Adelaide board member Mark Ricciuto talks rebuild, captaincy change and where the Crows are at
Three years ago Adelaide started an aggressive rebuild. Where are the Crows at and what comes next? Mark Ricciuto answers the tough questions.
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Adelaide great, current board member and Fox Footy commentator Mark Ricciuto talks Simeon Thomas-Wilson through all the big talking points at the Crows ahead of the 2023 season.
WHAT ARE YOUR EXPECTATIONS OF THE CROWS THIS YEAR?
From what I have seen so far in the pre-season, on the training track and what I’ve heard from around the club I think everyone is expecting to improve again.
I think there is quite a number of younger players who are going to improve again from 2022 and from what I’ve seen from Tex (Taylor) Walker, Rory Laird, Brodie Smith and early signs of Rory Sloane there is nothing to say that all those guys can’t at least deliver what they delivered last year.
If that all eventuates then we should be in for an improved season.
ARE YOU HAPPY WITH THE DIRECTION THE CLUB IS HEADING AFTER THE PAST THREE YEARS?
Yes. It’s a long process doing what we’ve done but as a club we’ve decided that was what we needed to do back in 2019 and it is not for the impatient that’s for sure.
I’m always in a hurry no matter what I do but I hope now that the supporters and members are seeing what the club has been trying to achieve and that is get as many games into as many kids as we can and get them the experience and knowledge that they need to play really good football.
We’ve had steady improvement over the past three years and in some stage in the not too distant future hopefully we see a reasonable improvement again. Hopefully that will be this year.
WHAT DO YOU THINK HAS BEEN THE BIGGEST CHANGE AT THE CROWS OVER THE PAST THREE YEARS FOR THE POSITIVE?
Over the last couple of months what I have really liked hearing is that player interviews are talking about that it is time for us to start to take over from Tex Walker and Rory Sloane.
I know when they say that they are saying that in a respectful way that those guys have done so much and carried the side over such a long period of time. We’ve had a lot of new players come into the side and they are getting a bit older and more experienced and it is time for all those guys to take control of the future of the football club.
A number of players like Darcy Fogarty, Mitch Hinge, Benny Keays, Reilly O’Brien and Tommy Doedee all those guys are talking like that now and that gets me excited because it shows that they are getting the confidence that they can not only match it with the good players in the AFL but hopefully knock them off.
HOW DID YOU VIEW THE CAPTAINCY CHANGE WITH RORY SLOANE STEPPING DOWN FOR JORDAN DAWSON?
Clearly I have been involved in that a few times over the years from Chris McDermott to Tony McGuinness to Mark Bickley to myself and being best mates with Simon Goodwin and a close friend of Nathan van Berlo, Tex and Rory Sloane so I’ve been involved in all nine and understand how it works.
Look it wasn’t a surprise to me that Rory thought it was the appropriate time. He has always been selfless and he has always been team first and I agree with what Rory and the club wanted to do and that was to hand over at the right time to the right person without putting too much pressure on Jordan Dawson.
Jordan was ready, he is right for the role, Sloaney was ready to hand it up and what better place for Jordan to be to have a bloke that Rory Sloane and another bloke like Tex Walker still at your football club to help guide you through the first couple of years of your leadership.
That is awesome but on the flip side for Rory Sloane and Tex, when you are nearing the end of your career one of the great thrills you get is seeing you impart your knowledge onto younger players and seeing them grow in their role.
Clearly Rory wants to get his own form up to the level he wants this year but he will also take a lot of delight out of seeing Jordan Dawson go from a second-year player at the Adelaide Football Club to a strong successful leader of the club.
I think the timing was right for Rory to pass the baton.
DO YOU SEE RORY AND TEX PLAYING ON PAST THIS YEAR?
At this stage you take it year by year, you don’t look any further than that at their age and that is no disrespect to those guys.
There is nothing to gain from out of that, you really do just see what you can do each year and it is even shorter than that to be honest it is week to week.
