AFL Round 20 Adelaide v Hawthorn: Matthew Nicks’ message to Crows fans after horror home loss
The Crows conceded 13 unanswered goals in a horror home showing against Hawthorn on Sunday. The fans left early – and they weren’t happy. Here’s Matthew Nicks’ response.
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A defiant Matthew Nicks was adamant he remains the right man to coach Adelaide and urged fans to stick with his struggling side after a rampant Hawthorn torched the ramshackle Crows in front of their home fans.
Sunday’s Adelaide Oval encounter was supposed to be a clash of two of the competition’s exciting, up-and-coming sides, but the irresistible Hawks were the only ones to live up to that billing after quarter-time.
Adelaide led by a goal at the first break, but conceded 13 unanswered goals in a withering burst by Sam Mitchell’s barnstorming charges, who romped to a 66-point demolition that officially snuffs out any faint finals fantasies for the Crows.
“We’re hurting as much as they are,” Nicks replied when asked what his message was for long-suffering Adelaide fans.
“They turned out for us (at Adelaide Oval) again.
“I know they’re disappointed and so are we, but stick with us, we’re going to try to finish this one off strong.
“We’re all human … I’ll just keep working with the group and asking them what I can do to be better as well.
“But I’m confident I’m the right man for the job.”
The result leaves Adelaide mired in 15th spot on the ladder with a 7-11-1 record with four games remaining in Nicks’ fifth season in charge, with the coach’s tenure yet to yield a winning record at the end of a season.
It’s a long way from where the Crows were expected to be after a lengthy rebuild that is testing the patience of fans.
A Scrimshaw fend off results in a Ginnivan snap and goal 🔥#AFLCrowsHawkspic.twitter.com/XnUttOBDdV
— AFL (@AFL) July 28, 2024
“We’re constantly looking at ourselves and what we need to improve in,” Nicks said.
“There are a number of areas that we’re looking at closely … what takes us to that next level?
“That’s both on and off the field, and we’ll continue to do that.
“Every club in the competition does that, but unfortunately, we can’t make the finals, so we’ll continue to look at how we improve.
“I believe we’ve got the right group.
“We’ll need a little bit more experience under our belt, we’ll get that and we’ll keep working through this season and try to finish strong.
“Tonight was a blip on that, it’s not the way that we go about it, but we’ll finish the season strongly so that we can go in with momentum into next year.
“We’ve got some really good people at this footy club and we’ve got to continue to get more in and improve the ones that we have here.”
Adelaide was without some key personnel against Hawthorn, skipper Jordan Dawson, suspended gamebreaker Izak Rankine and tall defenders Jordon Butts and Nick Murray among them, which Nicks said was a contributing factor in the poor showing.
“That’s probably as bad as we’ve been for a number of years, unfortunately,” he said.
“We’ve had players that have gone in and out of our side, unfortunately, and that’s hurting us at the moment.
“Losing some key personnel, our captain and two key defenders, it challenges us.
“So, when you play against a good side that really brings the heat and pressure, it can look like you’re a long way away.”
Crows left with tall questions after Hawks belting
For a quarter it worked, but then it just got plain ugly for Adelaide.
So will the Crows continue to trial playing four talls in attack for the rest of this year? And who will be along with Darcy Fogarty and Riley Thilthorpe as their key forwards in 2025?
The answer to the first will probably be no after the Crows were well and truly embarrassed by Hawthorn.
Regarding the second, well who knows?
The Crows were technically still a chance of playing finals – a razor slim 0.6 per cent – prior to Sunday’s clash against the Hawks at Adelaide Oval.
Their hopes are now officially over after the Hawks fought back after a fast-start from the Crows to blow Adelaide away as the game progressed and then embarrass them.
Adelaide’s form post bye has suggested that at its best it is a far better team than its current 15th spot on the ladder would show.
And that looked to continue in the first quarter as the Crows showed some of the attacking prowess they demonstrated for much of 2023.
Ever since Thilthorpe played enough SANFL games to be fit enough to return at AFL level, the Crows have been weighing up whether they go with four talls.
Prior to the Hawks clash they found ways to avoid it.
In his return game against St Kilda, Thilthorpe started as the sub and then came on for Elliott Himmelberg.
