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

[Mr_Moogle]

Suns' best win since Win #1 vs Port Power back in the day?

 

[King Elvis]

Alright, scratch that then, just give me an example of a position change that happened in game that no one really saw coming the had a large impact on the result of a game.

Luke Pedlar on Stewart?

 

[relapse]

Did I? I’m a smart judge then, I thought I was prepared to see how he went in 2023. But I like your version better

Maybe I have you confused with 1970Crow?

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

Whoopsies!

 

[OldCrowBloke]

I have a slightly different take.
If Nicks spent this year coaching for his survival, he would be more inclined to stick to conservative selections and no variation in game style.
He now has some certainty to allow for more flexible thinking - it is just a matter of seeing if he has the capacity to do that.
I posted this just after Nicks was extended.
What a totally garbage bit of blind optimism by me.
His selection policies are still stuck firmly in the bog - he has totally lost me.

 

[jackster83]

Shaw was a long time ago, but every other one of our coaches has shown something, a period of finals before eventually turning to s**t.

This bloke has given us nothing. He gave us our first wooden spoon, there is no way we should have finished bottom with the team we had, there was still enough talent in it. We cut deep after that because we did finish bottom. Roo said he thought we had enough experienced players to be better than that.

He’s gradually improved since then but he’s also been blessed with the highest draft picks we’ve had plus 2 of the best recruits we’ve had in Dawson and Rankine.

In the year we should be playing finals he changes the game plan, leads us to 0-4 and then blames the players. Throw in the s**t selections and its obvious the bloke is not a senior coach and there is absolutely no way he is our next premiership coach, hell he might not even be our next finals coach.

He’s come from the Ken Hinkley school of “like me, won’t criticise me”.

He’s a s*t coach and can’t stand the *******.

He's an Alan Richardson clone.

Seriously, check out his record at St Kilda. It's eerily similar including the wooden spoon in year 1.

Richardson was also a Hinkley disciple.

 

[thebirdman 24]

I have a slightly different take.
If Nicks spent this year coaching for his survival, he would be more inclined to stick to conservative selections and no variation in game style.
He now has some certainty to allow for more flexible thinking - it is just a matter of seeing if he has the capacity to do that.
I posted this just after Nicks was extended.
What a totally garbage bit of blind optimism by me.
His selection policies are still stuck firmly in the bog - he has totally lost me.

I guess he is still coaching for survival if those performance triggers exist.

If we were smart, they would say the extension relies on us playing finals. Not that I think we have a finals list, but the club is deluded and 100% expected to play finals this year.

On SM-A325F using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Greenfinger]

Saw my friends last night and we recalled the night in off season we saw the arrogant toss bag on King William road acting like he owned the city ( I’ve told the story previously) .

Ive never felt more frustrated at a coach . I think that the treatment of curtin and the refusal to really own that dumb decision to sub at half time as costing us the game has just taken my anger and disgust in him to another level.

 

[Greenfinger]

I have a slightly different take.
If Nicks spent this year coaching for his survival, he would be more inclined to stick to conservative selections and no variation in game style.
He now has some certainty to allow for more flexible thinking - it is just a matter of seeing if he has the capacity to do that.
I posted this just after Nicks was extended.
What a totally garbage bit of blind optimism by me.
His selection policies are still stuck firmly in the bog - he has totally lost me.

His arrogance and limited imagination on game day are fixed . No contract extension will change that

 

[adelaidecrows]

His arrogance and limited imagination on game day are fixed . No contract extension will change that

He is a rookie coach, give him a chance.

 

[Soggy2112]

Luke Pedlar on Stewart?

Not the point I was talking about.

 

[NSolis]

Saw my friends last night and we recalled the nigh in off season we saw the arrogant toss bag on King William road acting like he owned the city ( I’ve told the story previously) .

Ive never felt more frustrated at a coach . I think that the treatment of curtin and the refusal to really own that dumb decision to sub at half time as costing us the game has just taken my anger and disgust in him to another level.

