Opinion Matthew Nicks: Adelaide's Coach

[WaynesWorld19]

My mind ain't changing in 3 games... I'm still not convinced. Happy to be wrong but I'm still in the no camp. We have much better list than when he started though, how much of it is talent and how much is head coaching? We've seen this type of quick improvement before, Craig, sando, pyke etc.... we need real results which currently don't exist still.

Coaches go from cold to hot in a matter of weeks in the afl...

You do know ...if you keep knocking an AFL coach .....it's 100% you'll be eventually right, and the Coach will be sacked

Lifes no fun, if you have a glass half empty approach .....enjoy the good times

 

[Slippery Pete]

Picking Thilthorpe instead of Himmelberg

I think I deserve to quote myself this morning.

It was interesting hearing Nicks a few weeks ago say that RT ”needs more time,” and at the moment, Himmelberg is ahead of him.

I thought the one silver lining of a “rebuilding” phase was not having to swallow this sort of well-worn AFC bullshit, but it appears not!

At this point, what could be the possible excuse for not playing him? Seriously? I’m open to explanations.

 

[Geoffa32]

If Nicks turns out to be good, wouldn't that mean the Hinkley factory turned out a good product?

Nicks learnt what not to do by working with Hinkley.

On SM-A325F using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[George Kramer]

Today is a day, you're best not be making any more predictions ....you've made some shocking calls on Nicks, the recruiting staff ....and I've lost count of how many players

But as they say, and I think this summarises beautifully

So Nicks fixes some of the areas I criticised him on, we are now seeing the results of that and I’m wrong, only in Wayne’s World.

As for making calls and never giving up, you only posted heat maps this week for Dawson playing midfield to defend playing him as a defender!!

 

[hippyhippy]

You do know ...if you keep knocking an AFL coach .....it's 100% you'll be eventually right, and the Coach will be sacked

Lifes no fun, if you have a glass half empty approach .....enjoy the good times

We've had too many almost there coaches in the last 20 years

 

[George Kramer]

GK - we need to get Dawson out of defence
WW - Nah, need him in defence and backs Nicks up

Dawson asks to be moved to the middle and kills it

WW - see GK, Nicks is a great coach, you were wrong

 

[WaynesWorld19]

So Nicks fixes some of the areas I criticised him on, we are now seeing the results of that and I’m wrong, only in Wayne’s World.

As for making calls and never giving up, you only posted heat maps this week for Dawson playing midfield to defend playing him as a defender!!

Read my posts .....I posted the heat maps to demonstrate that Dawson wasn't playing DEF in round 2 ....and that his role was varying week on week

But you take what you wish out of the maps

Also I have posted this year about Dawson being our big bodied mid ....but also that where the team was positioned last year, his need was in DEF ....which is regarded by most clubs as one of the critical roles in teams these days

So how we structure up is different in 2021 to 2022 ....to 2023
Based on experience of list, and drafts / recruits added .....it's not the same year on year, irrespective of where your list is

Rachelle is playing more mid this year .....if Rankine had of not come to the Crows, I could still see a situation whereby he would still be playing predominantly as a FWD

I can also see a situation where Rachelle is managed & plays games fwd, and Rankine more mid time .....that does not mean Nicks has made a dumb decision George

 

[George Kramer]

Read my posts .....I posted the heat maps to demonstrate that Dawson wasn't playing DEF in round 2 ....and that his role was varying week on week

But you take what you wish out of the maps

Also I have posted this year about Dawson being our big bodied mid ....but also that where the team was positioned last year, his need was in DEF ....which is regarded by most clubs as one of the critical roles in teams these days

So how we structure up is different in 2021 to 2022 ....to 2023
Based on experience of list, and drafts / recruits added .....it's not the same year on year, irrespective of where your list is

Rachelle is playing more mid this year .....if Rankine had of not come to the Crows, I could still see a situation whereby he would still be playing predominantly as a FWD

I can also see a situation where Rachelle is managed & plays games fwd, and Rankine more mid time .....that does not mean Nicks has made a dumb decision George

Umm no you didn’t. You said that in rd 4 arguably his best game, Nicks reverted back to using him the same as he played in rd 2.

