Crows coach Matthew Nicks lifts weeks of doom and gloom at West Lakes with authenticity
He’s taken no short cuts on his footy journey and has the scars to prove it. Which is why Matthew Nicks is the right coach at the right time for Adelaide.
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Matthew Nicks lifted six weeks of unprecedented gloom at West Lakes with the smile and knockabout authenticity that has won over the AFL industry.
Adelaide has a penchant for left-field appointments, including Robert Shaw, Brenton Sanderson, Phil Walsh and Don Pyke, but Nicks was the short-priced favourite to become its ninth coach.
The moment former GWS senior assistant Nicks knew the Crows job was available he was “straight into it”.
Nicks’ initial move at West Lakes was ringing players to begin the tailored, personal approach that has made Damien Hardwick a two-time premiership hit at Richmond.
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“My first port of call is to get to as many of the players as I can. It is only a phone call to let you know ‘I am here for you and put this number in your favourites and call it 24/7, just put it in there’,” revealed Nicks, as Taylor Walker, Daniel Talia and board director Mark Ricciuto looked on.
Unsettled club champion Brad Crouch will almost certainly be at Adelaide next season after Nicks spoke with the midfielder at 1pm on Tuesday and assured him clubs can’t lose good men like him. It was a “man conversation” straight out of Walsh’s textbook.
Mixing an ability to nourish the confidence of Millennials while giving a clip when necessary using a country-style sensibility will be Nicks’ trump card as coach.
Adelaide’s revamped list will be asked to take the game on as Nicks, 44, did over 175 AFL games for the Swans.
“We will be a team that not only embraces the contest, but seeks it out,” said Nicks in a tone that will resonate with Crows faithful.
Nicks isn’t fazed by leading Adelaide from the debris of its external football department review that followed trainwreck 2018-19 seasons.
“The main thing is let’s get back to playing footy our supporters would be proud to watch,” said Nicks.
Citing Sydney’s Bloods “culture” and GWS’s kamikaze team spirit, Nicks knows what makes successful groups.
The culture of self preservation that external review boss Jason Dunstall revealed to The Advertiser undermined Adelaide last season won’t be tolerated.
“Mutual respect, putting yourself second, teammates and staff first,” said father of three Nicks of his philosophy.
“The goal is to bring the family back together and everyone has each other’s backs. Results will look after themselves.”
This was a man speaking about a journey with no shortcuts and the scars to prove it. Nicks was a stalwart over a decade in Sydney before a leg stress fracture robbed him of a 2005 premiership medal.
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Adelaide Crows ‘screaming out for what I can bring’, says new coach Matthew Nicks
An extensive coaching apprenticeship started in Port Adelaide’s 2011 nadir under Matt Primus, then Ken Hinkley before becoming Leon Cameron’s strategist at GWS last season.
Nicks arrives at Adelaide with a shared humiliation and unfinished business. He watched as Richmond chewed the Giants in 2019’s AFL grand final with a disdain similar to the decider two years earlier against Adelaide at the MCG.
Nicks has a three-year deal, but is aware that no Crows coach survives consecutive Septembers on the sidelines.
“Timing is everything”, notes Nicks in AFL’s cut-throat industry, but he feels the right fit for Adelaide to implement a drought-breaking premiership doctrine.