Subbing Curtin cost us the game? That's ridiculous. If you want to argue that selecting Curtin cost us that game that would be fair enough, though I think the last thing we need to be asking of Nicks is that he take fewer risks with selecting unproven players. Subbing him was a drastic response to a dire situation and you can argue it might be bad for Curtin's development and the future of the club but there's no way it reduced our chance of winning the game.

 

[skam85]

Nicks has a wins clause in his contract, so he is coaching for KPIs. The KPI fact is now irrefutable.

What Nicks is forgetting, is that promising kids don't actually lose you that many games of football.

Dud experienced guys like McHenry, Murphy, Jones, Hamill - playing Smith and Tex with back injuries in the opening weeks. Sholl disappearing every time we play a good team. Sub decisions such as an injured Tom Lynch, Soligo in Rd 1, Soligo against Collingwood, Curtin's treatment in general.

Those things lose you games.

And you cannot tell me that Will Hamill

17

Will Hamill

Age

23

Ht

187cm

Wt

84kg

Pos.

Def

Career

Season

Last 5

D

8.8

2star

K

4.4

2star

HB

4.4

3star

M

2.6

3star

T

1.4

3star

MG

135.2

2star

D

8.8

2star

K

4.4

2star

HB

4.4

3star

M

2.6

3star

T

1.4

2star

MG

135.2

2star

D

8.8

3star

K

4.4

2star

HB

4.4

4star

M

2.6

3star

T

1.4

4star

MG

135.2

3star

is going to be on our senior list next year. It's like when we played Douglas and Mackay knowing they weren't going to be offered another contract.

 

[Gtowncrow]

Damien Barrett doesn't get much love from us usually. But his indirect advice to the Adelaide Football club could not be more clear​

​

IF ...​

many ingredients are required for a premiership ...

THEN ...​

selection integrity is one of the staples. That Luke Parker

26

Luke Parker

Age

31

Ht

183cm

Wt

88kg

Pos.

Mid

Career

Season

Last 5

D

24.2

5star

K

12.6

5star

HB

11.6

5star

M

3.8

4star

T

5.6

5star

CL

5.8

5star

D

22.1

5star

K

12.3

5star

HB

9.9

5star

M

3.9

4star

T

5.0

5star

CL

5.5

5star

D

21.2

5star

K

11.4

4star

HB

9.8

5star

M

2.0

3star

T

8.0

5star

CL

5.2

5star

has been fit for three weeks and can't reclaim a spot in the Swans team is extraordinary. One of the club's greatest ever players. A three-time best and fairest winner, a three-time placegetter in the same award. An All-Australian, a premiership player, a Brownlow Medal runner-up.


Over to you Matthew

 

[jackster83]

Nicks has a wins clause in his contract, so he is coaching for KPIs. The KPI fact is now irrefutable.

What Nicks is forgetting, is that promising kids don't actually lose you that many games of football.

Dud experienced guys like McHenry, Murphy, Jones, Hamill - playing Smith and Tex with back injuries in the opening weeks. Sholl disappearing every time we play a good team. Sub decisions such as an injured Tom Lynch, Soligo in Rd 1, Soligo against Collingwood, Curtin's treatment in general.

Those things lose you games.

And you cannot tell me that Will Hamill is going to be on our senior list next year. It's like when we played Douglas and Mackay knowing they weren't going to be offered another contract.

And picking the older guys for end of season dead rubbers against bottom sides.

Someone like Dowling would have benefited greatly from getting a gig in the last game against WCE last year. Instead we loaded up with experience and only hurt our draft pick.

 

[Jarman3]

Damien Barrett doesn't get much love from us usually. But his indirect advice to the Adelaide Football club could not be more clear​

​

IF ...​

many ingredients are required for a premiership ...

THEN ...​

selection integrity is one of the staples. That Luke Parker has been fit for three weeks and can't reclaim a spot in the Swans team is extraordinary. One of the club's greatest ever players. A three-time best and fairest winner, a three-time placegetter in the same award. An All-Australian, a premiership player, a Brownlow Medal runner-up.


Over to you Matthew

If you look at this week's team selection sheet, I reckon you'd see "Rory Sloane" on it then hastily scribbled out. Old habits are hard to break.

