The Crows are about to venture into uncharted territory with a significant rebuild for the first time in their history
Never before have the Crows seen such an upheaval of football staff in one season to the next, but with it comes a great opportunity for growth, writes Mark Bickley.
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The Adelaide Football Club stands on the precipice, faced with the most challenging period of it’s almost 30 year history.
Never before have the Crows seen the upheaval of football staff from one season to the next.
Coach, senior assistant coach and general manager of football all departed after a searching external review delivered recommendations at the end of last season.
Added to that, the enforced reduction of defensive coach Marty Mattner, development coach Paul Thomas along with a six-week suspension to forward coach Ben Hart.
Mathew Nicks gets his opportunity for the first time in the top role and is supported by Adam Kelly as the new GM of football, also his first time in the role at AFL level, creating one of the most inexperienced coaching groups in the competition.
Combined with the exodus of senior players at the end of last year, Eddie Betts, Sam Jacobs, Josh Jenkins, Richard Douglas, Hugh Greenwood, Alex Keath, Andy Otten and Cam Ellis-Yolmen, that is a lot of experience to lose in one hit.
Adelaide’s list needed regeneration and often the combination of new coach along with a group of young players can be fruitful, but there is one element that those successful combinations have all had. Time.
This is going to take a little while and some patience is required.
Considering that in the last two seasons the club have finished outside the top eight, history tells us this type of rebuild mostly has pain before gain.
The Crows have rarely been out of finals contention in their short history but this journey may test uncharted territory.
The Adelaide Football Club are hoping for their supporters to strap themselves in and come along for the ride.
There in lies the next problem. Much of the supporter base of the Adelaide Football Club appears uneasy. This is not a totally new phenomenon.
Many haven’t forgiven the club for it’s costly Kurt Tippett mistake, others have been critical of the seemingly constant drain of quality talent away from West Lakes. But it has reached a more critical mass since the grand final loss in 2017.
Clearly the performance on the day was frustrating, but the two years since has been a disaster for everyone involved.
It started with the 2018 pre-season, where both physically and mentally they got it wrong.
The team’s performance deteriorated, members felt a disconnect at not being able to get the answers they wanted, as to how such a dominant side could slide from contention so quickly.
The 2018 season was explained away as an anomaly, with an expected bounce back in 2019 after a near flawless pre-season, only for the same issues to seemingly reappear and a growing disquiet throughout the playing group.
With an increasing number of its fan base starting to question the head office decision makers, Rob Chapman and Andrew Fagen wisely commissioned an independent review of its football department. One which resulted in a number of personnel and structural changes.
The changes were what many had been calling for, some wanted more.
What it did provide was some clean air. An acknowledgment that the personal relationships had to be prioritised along with the leadership and culture of the club.
A position was specifically created in response, filled earlier this year by Daniel Jackson, who looks well qualified and well suited to the position.
The two years post-2017 grand final also provided a timely reminder to the board and senior management that its members, who had been accepting and accommodating for a long period of time, were not going to accept what they viewed as mediocrity.
The fans continued to show up and support the players but the love of their club and passion for it, had for many diminished.
It is something the Adelaide Football Club are desperate to recapture.
While patience is required for an on-field rebuild, the rebuild in trust in the off-field side will also not happen overnight.
The Novatel Barossa incident and more recently past great Andrew McLeod voicing his unease, has given voice again to those members who aren’t happy.
On the other side of the coin has been a healthy majority who have pledged some or all of their membership to the club during this time of financial crisis for AFL teams.
With this I’m sure will be the hope of a greater connection between member and club, and a return to happier times.
Nicks and Kelly have both impressed with their humility and sleeves-up approach since arriving at West Lakes and will be hoping this translates to a more connected and spirited playing group.
If the fans get that, it will take some heat off of the front office who are at their best when unnoticed. They can ill afford to be the focus again this season.
So with an inexperienced football department and a much younger playing group, coupled with a disrupted pre-season and a nervous supporter base, the challenges are real for Adelaide.
It is worth noting the Crows have overcome big challenges before, both on and off field, but rarely in the same season at the same time.
With great challenge comes great opportunity for growth, and that is exactly what Matthew Nicks and the Adelaide Football Club will be chasing this year.