Adelaide’s Matthew Nicks tops losing streak list for rookie AFL coaches after 10 winless games
Great coaches don’t always enjoy great starts to their careers — just ask Damien Hardwick, who endured a nine-game losing streak in 2010. So how does Adelaide’s Matthew Nicks stack up among rookie coaches who’ve done it tough?
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The 51-point defeat at the hands of Melbourne on Wednesday night relegated the Crows not only to a 0-10 start to the season, but also a 12-month calendar year run without a win and a 13-game streak without a win (that began at the hands of West Coast in Round 21, 2019).
As the club continues to take what positives it can from the season – including the AFL debuts of eight “kids” – but how does this so-far winless season really compare?
Matthew Nicks now holds the longest season stretch of losses as a Crows coach. But there’s hope. Other coaches have endured horror starts, to go on to become legends of the game: namely Richmond’s Damien Hardwick.
In 2010, he started his first season in charge at the Tigers by losing the first nine games of the season.
By 2013 Richmond had made finals series – it’s first since 2001. And of course the premierships of 2017 and 2019.
There are seven games left in the Crows 2020 season for them to avoid becoming the first side since 1964 to go through a season without a victory.
Fitzroy lost all 18 games of the ’64 season and you then have to go back to Hawthorn in 1950 and North Melbourne in 1934 for the next most recent winless seasons.
Adelaide’s previous worst season start was in 2010 when they went 0-6 before recording a win.
So let’s look at the other rookie coaches who had a shocker start.
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WORST STARTS BY ROOKIE COACHES (from 1990)
Coach: Matthew Nicks
Club: Adelaide
Losing streak: 0-10* (2020)
Nicks now well and truly holds the Crows’ club record for the longest stretch of losses to start a season. Adelaide’s previous worst season start was in 2010 when they went 0-6 before recording their first win for the year under Neil Craig.
But Nicks now also holds the AFL record for the longest stretch of losses by a first-year coach.
While Nicks is keen to point out the positives of the so-far winless season – including that eight players have made their AFL debut and there are have been improvements in off-field culture – it’s clear that the “rebuild” phase of the club will be more painful than anyone hoped for.
Coach: Damien Hardwick
Club: Richmond
Losing streak: 0-9 (2010)
If there’s one footy coaching journey to give Nicks’ hope, it’s that of Hardwick, who had to wait until Round 10 in his inaugural year at the Tigers to register his first win.
In Round 3, 2010, Richmond lost to Sydney by 55 points, but won the final quarter overall which ended a streak of 19 consecutive quarters lost, dating back to Round 21, 2009. Until that point, this had been the longest streak of quarters lost since St Kilda lost 22 in row in 1897.
In Round 10 his side beat Port Adelaide by 47 points in horrendous weather to register the first win.
They finished 15th on the ladder (out of 16 teams back then).
Dustin Martin debuted in 2010 and the rest is history…by 2013 Richmond had made its first finals series since 2001 and won the 2017 and 2019 premierships.
Coach: Mark Neeld
Club: Melbourne
Losing streak: 0-9 (2012)
Neeld was originally signed on to coach the Demons on a three-year deal, but his tenure last only 18 months. His 2012 season – his first in a head coach role – saw his side held winless for the first nine games until they finally tasted victory in a six-point thriller over Essendon. But the side won only four games out of 22 rounds finishing above only expansion clubs GWS and Gold Coast on the ladder. Despite the acquisition of players like David Rodan and Jack Viney in the off-season, the 2013 season was no better, with the Demons losing 10 out of their first 11 games and Neeld was sacked mid-season. He coached the Demons for 33 games for only five wins. He is now the CEO of the Geelong Supercats basketball side.
Coach: Robert Shaw
Club: Fitzroy
Losing streak: 9 (1991)
After coaching Fitzroy’s final premiership — a reserves flag in 1989 — Shaw was elevated to senior coach in 1991 to replace Rod Austin. Fitzroy had slumped to 12th in 1990, and things were slow to improve under new coach Shaw. After a Round 1 bye, Shaw’s introduction to AFL coaching was a 131-point loss to Melbourne. Heavy losses ended with a 21-point upset over Geelong in Round 10. Only a 10-point win against West Coast in the final round saved the ignominy of a wooden spoon. In four seasons under Shaw, Fitzroy failed to finish better than 10th. For Shaw, an unsuccessful two-year stint at Adelaide in 1995-96 was followed by an assistant role at Essendon between 1999 and 2005. He was later Fremantle’s head of football and has coached college teams in Melbourne.
Coach: Mick Nunan
Club: Fitzroy
Losing streak: 7 (1996)
Fitzroy had claimed the wooden spoon with just two wins in 1995 under Lions Team of the Century forward Bernie Quinlan, who parted ways with the club after just 19 games. Nunan was a five-time SANFL premiership player and two-time premiership coach with North Adelaide. But his task at Fitzroy, taking over a dispirited on-field unit compounded by off-field financial trouble and talks of mergers, always loomed as a no-win plight. Five 50-point losses in the first seven rounds was followed by the Roy Boys’ historic last victory - a 31-point, Round 8 win over Fremantle. Fitzroy lost to Essendon by 66 points in Round 13, and the Lions’ merger with the Brisbane Bears for the 1997 season was announced two days later. Nunan resigned immediately – honouring a vow he made if a merger was ever passed.
Coach: Dean Bailey
Club: Melbourne
Losing streak: 6 (2008)
Appointed as successor to Neale Daniher after the 2007 season, which delivered the club’s first non-finals appearance in four years. A horror run of six one-sided losses ended with a six-point win over Geelong at the MCG in Round 7, but the misery didn’t end there. The Demons would win only three games for the season. A wooden spoon was followed by another in 2009. By Round 19, 2011, Melbourne suffered the second-biggest loss in AFL/VFL history – a 186-point thumping from Geelong. Bailey was sacked the next day. An investigation into Melbourne’s 2009 season later embroiled Bailey in a tanking scandal. In 2013 Bailey joined Adelaide as a strategy and innovation coach but died in March, 2014, aged just 47, following a battle with lung cancer.
Coach: Damian Drum
Club: Fremantle
Losing streak: 6 (1999)
6 Damian Drum, Fremantle, 1999
Replaced inaugural coach Gerard Neesham for the start of Freo’s fifth season in the AFL. The Dockers were mostly competitive despite a string of defeats before finally breaking through against Geelong at Subiaco in Round 7. Fremantle would go on to win five games for the season and finish 15th. A climb to 12th with eight wins followed in 2000 but a run of nine losses to start 2001 sealed Drum’s fate and he was sacked midway through his third season. After football, Drum entered politics at both Victorian State and Federal levels.
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Originally published as Adelaide’s Matthew Nicks tops losing streak list for rookie AFL coaches after 10 winless games