Kane Cornes has admitted his frustrations with Adelaide and coach Matthew Nicks, after their loss to North Melbourne on the weekend.
The 17th-placed Kangaroos made a mess of the Crows on Saturday, winning by 69-points and putting a season-high score of 119 on the winless side.
Vision at half-time showed Nicks using water bottles on the floor of the change rooms to emphasise what he wanted from the group, something that caught Cornes’ eye.
“I can’t let Adelaide off. I know they’re becoming a little bit irrelevant and there is a little bit of fatigue about the situation Adelaide finds themselves in, but this is a club that has never, ever been in the state they are in now,” he told SEN’s Whateley.
“I just thought the vision that will last with me for a while was Matthew Nicks explaining his game style with drink bottles. That’s how basic he had to get the message to his players.
“I thought it was quite demeaning for the players, but I don’t begrudge Nicks for doing it, but just to have them sitting there like they’re in a kindergarten explaining the game style with drink bottles when every other team is using vision and iPads and there’s Nicks using drink bottles.
“The question will remain and there’s a long way to go before we judge Nicks as a coach – does he have the hard edge that the good coaches have had?
“All great coaches, and I know it’s a new era and there’s different ways of giving feedback, but all great coaches have had somewhat of a hard edge. I’m not sure Nicks has it and it’s pretty ugly at Adelaide right now.”
Under 10’s or AFL? #AFLNorthCrows pic.twitter.com/IIfUDqOZuE
— Kane Cornes (@kanecornes) August 1, 2020
Gerard Whateley was equally disappointed with the Crows, but isn’t reading too much into Nicks’ half-time antics.
“They were abysmal. Their lack of willingness to run and then you could tell their positioning was all wrong by the way North Melbourne was able to cut through,” he said.
“These players were entitled to nothing more than 101 (basics).”
Cornes however points to the age of the group and believes the youth excuse simply isn’t there for them.
“What has gone wrong with his message? You’ve got 10 players who played in that 2017 Grand Final,” he said.
“This isn’t Gold Coast when they first came in. This isn’t a team with 18 18-year-olds, this isn’t GWS. This is 10 players with 100 games or more experience.
“So, what has gone on with Nicks’ message that 10 players with 100 games or more can’t get the message that he wants out there that they’ve practiced for seven months about defending the ground that he needs to use drink bottles to get his message through. Far out. It’s extraordinary.”