Adelaide senior coach Matthew Nicks is struggling to explain his side’s early-season struggles.
The Crows have dropped their opening three matches of the 2024 season in disappointing fashion — bested by Gold Coast, Geelong and on Good Friday, Fremantle.
It leaves Nicks’ brigade reeling in a sticky 0-3 web that is notoriously difficult to escape, especially in one of the tightest competitions in recent memory.
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Damning stat that is killing the Crows | 04:35
Adelaide’s loss at the hands of the Dockers in Perth was most symbolic of its scoring issues, managing a measly 4.10 (34) as its inefficiency going inside 50 was laid bare for the football world to see.
Speaking on Fox Footy’s AFL 360 on Monday night, Nicks attempted to make sense of his side’s unwanted beginning to the season.
“Unfortunately, we’re finding ourselves back in a spot where we were probably six-to-12 months ago,” Nicks began.
“(We’re) getting a couple of small things wrong, which can make the game look a long way off, unfortunately. So, we’ve got work to do in that space.
“We have a short break, we go into a Gather Round Thursday night hitout against Melbourne, who is one of, it not the best team in the competition, in our opinion.
“We’re looking forward to that challenge, but I’ve said the (whole) way through, ‘you’re never that good and you’re never that bad’, and at the moment, unfortunately, we’re ‘not that bad’.”
AFL 360’s Mark Robinson placed a spotlight on Adelaide’s contingent of players aged 21-25, with Nicks acknowledging the younger Crows need to take the next step.
“Yeah, and (those are) our leaders. They’re leaders of the club now. You mention (Taylor Walker) and (Matt) Crouch and (Rory) Laird and (Brodie) Smith — those guys now won’t always be leaders. We’re now looking to the future and looking to that emerging group.
“At the moment we’re in a slump. We’re in the dark at this point, really struggling with our game, but we’ll find it.
“You know, footy is a funny game — you feel like you’re so far away but internally, here, we know there’s a few things we’re not getting right, so we’ll be able to right the ship. We know we’re going to get our game back.”
‘We finished so poorly” | 07:13
Robinson also quizzed Nicks on specifically how his Crows found themselves “in the dark”.
“In a dark spot is more-so what I’m saying there, ‘Robbo’,” Nicks replied.
“It’s a combination of things. At times you may over-coach, at times there might be a little too much detail. You might be focussing on the wrong areas.
“We’ve played three games, so I’m very mindful of looking at such a limited amount of data and making calls. But, at the same time, I’m also completely embracing the fact that we’re not playing a brand at the moment that’s anywhere near the footy we know we can play.
‘The pressure of the game was high’ | 10:39
“So, we’re not hiding from it, we’re not there, we’ve got to be better. It can be coaching, it can be playing, it can be small things around our shape on the field, but the last few weeks we haven’t looked like scoring. We’ve got to be better in that space.”
When Nicks’ Crows score 100+ points in a game they’re 8-0. But when they don’t, a lowly 3-15 is their record, demonstrating just how strong the Crows’ correlation between scoring goals and winning outcomes is.
This week, the club finds itself on the AFL’s biggest stage — commencing 2024 Gather Round at Adelaide Oval against red-hot Melbourne.
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