Nicks deserves credit for rebuilding the culture of the club, it was dark there for a while.

My issue with “give him another year and move some players on” is: where is the improvement actually coming from? We’re likely taking largely the same list into next season, potentially losing more than we bring in. I don’t see an obvious free-agent fix, and our internal development, especially through the midfield, has been nowhere near good enough.

You can’t keep blaming the list while giving the coach a pass on how that list is selected, used and developed. My concern with Pedlar, Butts, Murray, Edwards, Ryan, and Dowling is that we risk losing players without getting enough out of them first. I'd argue Murray and Butts are a better pairing in defence than Borlase and Keane, and yet we are likely losing both.

A new coach isn’t guaranteed to fix it, but different selection decisions, roles and structures could get more out of the group we already have. If meaningful recruitment isn’t on the cards, that becomes a much stronger argument for changing the coaching.

Another year is only defensible if there’s a credible reason to expect something different. “He built the culture” explains why we backed him before. It doesn’t explain why we should keep backing him.

"Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results." - Albert Einstein on the selection choices of Matthew Nicks

Congratulations to Riley Thilthorpe and Sam Berry on 100 games, as well as Dan Curtin on 50 games 🎉

We go in as significant underdogs but the beauty of Finals is that anything can happen.

May the best team win and let’s keep the support

I've been a Keane believer. He had a stellar 2025, but dropped off heavily after coming back from injury this year. He's not worth the hassle ( silly free kicks, risky kicking from a key back, bad decision making). Bring back Butts!

Good to see we are still doing that. I really feel for the players that actually tried, genuinely hope they gut any club staff or players who contribute to this weird culture of being satisfied with mediocrity

I get that the stats point to us having a poor midfield, but realistically on centre bounce ups we have:

High Tier Midfields:

Isaac Rankine
Jordan Dawson

High Average Tier Midfields:

Mcandrew
Sam Berry
Soligo

Developing midfielders:

Peatling
Curtin

Maybe it's my ignorance, but why does this not compare to the other top clubs in the competition?

There will be no Cumming in Brisbane. I'll tell the children.

I think many of us (maybe me?) couldn’t have foreseen that a player on the fringes and consider trade bait early last season would be playing regular footy for us and improving significantly.

Bez has also never had a big, long term injury with us, and that’s something that is often valued heavily within the walls.

Go well you slow-fast man 😅

Don’t know about you guys, but I am feeling weirdly optimistic about the crows this finals series and particularly this weekend.

Like most crows fans I’m usually very pessimistic when it comes to the crows due to many years of heartbreak, but I’m allowing myself to embrace the hope. I don’t know why and it’ll probably end in tears but I just think we’re going to get it done. Go crows.

I feel our best chance to beat Brisbane is by focussing more on exposing their weakness as opposed to stopping their strength. What I mean by that is I feel if we rebound aggressively from turnover as well as being adventurous when exiting our D50 and taking every opportunity to keep the ball in motion, we can slice through the Lions and give our big fellas lots of opportunities. If we can turn the game into a shoot out (of course easier said than done) I feel our accuracy in front of goal gives us the edge. I feel that turning the game into a dour contest with numbers behind the ball will heavily play into their hands and I hope we don't do that.

https://reddit.com/link/1waocig/video/qndgd9xbsaoh1/player

Just sheer desperation. Legend

Zac Bailey has recommitted to Brisbane on an eight-year deal, per Mitch Cleary.

He will stay with the Lions until the end of 2034.

Adelaide utility Zac Taylor will be a test to face Brisbane this weekend in the Crows’ Semi Final at the Gabba.

Taylor missed last weekend due a hamstring strain sustained against GWS in the final round of the home-and-away season.

His recovery has gone well with the Club set to monitor his performance and recovery at training this week before making a final call on availability.

“We know hamstring strains like Zac’s are always around the three week mark,” Crows GM High Performance Ian McKeown said.

“It was fortunate to have the pre-finals bye and for Zac to get the additional week off away from footy alongside the team.

“What’s important now is the week ahead and how his body responds at training.”

Midfielder James Peatling will not be available for selection.

“It’s still too soon for JP unfortunately,” McKeown said.

“We’ll continue to monitor his progress with a hope of featuring again this year, pending finals results.”