But the signs from them have been great, Tex has been in terrific form and I can’t see why he can’t keep playing but neither of them will be looking further forward than season 2023 at this stage.
GOING BACK TO JORDAN, WHAT DO YOU LIKE FROM HIM AS A LEADER?
I like the fact that he says he has a hard edge, I can see it in his eyes at times.
He is really competitive, he is hungry for success. I know that he has come from a great footy club in Sydney. I know that he has come from a great family, I love the fact that he is a SA country boy.
He is also a really compassionate person as well and in 2023 that is a really important personality trait of a great leader as well.
I think he is going to be a really good captain of the footy club and only time will tell whether that happens but he has the pedigree to be successful so I think everyone at the footy club is confident he will do a great job.
HOW BIG WAS IT FOR THE CROWS TO GET IZAK RANKINE BACK TO SA?
It has always been the plan of this rebuild to bring people in, whether they are South Australians or they are interstaters.
We wanted to go to the draft for a number of years and then let them play and when we could bring the right age player back to the football club so all the drafted players, the traded players and in the future the free agents when they are all a similar age we are going to have a strong list.
So to get Jordan Dawson and Izak Rankine in the last two years have been great and hopefully that will continue over the next few years.
BRINGING IN DAWSON AND RANKINE DOES THAT SHOW THAT THE CROWS ARE BECOMING A DESTINATION CLUB?
I think it gives everyone confidence that what we are doing at the football club is the right thing.
Because one thing I will say is that there are no secrets in the AFL, whether you are going poorly or going really well. The players talk and the industry talks.
So it is a good confidence booster for members, supporters, the coaches and everyone at the club that we have two really good players back one that is now captain and if we can continue to improve on the field why wouldn’t you want to be a part of the future of the Adelaide Crows?
IS THAT THE STRATEGY WHEN IT COMES TO THE LIST? IS BRINGING IN PLAYERS THROUGH TRADE AND FREE AGENCY NOW THE PLAN TO TOP UP THE GROUP RATHER THAN FOCUS ON THE DRAFT?
Look our strategy is to improve our list every year. The age demographic has gone from one of the oldest in 2019 to the youngest team just about every single week in 2022 so we don’t want to get necessarily any younger, we want to get games into our players.
If the best opportunity is to bring in another top 10 draft pick then we will look at that but if we can bring in another Dawson or Rankine if the opportunity bobs up then we will look at that.
If the free agent is there that can help improve our list we can look at it as well.
We are now in a position where we can look at all those types of players, the Josh Rachele type, or a free agent or one we have traded for at the age of 26.
WHAT HAVE YOU MADE OF MATTHEW NICKS’ TIME AS CROWS COACH, HE HAS A COUPLE OF UNWANTED RECORDS AS CROWS COACH. DOES THAT NOT TELL THE WHOLE STORY WHEN IT COMES TO HIM AS THE SENIOR COACH?
Of course it doesn’t tell the accurate story because Matthew Nicks was brought into the football club at a different time to any other coach prior to him.
It was set up as very clearly to Matty Nicks when he came in that we were doing an aggressive rebuild and it is going to take some time and we needed to improve some things at the football club in the football department.
I think so far he has done a fantastic job in improving that, the culture of the club is in a great space at the moment. Everyone is happy, the players are working their butts off all year round to improve on and off the field and Matty Nicks and Adam Kelly, the coaches and our footy department along with Tim Silvers, have done a fantastic job in those areas.
The pressure is on all the time but we are all in it together and the next couple of years is going to be exciting for members and supporters.
IS NICKS YOUR NEXT PREMIERSHIP COACH?
You don’t have a coach at your football coach if you don’t think he can coach you to a premiership.
He has had a very young developing side over the last three years and that will continue to change. Hopefully he can have a few more weapons at his disposal and we can see what he can do with them.
CAMP REVELATIONS HELPED BETTS REBUILD CROWS RELATIONSHIP
Adelaide champion Eddie Betts says finally revealing his version of the Crows’ camp was “cleansing”, adamant he would be happy for his children to one day play for the club.
