Adelaide Crows news: Matthew Nicks says he made the wrong sub call in one-point loss to Pies

There was confusion surrounding the Crows substitute in Sunday night’s loss to the Pies, now the Adelaide coach has revealed he made a mistake.

Adelaide coach Matthew Nicks has conceded he erred by using the substitute during the club’s one-point home loss to Collingwood on Sunday.

The Crows replaced Jake Soligo with Harry Schoenberg at three-quarter time when the hosts were 15 points ahead, before the Magpies ran over them in the last term.

“There’s some things we’ve got to be better at in key moments, that’s players and coaches,” Nicks said.

“I got a call wrong when it came to the sub.

Matthew Nicks says he got the sub call wrong. Picture: Getty Images

“That’s one I’d love to have back but you learn from these things.

“Solly (Soligo) was playing some great footy but he had high game time … and we wanted to get some fresh legs out there.

“In hindsight it’s an easy one but if we didn’t put one out and get the same result, I think we’d all be saying ‘why didn’t you put some fresh legs on?’”

Nicks hinted the Crows might manage veterans Rory Sloane or Taylor Walker for Saturday’s away match against reigning premier Geelong.

But the club was confident Rory Laird (calf) would play despite him not training at indoor venue AFL Max on Wednesday, getting managed.

“He pulled up well from the weekend,” Nicks said.

Nicks said Adelaide wanted the trio to play as the club chased its first win in Geelong in 20 years.

The balance was that the Crows also were mindful it was a long season, requiring players to be managed at times.

Taylor Walker could be rested later in the season. Picture: Getty Images

Adelaide heads into the match in eighth spot on the ladder with a 4-3 record – the same win-loss ratio as the Cats.

“We want to go down there and have a real crack at Geelong,” Nicks said.

“We haven’t won down there since 2003 so we want to go down there on a mission.

“Tex’s form has been strong, Sloaney’s form has been a lot stronger than maybe we thought considering his injury.

“But there is a long game here as well … and it’s something we’re keeping in mind.”

Nicks was optimistic the Crows’ inaccuracy, which was 7.16 against Collingwood, would not be an ongoing issue.

“The game was there for us, we put ourselves in a position to beat the top side in the competition, we just didn’t get it done,” he said.

“(The close loss) hasn’t affected our confidence at all.”

‘SPOOKED’: INSIDE CROWS’ LAST QUARTER FROM HELL

Adelaide assistant coach Nathan van Berlo says the Crows will look at whether they went into protection mode too early in the wake of Collingwood’s thrilling comeback.

Despite leading for all but 30 seconds of the match at Adelaide Oval on Sunday, the Crows went down to the Magpies by a point.

As inaccurate goalkicking plagued their night, the Crows had a 22-point lead early on in the fourth quarter before the Pies produced their latest thrilling comeback to come away with a famous victory.

After the game Adelaide leadership member Ben Keays said the Crows went too defensively too early in the match.

The Crows after their loss to Collingwood. Picture: Getty Images

“We did (go too defensive) definitely, we just stopped doing what got us in front,” he said.

“We stopped using the ball a bit, probably got spooked a bit and probably tried to play too slow and Collingwood are the masters of the comeback.”

On Monday van Berlo said it would be examined thoroughly by the Crows.

“We will have a look at that,” he said.

“Hindsight is a wonderful thing when the result doesn’t go your way.

“We have methods in the way that we like to close out games, we aren’t always going to get that right.

“But we will work hard to get that done more often than not.

“We can also take some learnings from how Collingwood go about it, they have some method that stands up and is proven to get them over the line.

“So we might be able to take something away from how they have been able to close out games for the last couple of years now.”

Van Berlo thinks the Crows might be able to learn a few tricks from the Pies on how to win close games. Picture: Getty Images

As they sought to protect their lead, the Crows put captain Jordan Dawson behind the ball.

But Collingwood smashed the Crows in clearances, going 12-0 in the final quarter.

Van Berlo said that would be examined in the Crows review.

“That is part of the decision making that goes into those big decisions for us as coaches,” he said.

“One man moves out and another has to come in and play his role.

“We will have a good look at what we could have done in and around the ball and whether we could have done anything behind the ball that would have helped us.”

The Crows will shortly turn their attention to taking on reigning premiers Geelong in Geelong on Saturday.

Van Berlo said they could take some positives from their performance against Collingwood.

“Absolutely 100 per cent it is a win in terms of process and where we are heading as a footy club,” he said.

“Because if you look at the vast majority of the game it is a big tick.

“We went out and played the way we wanted to play and the method we wanted to play with.

“But unfortunately we couldn’t execute.”