Cornes: Adelaide are setting Nicks up to fail

It’s been a frenetic trade period so far, with the majority of clubs actively looking to improve their lists.

But Adelaide have remained one of the quieter teams so far, having missed out on the signature of Brisbane's three-time Premiership player Zac Bailey.

With Matthew Nicks entering the final year of his contract, and uncertainty over whether he would keep his job on the eve of this year’s finals series, Port Adelaide legend Kane Cornes shared his conspiracy.

“I'm looking at Adelaide going, what is going on?” he told SEN Mornings.

“I compare them to Geelong, and you want to know why Geelong win constantly and they're up the top versus why Adelaide haven't won in 30 years?

“Just look at the last two weeks.

“[The Cats] miss on Zak Butters, so they pivot, they go, ‘okay, well we had a back-up plan with Greene.’

“‘Then, we always had Rowan Marshall just bubbling away nicely, we're all going to get that done.’

“‘And then we go, we're going to get Ridley as well’, and all of a sudden you go ‘gee whiz, Geelong are better when they line up round one next year than what they were in the finals.’”

Having now missed out on Bailey, Cornes was critical of Adelaide’s lack of a backup plan for other trade targets.

“‘We’ve got nothing else for you, and that is the difference between great clubs and what has been an average club for the best part of 10 years really,” Cornes explained.

“But is there a conspiracy that, they don't want to give Matthew Nicks the tools because they're setting him up to fail.

“[The Crows are] out on Matthew Nicks, so they do not want to provide him with a list that's going to get him to be more competitive than he was last year.

“Essentially they're hoping it fails for Matty Nicks, because they don't believe in him as their long-term coach.”

It’s well-known that South Australian Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera is set to draw attention as he comes out of contract again at the Saints next year. So could the Crows be setting themselves up for a big play for the elite midfielder?

“Maybe they're just out [on Nicks]”, Cornes said.

“Maybe this is a year where they just end up 3-7. They sack their coach after round 10, and then they move on, and then it's Nasiah.

“I'm just not sure they, as a club, can waste another year.”

The trade period ends on October 14, with Adelaide’s only inclusion set to be Swan Harry Cunningham, who will join the club as a rookie.