In round 2 he played as a defender, there is no doubting that. You used heat maps which showed in rd 4, Dawson spending time in defence because as a midfielder he pushed back.

Our midfield was weak last year too, there is absolutely no reason Dawson couldn’t have played midfield last year.

I’d have no issue if we mixed up Rachelle and Rankine in the middle, so you’re making stuff up again

 

[GreyCrow]

My mind ain't changing in 3 games... I'm still not convinced. Happy to be wrong but I'm still in the no camp. We have much better list than when he started though, how much of it is talent and how much is head coaching? We've seen this type of quick improvement before, Craig, sando, pyke etc.... we need real results which currently don't exist still.

Coaches go from cold to hot in a matter of weeks in the afl...

Ive been burnt way too often

I have PTSD of the Crows

 

[Golumless]

tanking? We have not once prioritised development over the next set of 4 points during Nix tenure. Not once. VB even stated it as plain fact, 'the best way to develop the future is to win now'. We've never tanked, not for a single second, we've just been very poor.

A proper, well done tank has absolutely nothing to do with the coach and their decisions. It's about knee capping them (and the entire playing squad) before they even have a chance to influence results, and is purely achieved through list management. Primarily through the gutting of senior players at a club and trading off pieces they think have value. Seeing we pushed our list to where our best side last year was just slightly above the experience bands where a team becomes completely ineffective (and note, we were more inexperienced last year than Hawks are this) shows that removal of senior players. The debacle of Brad Crouch RFA, and retaining salary on Betts and Jenkins is also another indicator we were willing to cop short term pain to improve our draft hand.

Not only has the last three years been tanking. It's so far been a textbook example on how to tank. To the point we've been actively able to trade in elite talent in the last two years.

Nicks job, like every coach at clubs that aren't run like a basketcase is to win every game he is able too and with the list he has been handed and design a vision for what the club should look like post-rebuild. After all, that and development go hand-in-hand.

Edit: i have no idea where that Keays dentence came from. My phone is playing funny buggers.

 

[rabidcrow]

And did anyone actually say Nicks was a defensive coach?

I for one was critical for Nicks going defensive last year after a couple of losses and trying to minimise the size of our losses rather than playing to our strengths which was our forward line and playing Dawson in defence.

And what do you know…

In fairness to Nicks when did our forward line become a strength? The later part of last year as Fog broke through perhaps. Has generally been Tex and a few cameos over the last few years. Small forwards of Rowe, Ned and Murphy.
This year with Rankine coming in , Pedlar up and about, Rachelle fitter, Fog come of age and Tex still going okay we should be hitting the accelerator to go forward. Not so much for most of last year - it would just bounce out


Sent from my iPhone using BigFooty.com

 

[George Kramer]

In fairness to Nicks when did our forward line become a strength? The later part of last year as Fog broke through perhaps. Has generally been Tex and a few cameos over the last few years. Small forwards of Rowe, Ned and Murphy.
This year with Rankine coming in , Pedlar up and about, Rachelle fitter, Fog come of age and Tex still going okay we should be hitting the accelerator to go forward. Not so much for most of last year - it would just bounce out


Sent from my iPhone using BigFooty.com

Fog was on fire for the second half, Tex is Tex, McAdam finished high in our B&F. He did not give our forward line a chance last year with our slow forward entries and pushing our small forwards up the ground so we were picked apart by intercept defenders and smashed on the rebound.

