying what we ever thought he had that justified him being a first round selection, albeit a late one. If we'd put any more games into him we'd be sitting here talking about players we wasted games on like Rowe and Murphy.

 

[hippyhippy]

You reckon.

We are a club who hasnt played in finals in 6 years.

Crows
2018 - 12 Wins
2019 - 10 Wins
2020 - 3 Wins
2021 - 7 Wins
2022 - 8 Wins
2023 - 11 Wins

In that time Port
2018 - 12 Wins
2019 - 11 Wins
2020 - 14 Wins 9minor Premiers when we were wood spoon
2021 - 17 Wins
2022 - 10 Wins
2023 - 17 Wins

Id kill to have ports win loss record over ours in tha time

Why? It makes no difference if you don't win the last game of the year... We had a good period before the last 6 years ago for nothing

 

[Scorpus]

Re Pedlar, though, he had a lot of injury issues in his first few seasons. Ankle injury, shoulder reconstruction, OP. Last year was the first time he was really able to get a decent run at it.

Gallucci was never going to make it - had no attributes to suggest he would be an elite AFL footballer, it's mystifying what we ever thought he had that justified him being a first round selection, albeit a late one. If we'd put any more games into him we'd be sitting here talking about players we wasted games on like Rowe and Murphy.

Pedlar played 24 SANFL games across 2021 and 2022, plenty of opportunity to get a run at AFL level.

 

[SugarShane]

The fact that he missed the finals by a monfries bounce in 2013 - despite losing Tex and Tippett who kicked 100+ goals between them in 2012 (and 8 between them in a prelim) is pretty damn impressive.

It's a story for another thread but the Monfries bounce is a very interesting true sliding door moment.

It basically set the path of the 2 clubs 10 years ago. If that misses and Port don't play finals (and as such, don't win a final), I honestly don't think Ken would still be their coach today.

Instead the heat moves to Sando, who survives one more year before getting the sack. If he made the finals, and potentially wins one like Kern did, he almost certainly stays for 2015. Which means no Walshy (huge ramifications of all sorts here). Tex maybe never becomes captain. Does Pyke still happen? With no Pyke there's probably no CM. The list goes on.

 

[Rory Walkerfield]

This is some good heat. It's all well and good to say we stunk and leave it at that but to go into that much depth about how dumb we were and prove it with multiple examples can only be good for us in the long run. Either we fix it, or the heat just gets hotter and hotter and focused in one spot.

Jeebus that pedlar decision is damning.

 

[AFC979810]

Collingwood didn't think so, look at what the team did under Macrae.

The difference between McRae and Buckley is 2 kicks of the footy.

 

[Trigger13]

Players these days like mr nice guy as coach. I remember when Sando got sacked it was straight after a few leaders went to Chapman complaining about him. As they all love nicks this won’t happen.

Nicks would be a great senior assistant. The one the players feel comfortable with talking to. We need a better strategic mind as coach. I think Pyke and Nicks combo would have been good if Pyke didn’t step down after review. Pyke coach and the Nicks his right hand man and the players mate.

Post of the day. The young players love Nicks. So from a cultural/retention perspective, it works. But there’s mounting evidence he lacks tactical abilities. He’s basically Ken Hinkley. That’s how much trouble we are in.

 

[ABAB]

The best analysis of Nicks' coaching vs the cats that I've read. Maybe his assistants did more that we think last year?

Footy Fix: The Crows played 2024's dumbest game against the AFL's smartest team - and it was ghastly

In my Six Points column last week, I loudly and whatever is the opposite of proudly proclaimed that the Western Bulldogs were the AFL's…

www.theroar.com.au

Not sure about his called that we have an "elite" midfield though.....

 

[Brett Cummings]

Post of the day. The young players love Nicks. So from a cultural/retention perspective, it works. But there’s mounting evidence he lacks tactical abilities. He’s basically Ken Hinkley. That’s how much trouble we are in.

Could have told you that in 2019. Where has nicks done most of his coaching? Under Ken hinkley. Name would have been crossed out immediately.

 

[George Kramer]

Nicks copping it from everyone, and with good reason. His extension could not have been timed worse.

Could have been after we play Freo, Melbourne and Carlton

 

[relapse]

Nicks copping it from everyone, and with good reason. His extension could not have been timed worse.

What was interesting was that I noticed people were leaving the game frustrated about 3/4 of the way through the 4th quarter.

Previous to this season people seemed to be far more accepting with losses, but it actually feels like Nicks' free pass is finally starting to wear off with supporters.

I think you're right that the club has misread things by reappointing Nicks, if we have a bad year I think it has the potential to turn really ugly.

 

[craig crowing]

When you read feedback saying ( we didn't take our opportunities ) as a response to Fridays debacle you have to wonder what the hell is going on .
Do they think we are kids at Disneyland.
And when are hard decisions going to be made.

 

[Ham]

I was thinking last year about how the football is still a business there to make money, with different KPIs probably around membership, viewership, attendance, memorabilia etc to drive dollars. On field this is supported through team success as a KPI but you would assume also subsidiarily driven through playing an exciting, watchable brand, playing exciting players and giving the fans what they want to see etc to drive the engagement. Last year I wondered if the higher ups mightv thought Nicks could be the right guy because of our successful trajectory as a young team but also the way he was branding us and I was pro Nicks.