 

[weekend at bernies]

Nicks would be a lot better in Adam Kellys role.

 

[Greenfinger]

Subbing Curtin cost us the game? That's ridiculous. If you want to argue that selecting Curtin cost us that game that would be fair enough, though I think the last thing we need to be asking of Nicks is that he take fewer risks with selecting unproven players. Subbing him was a drastic response to a dire situation and you can argue it might be bad for Curtin's development and the future of the club but there's no way it reduced our chance of winning the game.

Absolutely it did ! We played a man down after worrells injury 5 minutes into the second half. Nicks had options to move curtin away from the last line of defence and basically threw him to the wolves.
Rookie error to sub a player unforced at half time ! No other coach ever does that ! Commentators were very scathing

 

[srv23]

Subbing Curtin cost us the game? That's ridiculous. If you want to argue that selecting Curtin cost us that game that would be fair enough, though I think the last thing we need to be asking of Nicks is that he take fewer risks with selecting unproven players. Subbing him was a drastic response to a dire situation and you can argue it might be bad for Curtin's development and the future of the club but there's no way it reduced our chance of winning the game.

He subbed Curtin at half time (when we were actually in front) even though clubs will rarely make a tactical sub before mid quarter 3 at least. Within the first 5 minutes in the third a remarkably similar player in Worrell was injured. This left us with 1 less player on the bench for rotations for the better part of a half of football and we ended up with a draw...Regardless of your opinion on Curtin's first half, being 1 rotation down for a half of football in a game that results in a draw is without question a significant factor.

As for your belief that selecting him cost us the game. He didn't have a great first half no doubt but we were still ahead at half time. Then with him subbed we continued to build on that lead in the third quarter before conceding something like 5 goals in a row to be down by 3 goals before we finally pulled the trigger (again) and moved the ball quickly to steal a draw. He was subbed out when we were in front and was sitting on the bench when we once again conceded a good lead and allowed a team to get a run on and kick a string of goals in a row.

If Curtin's first half cost us the game then I'd love to know your thoughts on Brodie Smiths multiple errors, awful decisions, simple skill errors and horrendous turnovers that conceded multiple goals in the first 2 games of the season - both of which ended up in close losses. But I guess its ok if one of our experienced leaders does that. Not a first year player in his 4th and 5th quarters of AFL footy ever.

And before you suggest it - no I'm not just disappointed that hes not playing like a gun immediately. I'm disappointed that we have traded to have access to one of the highest rated players in last years draft and screwed him around trying to turn him into a KPD playing him out of position. That after selecting him we have given him virtually no opportunity to get up to speed with the added pace and pressure of AFL footy, subbing him at the first opportunity every time. I'm disappointed that we hold talented young players to different standards of performance to senior players allowing the likes of Smith, Murphy and McHenry put in repeated poor performances with absolutely no selection integrity. I don't care that he didn't dominate and look like a star from day 1. Select him and give him a decent go at it.

 

[Scorpus]

Damien Barrett doesn't get much love from us usually. But his indirect advice to the Adelaide Football club could not be more clear​

​

IF ...​

many ingredients are required for a premiership ...

THEN ...​

selection integrity is one of the staples. That Luke Parker has been fit for three weeks and can't reclaim a spot in the Swans team is extraordinary. One of the club's greatest ever players. A three-time best and fairest winner, a three-time placegetter in the same award. An All-Australian, a premiership player, a Brownlow Medal runner-up.


Over to you Matthew

Is he implying that not selecting Luke Parker is not upholding selection integrity?

I would argue it's the complete opposite. The top of the ladder Swans who are on a massive winning streak are continuing to pick a team full of winners. There is no room for feelings or loyalty, only performance.

 

[MatthewB]

Nicks would be a lot better in Adam Kellys role.