 

[MRB37]

In fairness to Nicks when did our forward line become a strength? The later part of last year as Fog broke through perhaps. Has generally been Tex and a few cameos over the last few years. Small forwards of Rowe, Ned and Murphy.
This year with Rankine coming in , Pedlar up and about, Rachelle fitter, Fog come of age and Tex still going okay we should be hitting the accelerator to go forward. Not so much for most of last year - it would just bounce out


Sent from my iPhone using BigFooty.com

I generally think our forward set up previously was part of the loss minimisation strategy. Pump it in long and deep, throw the mosquito fleet at the ball and try and lock it in and hope you can cause turnovers to get your points. At worst you may even kill of 5-6 minutes with your opponent not being able to get the ball out. It's just a grind it down method.

One big thing we've changed this year is eyes down from forward of the square and be willing to move the ball shorter and be willing to move the ball in places where we have to take longer and/or more difficult shots. It has risks, like in the first two rounds when we couldn't convert consistently, but it'll also make us much less predictable.

 

[GreyCrow]

Our forward strategy was Richmond-lite

Then we couldnt go past Thilthorpe

Then we got elite talent in Rachele and Rankine - which pushed out McHenry , Murphy and others - who are ok but not at the level of today

And yes Fogarty clicking

 

[Alwaysacrow]

It's very clear to me know that Nick's has a game plan built on contested possessions, ground balls and quick movement. Although I'm obviously bias but the 1st quarter last night was some of the best football I've seen of any AFL team in a long time. We've seen it in patches but it seemed to all come together this time. Another thing I liked was in the second and third quarters when we didn't have it on our terms we were able to at least stem the tide and also get a few the other way.
I'm firmly in the Yes camp for Nick's.
Will we always have the game on our terms like that??? No. But Nick's has got us going in a very positive direction.
I scrolled the Port board also last night, (half of them in denial and the other half spewing that we've gone past them). Many of them though were wishing they had a coach like Nick's who's got a clear game plan going forward.

 

[1970crow]

Really good point, has done the job on Saad before. Make them hurt the other way too

He didn’t do a job on Saad, neither player focussed on the other.

 

[StickerMan]

It's very clear to me know that Nick's has a game plan built on contested possessions, ground balls and quick movement. Although I'm obviously bias but the 1st quarter last night was some of the best football I've seen of any AFL team in a long time. We've seen it in patches but it seemed to all come together this time. Another thing I liked was in the second and third quarters when we didn't have it on our terms we were able to at least stem the tide and also get a few the other way.
I'm firmly in the Yes camp for Nick's.
Will we always have the game on our terms like that??? No. But Nick's has got us going in a very positive direction.
I scrolled the Port board also last night, (half of them in denial and the other half spewing that we've gone past them). Many of them though were wishing they had a coach like Nick's who's got a clear game plan going forward.

It reminded me of the 3rd quarter of the 2021 GF where Melbourne were unstoppable.

On Pixel 7 Pro using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[1970crow]

I've changed my vote from leaning no to leaning yes

Dropping Ned in favour of Pedlar was a pretty big tick. I’ve never doubted his Neil Craigedness to get great output from mediocrity whilst embracing a ceiling. Maybe there’s more to this guy and he genuinely understands that talent is better than averageness drilled at elite levels.

But again, Blues are new to being a benchmark and they travel poorly, so perhaps the test wasn’t what we thought it was going in.

Great signs though. Dawson to midfield, nobody thought that was a good idea throughout the last season and a bit.

 

[1970crow]

For all of those posters who defended playing Dawson in defence using heat maps….

Nicks was a great coach for playing Dawson on a role where he could be dragged to a back pocket. Couldn’t be faulted for that genius strategy.

 

[1970crow]

Today is a day, you're best not be making any more predictions ....you've made some shocking calls on Nicks, the recruiting staff ....and I've lost count of how many players

But as they say, and I think this summarises beautifully

We effectively beat a team that hasn’t won in Adelaide for a decade with a first quarter blitz. And this wasn’t a finals hardened side, it’s a side we’ve laughed at constantly throughout the last 2 decades.

Yes, there’s positive signs, but nowhere near enough to draw positive conclusions. You did that with Pyke and Burton, how did that go for you?