Betts dubbed the club’s camp “weird” and “completely disrespectful” in his autobiography in a development that saw fellow Adelaide players finally reveal their experiences.
Betts said he was speaking to chief executive Tim Silvers about strengthening what has been a strained relationship at times with the Crows.
“I have spoken to Tim Silvers, spoken to a lot of people at the football club and I hold nothing against them,” Betts said at Fox Footy’s season launch
“I have still got a great relationship with the Adelaide footy club. My sons and daughters could one day play for the footy club.
“I am still pretty close and for me everything that came out last year, I needed everyone to understand the truth. People needed to know. They kept bringing it up no one knew.
“Now they know. They are not going to bring it back up, they know what happened. After I came out we had Josh Jenkins who spoke, Bryce Gibbs who spoke, Richard Douglas who spoke. Saying the same thing. So the fans out there, especially the Adelaide fans and the broader community, they understand what happened.”
The champion small forward said there was no reason the infamous camp needed to continuously be brought up.
“We don’t need to talk about it, we don‘t need to bring it back up, what is done is done and it was a mistake Adelaide had to fix from that time,” he said.
“And for me I can’t let a little piece of my time at the Adelaide Crows burn the most enjoyable fun times I had at that football club and I played the best football I played at that football club.
“I can’t let that little piece let my time there impact that. I have got a lot of Adelaide supporters who were thankful for it, they said we needed to know to move forward.
“You do kind of feel cleansed and me speaking out gave other people their voice as well. So I felt like I could give those guys a voice as well.”
Betts has stepped away from his role as a development coach at Geelong as he looks to keep footy clubs “accountable” and create safe spaces for indigenous players.
“I’m stepping away from footy now,” he said.
“I want to be independent from the AFL and want to keep footy clubs accountable.
“So I want to work with football clubs and help them create spaces where Aboriginal players in their organisations can feel safe.
“That’s what I’m here for and that’s my role.
“I’m my own boss, I can do what I want and if footy clubs reach out to me or players reach out for help I’m happy to go into footy clubs and speak to the CEO‘s, the board members, the coaches about how to help these players out.”
Betts said he tuned into the Crows’ practice match win over Fremantle and their internal trial and thought his old club was on the right track.
“I think they need to stay healthy for one and play a lot of footy together because across 2015, 2016, 2017 we played a lot of footy together especially in our forward line group,” he said.
“We knew each others roles, there was me Tex, JJ (Jenkins), Mitch McGovern, Charlie (Cameron), Lynchy (Tom Lynch) and then Richie Douglas and Riley Knight would.
“It was unbelievable, we knew each other to a tee and they couldn’t stop us.
“If I was down Tex would kick a bag, if Tex was down then JJ would kick a bag, if JJ was down then Mitch would kick a bag and then Charlie, Lynchy… we were unstoppable.
“I hope they can find something like that, they have some good young players there.
“I think they will do well, but time will tell.”
2027 vision: Crows reveal five-year strategic plan
Adelaide will aim to win an AFL premiership and have 100,000 members in the next five years.
The Crows will also aim to continue their dominance in the AFLW with a fourth flag as part of the club’s new five-year strategic vision while they will aim to relocate the entire club to its new home base by 2026.
Titled ‘Earn the Pride’, the strategic vision was revealed at the Crows’ Annual Members Meeting on Wednesday night at Adelaide Oval.
As part of the vision the top strategic priorities for the Crows to achieve by 2027 include, but won’t be limited to,
• A PREMIERSHIP for the AFL team;
• SUSTAINED success in the AFLW, highlighted by a fourth flag;
• A MEMBERSHIP tally of 100,000;
• COMMUNITY programs being accessible to 100,000 participants; and
• RELOCATING the entire club to the new home base by 2026.
The Crows two AFL premiership victories came in 1997 and 1998, while they have tasted AFLW success in 2017, 2019 and 2022 – with their three flags the most in the competition.
