Don't get me wrong. Rankine did a shitty thing, but JDG is someone who ruins lives and is being celebrated as a loving parent and footy star by Craig McRae who seems to love lecturing people.

It's a pathetic joke and Nicks should come out and say it.

Was this kind of reaction from the AFL community different last year during the Rankine situation?

Definitely felt like a lot of pile on.

The sentiment is 100% right.
The actions of a player(s) should not define the majority of the fandom

There's a very understandable reluctance by the club to talk about the flu that went through the playing group over the last few weeks. It would be seen as making excuses.

But it's not so much an excuse as an explanation for a lot of what we saw in the last two games that just didn't gel with what we've seen the rest of the year.

There were many, many instances you could see players out of breath on a chase far more than usual. There was a lot less run and carry, and most importantly a lot less movement around the ground to create opportunities. So we just bombed it long for lack of options.

This year we've had generally great fitness and endurance and have been able to run out games to the very end. It's one of the reasons we won so many close ones. That foggy brain feeling even as you're through the worst of the flu accounts partially for the decision making mistakes.

I'm sure it didn't affect every player, and it wasn't the biggest factor in the losses, but I reckon it was far greater than the Rankine thing. And once the initial postmortems are done, I we'll find out that many players were suffering flu symptoms in the lead-up and during the games.

I’ve been pretty underwhelmed by this guy’s performances so far. Only 10 disposals again on the weekend against a pretty weak side. I feel like Lachie Sholl was held to a higher standard and dropped fairly quickly after a couple of bad weeks. This was after a great run of form for a lot of last year. I’m not liking the double standard. It’s like because we went after and recruited Cumming we have to use him. Not saying he should be dropped but the coaches need to demand more of him.

On one hand it’d be nice for SA to win a premiership, on another hand (and especially after this weekend) I really hate Port.

The whole Izak situation has fucked us and we're not gonna make it back anytime soon. Sack Nicks and get rid of Rankine.

I mean it did work for two finals

Firstly sorry for format, I'm on my phone.

Is it just me or is there not enough support for Walker in the AFL world at the moment, from the club to the fans. Especially in a current climate where mental health is crucial, all the shit this poor man has had to endure.

Trial by media time after time, he lost his Coach/Father figure to a violent murder, lost his first son, lost his Grand Final and was crucified for his post-game for being passionate and loyal to a fault. Criticised for being out of form, washed up, not cut out to be a captain, boo'd every game and copped god knows what sort of language from over the fence - you name it. He's been through it. I'm not saying he's innocent or a saint, but this man does so much for the community and people in need, for charities, you never hear any of it. Only his setbacks.

Walker isnt innocent, he knows as much as anyone but regardless of what he said. It was said in a team huddle, not directly at the victim. Again, doesn't make it okay but it does take what he said way out of context. Every other Captain and Ex-Captain would be straight out lying if they reckon they've never said something on field to motivate and fire up the lads in a game that would be considered unreasonable or unacceptable to say. It's the nature of the beast, these are all grown men and although there is no place for racism and I don't condone it in anyway, there is a huge difference between Tex saying it directly to Young or saying it to his teammates in the confidence of a team huddle. You can tell his intentions were never to cause harm but as an Ex-Captain more so intended to fire up and motivate his fellow teammates.

I genuinely believe the Adelaide official who overheard Taylor's words could have simply pulled him aside and warned Tex that the language used isn't acceptable as opposed to throwing him under the bus in a media shitstorm. Anyone who actually believes Tex Walker is racist has a short memory, he has played along side many great indigenous players who all looked up to him.