I might be scrapping that thought process however if we dont keep our gameplan exciting to watch nor play the people we as fans want to see, (let alone go backwards on the ladder).


On iPhone using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Mr MysteryGuest]

Sanderson also developed a midfield, he very quickly started playing the Crouch brothers in the middle, Sloane played his first full season and he wasn't afraid of bringing in Jenkins, Laird, Lynch, Jacobs, Brown and Talia.

And he pumped games into Dangerfield and Walker to bring them into their prime

Dangerfield and Walker were primed for breakout season before Sanderson got to the club.

He didn't develop players like laird well and tried to turn him into a small forward

 

[1990crow]

Dangerfield and Walker were primed for breakout season before Sanderson got to the club.

He didn't develop players like laird well and tried to turn him into a small forward

I think Sanderson did OK. Fell apart in 2014 after we lost some depth, Tippett and Walker still first season post ACL.
Was cruelled by our admin screwing up Tippett situation (salary cap and lost draft picks) and Tex going down.

 

[MRB37]

A bit of rose tinted glasses on Sanderson going on. By his own admission he managed his time poorly, failed to communicate clearly and consistently and shut out a lot of people in the club, both players and other football admin staff.

Even with the admin stuff ups and injuries he had plenty of his own faults that led to his own downfall.

 

[Scorpus]

A bit of rose tinted glasses on Sanderson going on. By his own admission he managed his time poorly, failed to communicate clearly and consistently and shut out a lot of people in the club, both players and other football admin staff.

Even with the admin stuff ups and injuries he had plenty of his own faults that led to his own downfall.

I don't think anyone is claiming he was a good coach, because he wasn't. His gameplan in particular was a mess.

It's just interesting to compare our last two rebuild coaches and IMO Sanderson was clearly better in that area vs Nicks (so far)

 

[GROTTO]

What was interesting was that I noticed people were leaving the game frustrated about 3/4 of the way through the 4th quarter.

Previous to this season people seemed to be far more accepting with losses, but it actually feels like Nicks' free pass is finally starting to wear off with supporters.

I think you're right that the club has misread things by reappointing Nicks, if we have a bad year I think it has to potential to turn really ugly.

The timing of it, is just so strange. Almost as if, the Club knew we would have these losses and thought best to reappoint him now then to do it later after we potentially could be 0-5 after R5. Which would make the reappointment, idiotic to say the least.

 

[GROTTO]

You reckon.

We are a club who hasnt played in finals in 6 years.

Crows
2018 - 12 Wins
2019 - 10 Wins
2020 - 3 Wins
2021 - 7 Wins
2022 - 8 Wins
2023 - 11 Wins

In that time Port
2018 - 12 Wins
2019 - 11 Wins
2020 - 14 Wins 9minor Premiers when we were wood spoon
2021 - 17 Wins
2022 - 10 Wins
2023 - 17 Wins

Id kill to have ports win loss record over ours in tha time

Port totally blew their chances in 2020, they were that close to a flag it isnt funny.

The last time we were close to a flag was leading at QT in the 2017 GF. Tharts 7 years ago and counting.

 

[1970crow]

The best analysis of Nicks' coaching vs the cats that I've read. Maybe his assistants did more that we think last year?

Footy Fix: The Crows played 2024's dumbest game against the AFL's smartest team - and it was ghastly

In my Six Points column last week, I loudly and whatever is the opposite of proudly proclaimed that the Western Bulldogs were the AFL's…

www.theroar.com.au

Massively Overrates our 22, particularly the midfielders.

 

[1970crow]

I went and checked, it was actually Nigel "Notso" Smart that made the comment.

Trigg called us customers too I reckon. Definitely called a few agitators.

 

[WetCrow1991]

Matthew Nicks

Matthew Nicks

Age

48

Ht

187cm

Wt

88kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

13.6

3star

K

9.4

4star

HB

4.2

3star

M

4.1

4star

T

1.7

4star

G

0.7

4star

No current season stats available

D

6.6

2star

K

4.4

2star

HB

2.2

2star

M

2.2

3star

T

1.4

4star

G

0.4

3star

guide to boxing: Hands down, chin up.

 

[UcantCme]

for some reason we have gone back to a midfield mix that has not served us well in the past…..

In 2023 when we had our form spike it was because we didn’t play Laird and a touch in the same midfield and Sig, Pedlar, izak and Rachele were getting more midfield minutes

however now we have gone back to plan A that stalled us so badly

this is easily fixed but Nicks and VB need to totally readjust their thinking


On iPhone using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[1970crow]

What was interesting was that I noticed people were leaving the game frustrated about 3/4 of the way through the 4th quarter.

Previous to this season people seemed to be far more accepting with losses, but it actually feels like Nicks' free pass is finally starting to wear off with supporters.

I think you're right that the club has misread things by reappointing Nicks, if we have a bad year I think it has the potential to turn really ugly.

I wonder how much of a great guy Nicks is going to be when he's under serious pressure. Unfortunately we won't see it at its greatest because we stupidly secured him 2 more years. But he'll be feeling much more pressure than previous seasons of the losses continue to mount.