Adelaide Crows coach Matthew Nicks is filthy his team keeps finding a way to lose despite hitting the front late in games.
Adelaide have dropped their past three games by a combined total of 16 points, coughing up narrow leads in the last quarter against all of the Western Bulldogs, Geelong and now Fremantle.
“It was almost deja vu, wasn’t it — three weeks now,” Nicks said after the two-point loss to Fremantle on Good Friday.
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“What we’re pretty clear on is, we can’t allow our oppo to have the game on their terms like we’re allowing in the first half.
“We’re working our way through the why … and it’s pretty clear that the ability to execute it is the most frustrating bit at the moment. It’s making us really angry that we’re not able to get it done for four quarters.
“When you’re playing really good sides, which we’ve done for a month, you get what you deserve … we got smashed at the contest.
“There’s an ability to direct your focus and get it done, and we’re not doing that at the moment — in really critical moments. You give sides like Fremantle that start, good luck. Unfortunately, we’ve found ourselves on the wrong end of it.”
The Crows have certainly endured a tough start to 2026, playing last year’s grand finalists Geelong at Geelong, and the red-hot Western Bulldogs (who are undefeated so far and one of this year’s flag favourites), and also the highly fancied Dockers.
But, alarmingly, they are yet to win at home, and, against Fremantle, they were beaten in contested and uncontested possessions.
“It’s hard to be in a contest from five metres away,” Nicks fumed.
“For whatever reason, our focus isn’t where it needs to be in those key moments.
“Credit to our opposition, led by (Andrew) Brayshaw, (Caleb) Serong and others, they’re too good for you to give that sort of space. They were sharp, very sharp early, and we weren’t.
“There’s no finger-pointing. We’re in a position where the outcome’s 1-3 (win-loss record). That’s not the issue; the issue is the process we’re not getting right.
“You’d like to think we’ll get on top of that sooner rather than later, otherwise we’re going to be sitting here with the same result.
“I’m just really disappointed for us, our football club … but at the same time, I’m still so optimistic that we’re good enough. We’re batting deep at the moment, we’ve got some guys not out there … (but) it’s on us at the moment.”
Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir applauded his team for its desperation late in the game.
“But once we coughed up the lead, I thought we handled that period of the game really well,” Longmuir said.
Freo midfielders Caleb Serong (32 disposals, six inside 50s), Murphy Reid (26 touches) and Angus Brayshaw (25, one goal, seven inside 50s) were stand-outs.
Jye Amiss (four goals) feasted in attack alongside Patrick Voss (two goals) and Josh Treacy (two goals) while Judd McVee (22 touches) and Neil Erasmus (21) were busy.
Adelaide defenders Wayne Milera (27 possessions) and Josh Worrell (23, seven marks) were superb and on-baller James Peatling collected 25 touches, nine clearances and a goal.
But captain Jordan Dawson (two majors) was the only multiple goalscorer for the Crows, who have slipped to a third loss from four games.
– With AAP