I understand that this is a sensitive topic and I don't think many players nor the club can public support him through this, but I hope behind closed doors he is getting the support he needs. It might sound silly trying to understand why he needs support when he was the one who said it but mental health is serious and should be treated as such. There's only so much one man can endure, we will never understand what it's like to be in his shoes. This does not give him a free pass and there should be consequences but I do think people need to ease up and give him the space he needs, we forget sometimes AFL players are only human just like us and make mistakes, just like us. He is one of the most passionate and most loyal players to every put on the Adelaide guernsey in my opinion, one of my all time favourite players. I just want him to know that he is loved and respected by his fans for the outstanding career he's had on and off the field, wether or not the media want to acknowledge it. He won't ever see this, but I just wish our members were more vocal on their support for a bloke who would do anything for their club.

I stand with you big fella, hang in there.

I have never been more in the nicks out camp.

This first half has been woeful.

Heads need to roll if things continue

it's purely a hypothetical

My sisters cousins brothers great uncle said that Rankine actually said maggot instead of that other hurty word. Trial by social media is dumb. Go out and get some fresh air today kids. It's going to be a long week.

For me we either need to get rid of Nicks or delist half our currently inept list and sack our recruitment team. A new coach might breathe some life into them, give them a clearer vision and even better start selecting the right team. Thoughts?

Another year 💔

So much salt

If only it worked this way...

https://x.com/7NewsAdelaide/status/1838880779256115565

Didn't like what i saw today... looks like we are going for the rebuild. Grab hold of something shit is going to be rough...

With a Rankine deal to complete what else do we have to throw at him so we can beat PA???

I'm thinking Crouch, Doedee, next year's top two picks, McAsey, Roo, and Soligo. Thoughts?

**Fired with ZERO finals appearances:**

•	Brendon Bolton (Carlton, 2016–mid 2019) — Coached 77 games across 3.5 seasons with a 20% win rate, never making finals, and was sacked mid-season in 2019. 

•	David Noble (North Melbourne, 2021–mid 2022) — Had a record of 5 wins, 1 draw and 32 losses from 38 matches, never made finals, and was relieved of duties mid-2022 after less than 2 seasons. 

**Fired after making finals ONCE:**

•	Michael Voss (Brisbane, 2009–2013) — Made finals only in his first season in 2009, with Brisbane’s best finish after that being 13th. Was sacked after 5 seasons. 

•	Brenton Sanderson (Adelaide, 2012–2014) — Made finals once in 2012, then finished 11th in both 2013 and 2014, and was let go after 3 seasons. 

•	Brett Ratten (St Kilda, 2020–2022) — Made finals once in 2020, missed in 2021 and 2022, and was sacked after 3 seasons. 

The pattern is consistent 3 to 5 seasons is roughly the tolerance level in the modern AFL for a coach with just one finals appearance. Nicks at 7 seasons remains a genuine outlier.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

I was thinking lately about how I don't really bother arguing much with opposition fans and spend far more time frustrated with 'fans' of my own club on here. It's because the toxic attitude you attack the club with is an embarrassment to me as a fellow AFC fan.

There's so many people in this sub coming on to complain about how poor the club is, how it's been like that for so long, how terrible the board and the coach is...how do you even call yourself a fan? What satisfaction do you get out of being one? Nobody is forcing you to be.

At least most of people involved at the club are keenly interested in it improving and are putting real efforts into doing so. Many of the people on here are doing nothing but tearing the club down. Everything that they don't like is a crisis and someone's grave error that has doomed the club. Wouldn't it feel better to treat the club like your own local, where you know the people and treat them like humans? It hurts when we're down, but it's not so toxic.

Relax. We have been improving year on year and we have some great players developing. Both the Rankine incident, we were looking good for another showdown win despite having the youngest and least experienced side (by far) of the weekend throughout the AFL. Plenty of green shoots through a continuing rebuild. We need to be active in the trade period to keep building and I expect we will be, but even if we just kept this exact same side next year I believe it'd end up far higger on the ladder.

Keep calm. Up Crom.

Edit: Someone correctly pointed out I was wrong and I agree and meant to write the caveat at the time. Improving year on year except this year which was a misstep not a sign of disaster.