There can be no more excuses for Nicks’ Crows missing finals | Graham Cornes

Managing expectations is fine for media, but great coaches expect to win football games and flags, writes Graham Cornes.

It is true that high achievement is inspired by high expectations.

Great things don’t just happen without a dream, a goal or a target and a plan to achieve that goal.

Among the accolades that were accorded to Port Adelaide Legend, Geof Motley, who recently passed, there was a common theme from those who knew him well: “He expected to win.”

His record says it all – nine premierships, including one as a playing coach.

His younger team-mate John Cahill has a better record – four premierships as a player and 10 as a coach (from 11 grand finals). He always expected to win.

However, this is not a column about the Port Adelaide Magpies. It’s about the Adelaide Football Club and high (or low) expectations

At the start of each season, Adelaide has a get-together with a cross-section of Adelaide’s media in the Crows boardroom (yes, they still have a boardroom at West Lakes). The meeting is well-received and the mood is relaxed and informal.

This year it was held just after the team had returned from its successful pre-season matches in Perth. Coach Matthew Nicks, head of football Adam Kelly and chairman John Olsen all spoke freely.

Matthew Nicks, Senior Coach of the Crows. Picture: Sarah Reed

One is never sure in those meetings what is confidential and what is not, but with so many media people in the room, it’s a fair assumption that things will eventually reach the ears of the general football public – and why shouldn’t they?

Of course, we were most interested in what Nicks had to say. He’s the coach, after all, and he is always interesting, frank and open.

In responding to criticism of the Crows’ list management he made the point that the club didn’t want to recruit 28 or 29 year-olds.

“Give us time,” he said, “we’re well and truly on track.” But then he added “that doesn’t mean we’re playing finals.”

The words resonated for the wrong reasons, although no-one said anything at the time. Why not play finals?

Why couldn’t the Crows make the finals?

GWS finished last season in 16th position on the ladder and missed playing off in this year’s grand final one point!

It’s true that expectations have to be balanced by reality but what defines reality?

High expectations and subsequent higher levels of performance have the ability to shift reality.

It would be interesting to know what message the AFL’s coach of the year, Adam Kingsley, impressed upon his players when he accepted the coaching role at GWS at the end of last season.

Great coaches sell their players the dream and the dream should always be to make the finals and then win the premiership.

Graham Cornes coaching the Adelaide Crows in 1993. Picture: Ray Titus

Very few of the media “experts”, many of who are old footballers, expected Adelaide to make the eight this season, so it is hypocritical to condemn them for not doing so.

However, that doesn’t mean the coach and players shouldn’t have that ambition.

I would be very surprised if Nicks hadn’t sold that dream to his players but watered down his expectations when speaking to the media.

Public declarations of targets open the coach and the club up for public criticism and condemnation if the goals aren’t achieved.

Ask Port chief executive Matthew Richardson, whose “five-year plan, three premierships” declaration has not stood the test of time. But why should he be criticised for aiming high?

The trolls who ridicule, often from the shadows of anonymity, have never dared to dream or have never achieved.

Still, there are some who prefer to keep the goals and ambitions private, rather than risk the ridicule.

In the case of Nicks, the very moment he publicly mentions the “f” word – finals – it spreads like wildfire through the SA media ranks. Better to keep it in house – if that is what he did.

After round two there was no indication that the Crows had improved from last season’s 14th position on the ladder.

In round one, they had capitulated to what we thought was a “lowly” GWS team after leading by nearly five goals at half-time, and in Adelaide the following week, Richmond beat them by 32 points.

They slipped to 15th on the ladder after round two. But then came the Showdown, and a five-goal victory against Port revived the morale, although no-one really knew how good Port was going to be.

Slowly, they crawled all the way up to fifth on the ladder after a three-point victory over Hawthorn in Launceston in round 6.

They lost to the league leaders, Collingwood, by a solitary point but they still held on to eighth spot.

Rodney Maynard with Graham Cornes. Picture: Ray Titus

It was a common theme.

They played Collingwood twice and lost by one point, then two points.

They beat Brisbane. They beat GWS in round 18. They lost to Melbourne on the MCG by four points and then Brisbane by six points at the Gabba by which time they were hovering around 11th or 12th on the ladder.

Clearly they were good enough to play finals – but had the vision been implanted in their brains before the season started? Did they believe it? Did they pursue it with a passion?

The goal umpiring debacle in the final round against Sydney may have cost them a spot in the eight.

Instead, they slipped to 13th, but it should not have come down to that.

The anger and recriminations directed at the goal umpire conveniently masked how incompetent the Crows players were in front of goals and how poor their ball-handling and disposal was.

When the season drew to its inevitable close after a rollicking Taylor Walker goal-fest in Perth, Adelaide had finished in 10th position on the ladder.

It was better than last season’s 14th but there is no satisfaction to be had from that.

Their performances against the top teams, especially the grand finalists, proved they were good enough.

The greatest lesson I learned about the power of expectation was in season 1993, the third year of the Crows’ journey.

We had been competitive in the first two seasons, winning 10 and 11 games respectively, but season 1993 presented a new challenge.

We simply had to play finals football (it was a final six in a 15-team competition in those days). There was no alternative.

There had always been critics but the South Australian football public had been fantastic and they needed to be rewarded for their support.

We knew exactly how many games we had to win and that it would likely come down to the last game of the season against Collingwood at Football Park.

It didn’t start well and was looking grim half way through the second quarter, (we trailed by five goals at quarter time) but the team rallied and ended up winning by 24 points.

It’s history now how we won through to the preliminary final only to relinquish a 42-point lead to Essendon, who went on to win the premiership.

The mistake?

Not daring to dream that this new club could win a premiership in its third season. Essendon had won premierships before.

Like Geof Motley and John Cahill, finishing third was not good enough for them.

They weren’t going to be satisfied with third. The power of their expectation drove them.

Malcolm Blight didn’t make the same mistake four years later.

Next season there will be no excuses.

The Crows have to play finals football. Then how far could they go?

Dare to dream.