Nicks would be a lot better if had nothing to do with the club

 

[NSolis]

He subbed Curtin at half time (when we were actually in front) even though clubs will rarely make a tactical sub before mid quarter 3 at least. Within the first 5 minutes in the third a remarkably similar player in Worrell was injured. This left us with 1 less player on the bench for rotations for the better part of a half of football and we ended up with a draw...Regardless of your opinion on Curtin's first half, being 1 rotation down for a half of football in a game that results in a draw is without question a significant factor.

As for your belief that selecting him cost us the game. He didn't have a great first half no doubt but we were still ahead at half time. Then with him subbed we continued to build on that lead in the third quarter before conceding something like 5 goals in a row to be down by 3 goals before we finally pulled the trigger (again) and moved the ball quickly to steal a draw. He was subbed out when we were in front and was sitting on the bench when we once again conceded a good lead and allowed a team to get a run on and kick a string of goals in a row.

If Curtin's first half cost us the game then I'd love to know your thoughts on Brodie Smiths multiple errors, awful decisions, simple skill errors and horrendous turnovers that conceded multiple goals in the first 2 games of the season - both of which ended up in close losses. But I guess its ok if one of our experienced leaders does that. Not a first year player in his 4th and 5th quarters of AFL footy ever.

And before you suggest it - no I'm not just disappointed that hes not playing like a gun immediately. I'm disappointed that we have traded to have access to one of the highest rated players in last years draft and screwed him around trying to turn him into a KPD playing him out of position. That after selecting him we have given him virtually no opportunity to get up to speed with the added pace and pressure of AFL footy, subbing him at the first opportunity every time. I'm disappointed that we hold talented young players to different standards of performance to senior players allowing the likes of Smith, Murphy and McHenry put in repeated poor performances with absolutely no selection integrity. I don't care that he didn't dominate and look like a star from day 1. Select him and give him a decent go at it.

People are dramatically underrating how bad Curtin's game was here. It was as bad a half of football as you will see, and we'd certainly have been more likely to win the game with someone else in the team instead of him. I'm happy with his selection and comfortable with the fact that we risk losing games by playing young players with potential, that's part of the game. But there's no need to delude ourselves by acting like Curtin's game is anything like Smith having a bad one where he turns the ball over a few times or whatever. As has been discussed here at length, almost all of Brisbane's first half goals were kicked by Curtin's direct opponent who outmarked or outpositioned him, or in the case of the Hipwood goal by him giving away a free kick against someone else's opponent. Subbing him was possibly an overreaction but it was an attempt to stop the bleeding and we'd likely have won the game if it wasn't for the injury that followed.

Knowing about the injury you wouldn't do it obviously but going down that path you can just as easily say that knowing how Curtin would go you wouldn't pick him. Don't really see the point.

edit: I should add, if you want to argue that selecting Smith against Gold Coast also cost us the game when compared to an alternative option, I think that's probably true. Smith probably should have been dropped for the Freo game based on his start to the season. Irrelevant to the issue with Curtin though.

 

[jackster83]

If we had managed to get Petty with pick 14 and McAdam, would we have drafted Curtin?

Crazy to think that we traded up to pick 8 to get someone we only saw as a backup KPD option.

 

[Scorpus]

But there's no need to delude ourselves by acting like Curtin's game is anything like Smith having a bad one where he turns the ball over a few times or whatever.

Brodie Smith had 8 turnovers and 1 score involvement in round 1 in a game we lost by 6 points

That's the biggest discrepancy of any player in any match involving us this year

He also conceded a ridiculously stupid 50m penalty that took a difficult shot into the goal square, and one of his turnovers was a kick directly to a Gold Coast player 30m in front under no pressure (goal). Gold Coast kicked 8 total goals to win.

Bloke has played 250 games, but all he needed to do was apologize and he was backed in for the following week

There are clear double standards in the way we select senior players versus inexperienced players

 

[Pea Nut]

Is he implying that not selecting Luke Parker is not upholding selection integrity?

I would argue it's the complete opposite. The top of the ladder Swans who are on a massive winning streak are continuing to pick a team full of winners. There is no room for feelings or loyalty, only performance.

No, he's implying just what you said. Selection integrity means Parker can't crack back in to the side and is stuck playing VFL. Meanwhile at the AFC ....