Adelaide’s season is over, leaving Matthew Nicks with a few ‘what ifs?’
The Crows’ straight sets exit gives Adelaide some unwanted September history and has left Matthew Nicks with a few ‘what ifs?’ Including what if they had Izak Rankine playing finals.
Matthew Nicks called it ‘feedback’ but hurting Adelaide fans could be forgiven for feeling that’s far too polite of a description for the gut-wrenching footy lesson they watched handed to the Crows in their ignominious straight sets exit from the finals.
After finishing the home-and-away season a game clear on top of the ladder, Nicks’ men failed to win a quarter in finals losses to Collingwood and Hawthorn that saw them become the first minor premiers since 1983 to be bundled out with back-to-back defeats.
After promising renewed energy in the aftermath of their 24-point qualifying final loss to the Pies at Adelaide Oval, the Crows were slaughtered out of the middle by the Hawks early on Friday night and conceded the first three goals of the contest within five minutes.
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Nicks’ men fought back to level the scores in the first term, but after that rarely looked capable of mounting a realistic challenge to keep their season going in the face of Hawthorn’s superior defence and midfield that was the cornerstone of a comfortable 34-point win.
“Finals footy gives you feedback, doesn’t it?” Nicks mused.
“And so, we’ve got probably the best feedback we’ve had for a number of years that we’ve still got a fair bit of work to do
“The speed, the intensity and the increase in pressure that comes with finals footy … until you’ve actually been there and experienced it, it’s a hard one to know what to expect.
“We got two looks at it this year, some of our players had their first two looks, and if you watched the way we played, we’re nowhere near our best footy, but you’ve got to give credit where it’s due.
“The reason that teams are in finals is because of the pressure they bring. They don’t allow you to move the ball in ways you do during the season, and you come up against different challenges.
“But our biggest learning out of all of this is that there’s still work to do.
“So, although we’re incredibly proud of the home-and-away season we put out there, we walk away tonight with, unfortunately, just a few ‘what-ifs?’
“We’ve still got things we need to be better at.
“And we will get that organically, we’ll get that through playing the last two games, we’ll get that through the last 10 minutes we just spent sitting in the rooms reflecting on tonight’s effort, but it’s a pretty hard one to swallow right now.”
Nicks conceded the gap between the footy that saw his side win 12 of 13 games in the back half of the season and their lacklustre finals display was too great.
“There was a patch during the year where we were coming in and were surprised at the level we had … everything was clicking,” Nicks said.
“I think anyone who’s been in the game long enough knows that that doesn’t necessarily last an entire season.
“Looking at finals footy, you’re going to have to play to a certain level and some of our fundamentals tonight were at a level that we just can’t explain … dropping marks, missing kicks.
“Was it pressure? Is it expectation? Is it opposition? There’s a perceived pressure that you put on yourself?
“The only way we know that is by keep trying to show up here and rock up and be in this position again, give ourselves another crack at it.”
Adelaide’s premiership tilt was dealt a huge blow when Izak Rankine was suspended for using a homophobic slur., but Nicks denied the drawn out saga that saw Rankine suspended for four games didn’t affect his team’s preparation.
“What it did do was it changed the dynamic of our group,” Nicks said.
“Izak is, and this is my opinion, one of the best players in the game, so I think if any team lose their best player, then it becomes quite challenging to replace that.
“I think some of our young guys stepped up and showed that they can play at the level, but the challenge we had was filling that void.
“That’s purely on-field. I don’t feel like it affected us away from footy.
“But, yeah, if we could have Izak Rankine in for the last couple of games, I’m pretty sure we take that.
“We want to make sure we look after everyone that may have been affected by that. And Izak is front strong square on that, as much as I can be there for him, or we can be there for him, we will be there for him to make sure what he’s gone through, that he’s actually okay and others.”
From gloom to dread: We should have seen Crows collapse coming
– Matt Turner
The warning signs had been there since the last time these two sides met.
Adelaide claimed the minor premiership but it had a fair way off its best since the Showdown, way back on July 26.
The glass half-full view was the best teams find ways to win when they were down on form, which the Crows had done against Hawthorn, West Coast, Collingwood and North Melbourne.
But the other way of looking at it is that form is not going to stack up in finals and so it has proven.
Magic Adelaide had bottled up for large chunks of the season as it finished first with an 18-5 record did not surface when it mattered.
Friday night was the performance of a team not ready to compete against the big boys on this stage.
Hawthorn had that extra oomph, smarts and composure you need in finals, just as Collingwood did last week.
While the hosts lacked dare with their ball use for a second consecutive match, the Hawks moved it with a selfless instinct built off crisp handball chains, like the Magpies had.
The gloom hanging over the Crows for the past few weeks because of the Izak Rankine saga, Isaac Quaynor booing and a home qualifying final loss turned to dread four minutes into the match after Hawthorn piled on three goals, all direct from centre clearances.
Jai Newcombe got the party started with an opening term Hawks champion Jason Dunstall described as one of the most exceptional you could see (11 disposals, seven contested possessions, six clearances, four inside 50s).
In the premiership quarter, three-time Hawks flag winner who started his career at the Crows, Jack Gunston, continued his Benjamin Button impression by kicking three of his five goals to stretch the visitors’ lead.
Incredibly, it is now 70 this season for the 33-year-old.
When you are relying on a 22-year-old who has missed 10 weeks with a knee injury, playing his first final, to give you a spark, you are in trouble.
Former Manchester City player Josh Rachele soccered a last-quarter goal to give Adelaide a lift, but it was too little, too late – and answered quickly by the Hawks, as they had all night.
The Crows will wince when they see some of the statistics.
They lost inside 50s 64-43, contested possessions 136-105, clearances 36-30 and centre clearances 14-10.
Hawthorn went back to the scene of last year’s crime and instead of it being Will Day-ja-vu with another semi-final loss in South Australia without their star on-baller, the Hawks showed why so many pundits had tipped it as a premiership threat during pre-season.
For all its progress this year, Adelaide will have to swallow the bitter pill of a blown opportunity.
The Crows created history with the largest 12-month rise in AFL history from 15th to first.
Then added some unwanted history on Friday night, becoming the first minor premier ever to bow out short of reaching a preliminary final.
No minor premier had exited in straight sets since North Melbourne in 1983.
It was only the second time Adelaide had lost consecutive matches all season.
As for Hawthorn, it books a first major-round meeting against fierce rival Geelong since the 2016 qualifying final.
That was a game the Cats won by two points and Sam Mitchell had 30 disposals for the Hawks.
Mitchell will be pulling the strings from the coaches box aiming for another Hawthorn upset next week.
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Originally published as Adelaide’s season is over, leaving Matthew Nicks with a few ‘what ifs?’
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