After a 75-point record loss to their most hated rival, it’s now apparent that the Adelaide Crows are the AFL’s biggest rabble.
If you’ve tuned in to any footy talk show on TV or radio since Saturday night, I’m sure you’ve heard “they’re favourites for the spoon in my book” at least once. It just goes to show how quickly a team’s narrative can change after one game of footy.
By no means were Adelaide a top-eight contender coming into the season, but few would’ve damned them to the foot of the table before a ball was bounced.
Where to from here for Matty Nicks? All pre-season (how long ago does that feel like now?), the noise coming out of West Lakes was that the new coach is all about defence.
To quote Nicks verbatim, he described it as “elite defence”.
(Photo by James Elsby/AFL Photos via Getty Images)
There’s a lot of colourful language that’s been used to describe the performance Saturday night, but rest assured “elite defence” wouldn’t have been uttered from the 475 social-distanced Adelaide supporters in attendance.
So what’s the problem with this idea of elite defence, apart from the fact your team’s conceded 17 goals?
Well, for starters, it’s hard for supporters to get behind the idea that the mission statement for your team stems from not having possession of the ball. After all, that’s what defence is in any sport: eliminating opposition scoring when you don’t have the ball.
Adelaide were out-marked 105-39, almost the winning margin. Where was the hunger to stop Port getting clean hands on the footy?
And in the most important defensive area of the ground, the Crows had just four tackles inside Port’s forward 50 for the whole game.
If Nicks is serious about shaping his team into a defensive monster, that stat must’ve been drawn up on the whiteboard on Monday morning.
Now the Gold Coast hub beckons for at least the next three weeks, with fixtures against the Suns, Lions, and Dockers to come. We’ve seen a top side in West Coast struggle with the relocation to the dewy Queensland winter, and they were run over by an exciting Suns side because of it.
It seems you’d only have to blink and Adelaide are sitting at 0-4 to start a shortened season before they even return home.
(Photo by Daniel Kalisz/Getty Images)
Perhaps experienced heads need to steady the ship. Dave Mackay and Bryce Gibbs are waiting in the wings, with concerns that captain Rory Sloane may miss this weekend’s clash with a corky.
Does Nicks double down on his mantra and put a traditional midfielder in Gibbs in the back line? This is a role he’s familiar with from his later Carlton days. It will certainly put a body in there that’s used to trying to win the ball on the inside, and will at the very least pump up those tackle numbers inside defensive 50.
The coach needs to give the supporters something more tangible to grasp on to if he’s going to get evangelical about the least entertaining aspect of the game.
The next month will be telling in how we perceive Adelaide, particularly the new coaching staff. Ultimately, draft picks and off-season moves beyond 2020 will give Nicks more of an opportunity to cultivate his ideals, but while every Adelaide supporter will be watching his side through the same lens via their television for the foreseeable future, they need something to nail to the mast.
HR
Roar Rookie
Well, looks like he’s not playing this week. Poor bugger can’t even make a 26 man squad, and Hamill is ahead of him in the pecking order.
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
At the sametime if you were from WA you only had to play 150. And this is not pointed st WA, it was, always has been, Victoria that sets these stupid rules.
Pedro The Fisherman
Roar Rookie
The F/S rules at the time were ridiculously lopsided - his father (Ross) played 253 games for Glenelg (and 97 for West Perth) but has a game shy of the 200 needed in the qualifying period. Hence he was not eligible and then they changed the qualifying rules to 100 games (like everyone else). He was a stand out kid - he and Jack Trengove are the best I have ever seen - time to burn BUT he was crushed at Carlton (the weight of expectations and the reality of having no on field support) and then Adelaide were bullied into paying overs to get him after the 2017 GF loss (albeit the ultimate price was less than 2 First Round Picks). He will play a few games this year but not too many and will still have another year to run (at $600K+ pa). Then he will be chopped (if he can't be traded sooner).
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
And the fact at the start of his career he couldn't play for the Crows under "father n son" yet if his situation was templated over to WA he could've played for WC or Freo. I think I've got that right ------- I think the whole situation smacks of "beware of what you wish/desire for".
Pedro The Fisherman
Roar Rookie
Well they got him 1 year after everyone lambasted them for not getting him (so, yes they did cave into the media pressure). Ultimately it seems that his best was about 5 years earlier and, as Carlton were/are a very average team, he stood well above the rest. They would dump him if they could but a contract is a contract!
HR
Roar Rookie
Yeah, it seems like the recruiting staff got fixated on him and got him a couple of years too late, now they're stuck not wanting to admit that the trade wasn't a good one.
Pedro The Fisherman
Roar Rookie
Gibbs is only still at the club now because he has an overpriced contract. He will get a few games this year (at best).
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
I hope l understand you correctly but these green shoots will effectively appear when the major realignments happen throughout the club. And not before. There appears to be no recruits coming on (let's not worry about those who have gone) and that is troubling but not a surprise.
XI
Roar Guru
I'm hoping the Crows put up a fight but the Suns win. It's what both clubs need right now.
HR
Roar Rookie
Gibbs will be back in the defence this week. That has been his role for the past year or so with Adelaide, and if he's not back in the team he should be let go, because if the match committee don't think he can produce a better result than last week's effort, there's no earthly reason he should be at the club.
HR
Roar Rookie
Get it off your chest mate, tell us what you really think.
Michael McKechnie
Roar Rookie
As far as the supporter base is concerned, the management issues have been done to death. Time to see some green shoots on the field. Time for this club to portray a plan that's more of a week to week product than a 'rebuild.'
Paul D
Roar Rookie
I already said my spray about the crows earlier this week - I do agree some hard truths are required, but you're dreaming if you think they're going to come from within this delusional outfit.
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
We suffered over the Tippet debacle. The punishment then was not appropriate? I think distancing could've, should've attracted a harsher penalty. Deserving of a decade of Wooden Spoons is a long bow. What, pray tell, does a club do to deserve that? I can't think of any club that deserves that :shocked:
The Ghost
Guest
This club deserves to be where they are at. A decade of wooden spoons would be nice. The AFL have slapped this club across the wrists with wet lettuce leaves for too long. It’s up to karma to dish out the appropriate punishment.
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
There is no short term answer. The first thing we can do is tell the truth. Short of that there'll not even be a turn around in the medium term. Pyke will never head coach again and soon Nicks won't either. There are deadwood players and management. The Dunstall Inquiry was at best ineffective. I think Adelaide are like The Norwegian Blue.