The Adelaide Crows fell short against an impressive Geelong side on Friday night at the Adelaide Oval and Kane Cornes thinks that was somewhat due to a major coaching error from Matthew Nicks.
The Cats were anchored by star Tom Stewart, who racked up 28 disposals and 10 intercept marks in their 19-point win, spending the game relatively untouched within Geelong’s back half.
The Crows coach Nicks, who received a contract extension this week which sees him at the club until 2026, had an all-time blunder according to Cornes, failing to address the dominance of Stewart throughout the game.
“I thought he had one of the worst nights in the coaching box that I’ve seen for a long time,” Cornes claimed on Nine’s Sunday Footy Show.
“There was no attention.
“He’s standing all alone, 40 to 50 metres on his own.
“He took 6 intercept marks in the first half; you’d think okay what are we going to do now? Are they going to put some level of pressure on him, are they going to put anyone near him?
“How about you put some physical pressure on him and actually make him somewhat accountable because this happened time and time again.”
The Crows now find themselves 0-2 on the season against two sides who failed to make the eight last year.
“I was big on Adelaide coming in, but it’s been a really disappointing start and Matthew Nicks, and his coaches had a really poor night,” Cornes added.
Adelaide is set to face a raging Fremantle side in Perth on Good Friday.