Will Mathew Nicks get fired before he coaches a win?

Will Mathew Nicks get fired before he coaches a win?

  • Yes

    Votes: 47 78.3%
  • Also yes

    Votes: 27 45.0%

  • Total voters
    60

xchadders

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May 26, 2012
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if nicks is all about ‘team defence’ then why are we the most heavily scored against team? So we give up offence to be more defensive and yet we are still the worst.
 

maxlilly

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Aug 15, 2009
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if nicks is all about ‘team defence’ then why are we the most heavily scored against team? So we give up offence to be more defensive and yet we are still the worst.

Nicks is doing exactly what we have been asking for, for the last decade. Giving high draft picks games early.
I think the inside 50's were 49 to 24.
We are getting thrashed through the midfield because we cant transition from defense to the forward 50.
And our defense are seeing alot of ball
 
Nicks is doing exactly what we have been asking for, for the last decade. Giving high draft picks games early.
I think the inside 50's were 49 to 24.
We are getting thrashed through the midfield because we cant transition from defense to the forward 50.
And our defense are seeing alot of ball

The problem is, of course, that you identified a problem which has nothing to do with the high draft picks.

And we dropped McAsey, and would have left him dropped but for Walker missing.
 

Sack Chapman

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We have sacked 3 coaches in 10 years and our coaching team consists of Godden, Hart, Clarke and Brent $&$&$ Reilly. Any budding coach with a half a brain would give the AFC a wide berth. Nicks will be as good as it gets.
 
May 24, 2006
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I do feel for Nicks.

He probably came in with a game plan and structure in mind but didn't anticipate the actual base-level stuff we can't do.

Like being able to win a contest, handle the ball cleanly under pressure, stick a tackle, break a tackle, execute a drop punt etc.

If game plan was the problem we'd see inconsistent patches of good play where the pure talent and ability of the individual players shines through and larger stretches of disorganised, confused football. Instead we've seen six entire games of consistent terrible.

There's simply not enough talent on the field or off the field.
 

Sack Chapman

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Nicks has been thrown under the bus like no other coach in the history of the AFC. The only way he will survive is if he ignores the boys club and takes complete control of the football program himself. In every area the odds are stacked heavily against him. He has found himself in a horrendous system. If I was him I would be looking outside the afc for guidance and support. I would be giving a few old and current senior coaches at other clubs a call.
 

Vhaluus

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I do feel for Nicks.

He probably came in with a game plan and structure in mind but didn't anticipate the actual base-level stuff we can't do.

Like being able to win a contest, handle the ball cleanly under pressure, stick a tackle, break a tackle, execute a drop punt etc.

If game plan was the problem we'd see inconsistent patches of good play where the pure talent and ability of the individual players shines through and larger stretches of disorganised, confused football. Instead we've seen six entire games of consistent terrible.

There's simply not enough talent on the field or off the field.

If he came in having done so little research on us that any of this is a surprise, he shouldn't be a head coach.

Anyone competent and worthy of the role would have seen these issues and come in with a plan to address them.

Of course any competent interview committee would have also know we had such issues and not hired a coach that didn't have a plan to address them.

but competent and the AFC don't go together.
 
May 24, 2006
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If he came in having done so little research on us that any of this is a surprise, he shouldn't be a head coach.

Anyone competent and worthy of the role would have seen these issues and come in with a plan to address them.

Of course any competent interview committee would have also know we had such issues and not hired a coach that didn't have a plan to address them.

but competent and the AFC don't go together.
You can't address talent.

The only positive from the season so far is that now no one from the club would be under any illusion.
 

Vhaluus

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You can't address talent.

The only positive from the season so far is that now no one from the club would be under any illusion.

You can't address talent but you can address effort and technique.

Tackling doesn't require talent, it requires effort and technique.

The fact Nicks hasn't even addressed the things that are in his control is worrying.
 
May 24, 2006
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You can't address talent but you can address effort and technique.

Tackling doesn't require talent, it requires effort and technique.

The fact Nicks hasn't even addressed the things that are in his control is worrying.
Yep, with years of Auskick equivalent skill-base building you can help players with their techniques.

I imagine though that he would have come in with AFL-level ideas to implement but is now realising that it will need to be more like

Ok guys now we're going to practise doing some handballs with our wrong hand

<group groans>
 

Vhaluus

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Yep, with years of Auskick equivalent skill-base building you can help players with their techniques.

I imagine though that he would have come in with AFL-level ideas to implement but is now realising that it will need to be more like

Ok guys now we're going to practise doing some handballs with our wrong hand

<group groans>

But again, if he was worthy of being a head coach he would have realized those things just watching us last year.

