AFL Round 17 Adelaide v Brisbane: Crows coach Matthew Nicks opens up on Brodie Smith and selection
On Thursday, Matthew Nicks said Adelaide will go with the younger player if there is a 50/50 call at selection. But, at the same time, the Crows coach confirmed 32-year-old Brodie Smith is part of future plans.
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Adelaide coach Matthew Nicks says the Crows will likely go with a younger player over a more experienced one if there a 50/50 call at selection.
But dropped veteran Brodie Smith looks to be in line to return to take on Brisbane with Nicks saying the leadership group member “is a big part of our future” and has “smashed the door down”.
Riley Thilthorpe could spend another week in the SANFL, with Nicks wary of making too many changes to the side that got back on the winners’ list.
The Crows snapped its losing streak against GWS on the weekend, providing some much needed relief to the pressure the club and Nicks have been facing over the past month.
The Crows will have to make one change to that side, with defender Will Hamill facing three to four weeks on the sidelines after hand injury.
“So that creates an opportunity for someone else, but Will was going so well this year,” Nicks said on Thursday.
“He found his groove and really sort of made that spot his own.”
Nicks said first round draftee Dan Curtin and fellow youngster Hugh Bond were pushing to replace Hamill.
But he said Smith, who has been down on form this year and a whipping boy for fans online, was one of the best on the ground for the Crows in the SANFL against Glenelg.
“He has done everything that we asked Brodie, he has gone back and performed the way we wanted him to,” he said.
Smith has played 259 games for the Crows and Nicks backed him to add to this in 2024 and 2025.
“Of course I do, I’ve been really pleased with him,” he said.
“The challenge we have put to him over the last month, he has been outstanding in that.
“His leadership, his experience back there.
“He did some stuff that will be rewarded within, but might not be recognised externally.
“He is a big part of our future, he is a big part of where we are at as a footy club as it is from the service he has given and there is more to come.”
But Nicks said the Crows were looking to go with younger players, if they are at the same level as their more experienced counterparts.
“Our open and honest conversation with Brodie and let’s use Dan (Curtin) as an example, if those guys have the same form coming in and we believe they are both going to impact the game at AFL level in the same way then it is more than likely we will play a younger player who is going to have more impact in the future,” he said.
“But if Brodie’s form is stronger then we are going to bring him in, we play every game to win the game of footy.
“Our players are comfortable with that, they have to improve their game and if they want to knock on the door they know they have to be in some good form.
“Brodie has smashed the door down.”
Nicks said they were still deciding whether to bring Thilthorpe – who played his first game of the year in the SANFL – straight back into the AFL side or give him another week in the state league.
But he did hint the club might take the conservative approach.
“We would love to get Riley back at AFL level but we don’t need to rush that either,” he said.
“We will make the right decision in that space, both for Riley and his development in what we think he needs and the team.
“When Riley is ready, and the team is ready it will be the right time.”
‘As long as he wants’: Fogarty dismisses Tex ‘replacement’ tag
Adelaide forward Darcy Fogarty says he wants fellow key Taylor Walker to continue playing for the Crows for “as long as he wants to” and says he has never thought about having to be the club great’s successor when he does hang up the boots.
Walker is out of contract at the end of the year, and as what has happened the past few years debate around his future at the Crows has emerged at the halfway point of the season.
In his paid TV appearance with Channel 7, the 34-year-old Walker brushed off suggestions that he could finish his career at a different club – saying his recent back issue had halted any potential new contract being worked out during the mid-season break.
Walker had missed a month of footy with the injury, suffered against Hawthorn, and his return to the side coincided with the Crows snapping their losing streak against GWS on Saturday night.
Fogarty has long been touted as the replacement for Walker at West Lakes, but he said he had not thought about his position at the Crows in that way.
He also said he hoped Walker would keep playing at the Crows.
“I haven’t really thought about it in that way (being the Walker replacement),” he said.
“I’ve been lucky enough to play with Tex for a while now and I have sort of developed along my own rate, so I think things have come about slowly but that has never been a pressure of mine.
“I have sort of wanted to develop in my own way.
“I have never thought about replacing people, it has been a massive privilege playing with Tex … I want to do that for as long as I can.
“Everyone loves playing with Tex, you walk taller. It is a lot of fun playing with him, he is someone you can rely on and he always performs.
“He still has plenty of good footy in, I want Tex here as long as he wants to be.”
While he said he hasn’t thought about it, Fogarty has provided hope for life after Walker at West Lakes with the most consistent spell of his career.
Over the past two months the 24-year-old has kicked multiple goals in his eight matches, and averaged six marks per game.
It came after a slow start to the season for Fogarty, who was elevated into the Crows’ leadership group.
He said he was happy with his consistent form.
“It has been good, I just think a little bit more consistent which has been good and getting a bit more of a reward,” he said.
“Not a lot really, just still trying to compete as much as I can and get to as many contests as I can.
“Maybe I’m just getting a bit luckier in front of goal now.”
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