Last week the Crows managed talisman Taylor Walker in the thrilling win over Essendon.
But against the Hawks it was those four along with ruckman Reilly O’Brien rotating with one of the bench.
While the Hawks had a mosquito fleet of a forward line, the Crows went with the tall timber against Hawthorn’s undersized defence.
Early on the signs were promising.
Just how well the Crows went against Essendon reignited debate about whether Walker should stay at West Lakes for another year as his contract gets closer to expiring.
Until he or the Crows make a call this debate is going to continue for the rest of the season with the finals chances now done for Adelaide.
But Walker early on showed that he can make an impact in 2024, and suggested that it could continue in 2025.
He kicked two goals in the first quarter, showing good work to bully Hawks captain James Sicily at times, and very well could have had two more.
His first shot of the game came from just outside 50 and you would normally bet on him to make the distance but it just fell short.
He hit the post late on in the quarter.
But his second goal of the game showed how the Crows tall order of a forward line could do damage.
When the ball went into the Crows’ forward 50, Fogarty and Thilthorpe made a contest.
Thilthorpe set up Walker for an easy goal.
It looked so simple and effective.
“The three pronged monster … even Elliott Himmelberg (rucking) was involved,” Brownlow Medallist Gerard Healy said on Fox Footy.
Five-time Hawthorn premiership player Dermott Brereton said that was how the Crows could hurt the Hawks.
“This is their one wood today … these three men are beasts and they only have one big backman against them and that is ‘Frosty’ (Sam Frost),” he said.
Later on in the quarter, the tall attack also worked for the Crows.
Up the ground, Walker fended off a Hawthorn player, Himmelberg took a good mark, Thilthorpe made a contest of the forward entry and Lachie Murphy crumbed and kicked a good snap.
It looked to be working for the Crows, with Thilthorpe kicking a goal in the dying moments of the first term.
At quarter time they had kicked 5.6 to Hawthorn’s 5.0.
This was despite trailing in clearances 9-11, and 2-6 in centre clearances.
But they were up 16-11 when it came to inside 50s, with their 81 per cent efficiency in there a whopping increase from their season average of 45.7.
“Geez that is a dangerous looking forward line and I am not thinking about this year I am thinking about the start of next season,” Healy said.
But from there on the small absolutely killed the tall, with the Crows just unable to go with tenacious and always running Hawthorn.
In 10 second quarter minutes the Hawks just swarmed what looked to be a tiring Crows outfit and put the game on their terms.
In that period they had seven inside 50s to the Crows one, kicking 3.1.
All of a sudden the Crows strength in the first quarter was quickly becoming a liability as the game went on.
“What I am seeing now, they are top heavy and that is awesome if you win it in the middle you have multiple targets forward,” Brereton said.
“But once fatigue sets into this game Hawthorn will start to run between the arcs better, they will get to a little bit more football, they will get to more tackles and that is starting to show just before halftime.”
At halftime Matthew Nicks remarked “it was like two different teams unfortunately” on the difference between the first and second quarters by his side.
But unfortunately for him the first quarter Crows were nowhere to be seen as the Hawks were just able to get the ball out of their back line with ease with Adelaide’s forward line just unable to apply pressure when the ball wasn’t above their heads.
From looking like a side that should be in a higher ladder position, the Crows showed just why they won’t play finals as they raised the white flag and were bullied into submission by the Hawks – only showing some fight in a melee that Hawthorn ended up scoring from when the game was well and truly over.
The only highlights for the Crows came after late goals to Walker and then Thilthorpe meant that Adelaide avoided its first ever goalless second-half.
But before then Hawthorn had kicked 14 goals in a row.
In his 50th game, Himmelberg was subbed out for Dan Curtin in the third quarter.
He is another that is out of contract at the end of the season, and couldn’t get a move to GWS last summer.
The 26-year-old finished with three disposals and one mark against the Hawks.
So far in his nine games this year he has kicked just eight goals in 2024.
Like the four tall forward line, he didn’t really help his 2025 chances, as the Crows ended up showing why they again won’t be playing finals this year.
Originally published as AFL Round 20 Adelaide v Hawthorn: Matthew Nicks’ message to Crows fans after horror home loss
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