Adelaide chief executive Tim Silvers told the Members Meeting that ‘Earn the Pride’ encompassed a football-first focus and greater engagement with the Crows family, as well as mapping out a path towards an era of sustained success both on and off the field.
“Off the back of the global pandemic, we have worked tirelessly and rebounded to the point where there is now a strong platform from which to launch,” Silvers said.
“There has been encouraging progress with our men’s squad, while our SANFL team and dominant AFLW side, which now has three premierships, have featured prominently in finals last year.
“We are fortunate to have a large and passionate member and supporter base and central to their connection is the need for a sense of pride.
“Winning premierships is the ultimate to which we all aspire and it’s the reason why we turn up to work each day.
“However, pride also comes from the way we carry ourselves on and off the field and in the community, as well as respecting and honouring our people and achievements of years gone by.”
Silvers also told Crows members at Adelaide Oval that the new world class, training, administration and community facility – with the club choosing Thebarton Oval for this – would future proof the club’s asset base.
“There is a great deal to achieve over the next five years and none is more important than establishing a new headquarters and an official home ground for our AFLW team,” he said.
“It plays an integral role in our ability to deliver on other priority initiatives, albeit the club’s greatest strength is and always will be our people-first culture.
“The way we interact and behave, along with the way we hold each other accountable to elite standards, will determine whether we fulfil our potential and ultimately deliver the type of on-field success we all so desperately want.
“We exist to play finals footy and it’s what we all desire, especially our members and supporters, and we are determined to deliver on that in a sustained manner.”
The Crows said it would provide members with updates on the progress of the strategic priorities.
CROWS ANNOUNCE SUCCESSFUL DEBT CLEARANCE AT AGM
Adelaide has cleared all the debt it had to take on during the Covid-19 pandemic, two years ahead of schedule.
But Crows chairman John Olsen has said the club will soon “take on further and substantial borrowings” to build its new headquarters at Thebarton Oval - which he has revealed will cost more than the originally predicted $85 million and was heading towards the $100 million mark.
The Crows announced their financial results for the 2022 season at their Annual members Meeting at Adelaide Oval on Wednesday night.
Adelaide recorded a statutory profit of $2.63 million for the financial year ending October 31.
This was fuelled in part by;
• CASH operating profit of $5.35m compared to $3.58m the previous year,
• AN increase of revenue of 14 per cent, to $55m,
• GROWTH across membership, ticketing, sponsorship and hospitality,
• FULL investment in both men’s and women’s football programs, and
• MEMBERSHIP increased 5 per cent to a near record 63,099.
Olsen said while the financial performance was encouraging the important project of a new home at Thebarton Oval would mean the club would have to take on substantial borrowings in the future”.
“We will continue to invest in our football operations and give our players, coaches and high-performance staff the right resources and facilities to consistently win games, play finals and build sustained on-field success,” he said.
“Debt peaked at $6m during Covid-19 and to be able to clear that well ahead of schedule has required careful management of operating costs and a collective effort from all involved.
“While our financial performance is encouraging, we are about to take on further and substantial borrowings to build our new headquarters, with the project of utmost importance to our club’s future on many levels.”
Olsen also said the Crows were able to increase investment in their community outreach programs over the past year.
“These initiatives continue to make a significant impact on the lives of South Australian children and youth, particularly those facing challenges in education, health and inclusion,” he said.
The Crows also announced that experienced health administrator Imelda Lynch was elected to the club’s board of directors after polling the most votes from members in an independently run election.
Lynch, who is the chair of the Glenelg Golf Club, was one of four candidates vying for the member-elected position vacated by premiership player Rod Jameson.
She is a former chief executive of the Heart Foundation SA/NT and is currently a non-executive director of the Australian Medical Research Advisory Board, ACH Group, Bellberry Limited and the Macular Disease Foundation of Australia, and has previously served on the Board of the Royal Adelaide Hospital and Brain Injury SA.
Lynch gained 36.6 per cent of the vote in the online ballot.
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