 

[1970crow]

A proper, well done tank has absolutely nothing to do with the coach and their decisions. It's about knee capping them (and the entire playing squad) before they even have a chance to influence results, and is purely achieved through list management. Primarily through the gutting of senior players at a club and trading off pieces they think have value. Seeing we pushed our list to where our best side last year was just slightly above the experience bands where a team becomes completely ineffective (and note, we were more inexperienced last year than Hawks are this) shows that removal of senior players. The debacle of Brad Crouch RFA, and retaining salary on Betts and Jenkins is also another indicator we were willing to cop short term pain to improve our draft hand.

Not only has the last three years been tanking. It's so far been a textbook example on how to tank. To the point we've been actively able to trade in elite talent in the last two years.

Nicks job, like every coach at clubs that aren't run like a basketcase is to win every game he is able too and with the list he has been handed and design a vision for what the club should look like post-rebuild. After all, that and development go hand-in-hand.

Edit: i have no idea where that Keays dentence came from. My phone is playing funny buggers.

Obviously you’re not serious. Kudos for the laugh though.

 

[1970crow]

In fairness to Nicks when did our forward line become a strength? The later part of last year as Fog broke through perhaps. Has generally been Tex and a few cameos over the last few years. Small forwards of Rowe, Ned and Murphy.
This year with Rankine coming in , Pedlar up and about, Rachelle fitter, Fog come of age and Tex still going okay we should be hitting the accelerator to go forward. Not so much for most of last year - it would just bounce out


Sent from my iPhone using BigFooty.com

We had Rachele last year but we chose to play him in the 2s as soon as he had a couple of bad games.

 

[WaynesWorld19]

Dropping Ned in favour of Pedlar was a pretty big tick. I’ve never doubted his Neil Craigedness to get great output from mediocrity whilst embracing a ceiling. Maybe there’s more to this guy and he genuinely understands that talent is better than averageness drilled at elite levels.

But again, Blues are new to being a benchmark and they travel poorly, so perhaps the test wasn’t what we thought it was going in.

Great signs though. Dawson to midfield, nobody thought that was a good idea throughout the last season and a bit.

 

[WaynesWorld19]

We effectively beat a team that hasn’t won in Adelaide for a decade with a first quarter blitz. And this wasn’t a finals hardened side, it’s a side we’ve laughed at constantly throughout the last 2 decades.

Yes, there’s positive signs, but nowhere near enough to draw positive conclusions. You did that with Pyke and Burton, how did that go for you?

Please .....don't besmirch my name by having it associated with Burton ......you can be so cruel sometimes

 

[rabidcrow]

Fog was on fire for the second half, Tex is Tex, McAdam finished high in our B&F. He did not give our forward line a chance last year with our slow forward entries and pushing our small forwards up the ground so we were picked apart by intercept defenders and smashed on the rebound.

I think our forward is a lot better thai year. Yes Fog was great second half of the year (well done to those that didn’t give up on him!) but when do you adjust your planning for a breakout player. Ned Murph and Rowe were not multi goal kickers regardless of how deep they played. Rachele was cooked by the time Fog broke out - so it was Tex with cameos as I said. Includes McAdam averaging a goal and half a game. Also we broke the hundred barrier in 2 of the last 3 weeks last year so perhaps that was the beginning of what we are seeing (disregarded at the time as they were bottom teams)

Perhaps the coaches have a better feel for how the squads developing, the rate they can increase their instruction and depth of game plan better than those of us on bigfooty that just see the game each week?

While the Dawson move has certainly assisted us with ball movement the game style was clearly developed over the off season - and we saw it in the pre season games as well as in patches during the two losses

Finally - at some point, for all the mistakes he has made, you have to acknowledge Nicks has implemented a good game plan. Initially based on effort and contest - and now improved with half a dozen class players starting to take us to a new attacking level




Sent from my iPhone using BigFooty.com