His pitch at his interview should have been 'this is the eventual strategy I want to promote as head coach, based on where the game is going and the type of player you have at the club BUT the first 12 months minimum are going to have to be devoted to getting skills and effot up to AFL standards as a prerequisite before we can move onto making large changes to the game plan'

His entire preseason training schedule (unusual though the preseason turned out to be) should have been focused on core skills.

His selection policy should be about 1)youth 2)effort. It should have been made clear that the people getting games were those who were the future of the club, because they were young and willing to throw absolutely everything they can at the game.

except clearly none of that happened.
 
May 24, 2006
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But again, if he was worthy of being a head coach he would have realized those things just watching us last year.

His pitch at his interview should have been 'this is the eventual strategy I want to promote as head coach, based on where the game is going and the type of player you have at the club BUT the first 12 months minimum are going to have to be devoted to getting skills and effot up to AFL standards as a prerequisite before we can move onto making large changes to the game plan'

His entire preseason training schedule (unusual though the preseason turned out to be) should have been focused on core skills.

His selection policy should be about 1)youth 2)effort. It should have been made clear that the people getting games were those who were the future of the club, because they were young and willing to throw absolutely everything they can at the game.

except clearly none of that happened.
Even our most negative posters weren't predicting a winless season

Our biggest fear going in was another middling finish
 
Mar 26, 2015
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Gotta give Nicks more time.

Skills are putrid (and have been for 3 years now), COVID interrupted season, no decent assistants around him.

If you're writing off coaches after 6 games, we'd be swapping them 4 times a year.

I like what i'm hearing from Nicks in pressers, seems to identify distinct issues instead of buzz cliches.

I'm more than happy to give him until at least halfway through 2021 before I make a call.
 

Vhaluus

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Even our most negative posters weren't predicting a winless season

Our biggest fear going in was another middling finish

Well I'm probably in the running for our most negative poster according to most.

I wasn't expecting a winless season, I was expecting bottom 4 though. If this was a normal season I think we'd end up spooners, but history says we'd likely snatch an unlikely win somewhere along the season.
 
May 24, 2006
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Well I'm probably in the running for our most negative poster according to most.

I wasn't expecting a winless season, I was expecting bottom 4 though. If this was a normal season I think we'd end up spooners, but history says we'd likely snatch an unlikely win somewhere along the season.
I think it's dawning on the supporters and the club just how far off the pace we are.

A whole lot of things have added up

The erosion of our culture and the impact that has had on the club. Won't be a quick fix.
Our long term inability to judge what is important in a footballer (the overrating of Mackay, Kelly types... the underrating of Lyons, Greenwood types)
The sledgehammer to player development that occurs when you prioritise spots 20-22 in the team for Douglas/Otten equivalents
The lack of development that occurs when you drip feed games into young midfielders exclusively on the half forward flank and SANFL (that we play Wilson in the middle in the SANFL tells you everything you need to know about how clueless we are)
Skimping on coaching and off-field appointments eg Longmuir/Sumich vs Wright/Hart/Reilly
The impact of losing shrewd, proven player developers like Stewart, Jonas and Kaesler and replacing them with ???
A few misses at the draft which had up until a few years ago been a strong point that kept our playing stocks strong

And the rest

We've used up every ounce of what we had and we've been left with what we've developed over the last 7-8 years, which is nothing.

You can say that Nicks should have seen it coming but I think he did come in thinking development year(s) were required and the club was on the same page. In the preseason Ricciuto was even prepared to offer up the rebuilding word but I don't think he, Nicks or anyone thought we'd be building from ground zero with sand.
 
Aug 5, 2013
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the underrating of Lyons, Greenwood types
I don't think Lyons and Greenwood were underrated per se. Lyons was persisted with for many years despite achieving almost nothing before 2016 and Greenwood was undroppable for almost 2 seasons before being deemed disposable. If anything I'd say the club had unrealistically high expectations for them and considered them failures for 'only' being consistently best 22.

It's a pattern you see in a few other project players and also in the relatively few big name signings (eg. Gibbs/Tambling) the club has brought in over the year. It's almost as if the club makes a big call on a player and then gets weirdly vengeful against them personally when the predictions don't match the reality, regardless of how good the player is objectively.
 
Mar 21, 2016
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But again, if he was worthy of being a head coach he would have realized those things just watching us last year.

His pitch at his interview should have been 'this is the eventual strategy I want to promote as head coach, based on where the game is going and the type of player you have at the club BUT the first 12 months minimum are going to have to be devoted to getting skills and effot up to AFL standards as a prerequisite before we can move onto making large changes to the game plan'

His entire preseason training schedule (unusual though the preseason turned out to be) should have been focused on core skills.

His selection policy should be about 1)youth 2)effort. It should have been made clear that the people getting games were those who were the future of the club, because they were young and willing to throw absolutely everything they can at the game.

except clearly none of that happened.
Roo - '' stop drinking my beer , finish your chop and piss off ''
 
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