Crows players hit the track at West Lakes as preparation for the 2020 AFL season officially begins
Crows players returned to training under the watchful eye of head coach Matthew Nicks on Thursday, with the new leader confirming his faith in the existing group of assistant coaches.
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New Adelaide coach Matthew Nicks has locked in his coaching staff for 2020.
As the club started a new era with its second-to-fourth year players hitting the track for the first time under their new mentor on Thursday, Nicks revealed his line coaches for next season.
It has been 81 days since Adelaide’s 2019 season ended ingloriously against the Western Bulldogs in Ballarat.
After a massive off-season of change which included the resignation of senior coach Don Pyke, axing of head of football Brett Burton and senior assistant coach Scott Camporeale and loss of a host of senior players, the club’s 2-4-year players were back at it.
And while senior assistant coach Camporeale has gone after a poor finding at the club’s external review, Nicks has backed in the club’s 2019 coaching group.
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Michael Godden, who he heaped praise on, will remain midfield coach, Martin Mattner will stay in control of the defence, Ben Hart will marshall the forward line, Matthew Clarke will remain ruck coach and Heath Younie will continue to play a key role in development and coach the SANFL team.
Nicks confirmed he would not have a senior assistant coach in his first-year in charge and would lean on his assistants and personal mentors for support.
“It was my decision and the group’s decision (not to appoint a senior assistant coach),” Nicks said.
“It’s probably about pausing for a moment and not making a poor decision in that area.
“We’ve got an outstanding assistants group that have already taken everything on board.
“Michael Godden has stepped up into that midfield role and really driven our training standards to this point as far as what are we going to set for the group.
“With Clarke, Hart and Mattner, the coaches I am working with, it is an outstanding young group.
“So I’m confident going without that senior assistant for 12 months.
“I’m not saying longer term that we might not look at one but at this point the last thing we wanted to do as a club was rush into a decision and get the wrong person in.
“There is no panic around a senior assistant, we are definitely going to pause and make the right decision in that space.”
Nicks said Adelaide was close to zeroing in on a new head of football to replace axed Brett Burton.
“It’s quite close but at the same time we’re not in a rush with that,” he said.
“We want to make the right decision, we want to get the right person in that position,
“Our footy program is set right through to round one, as a football department we’ve nailed that.
“But it’s a really important decision and I’ll have a say in that because it will be an important person for me and a person I will lean on for some advice and experience.”
In a good sign for the club, older players Bryce Gibbs, Tom Lynch, Brodie Smith and Luke Brown – not due back until Monday – joined their teammates for the 90-minute Thursday morning session.
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The hard toil for the @Adelaide_FC begins. @TheTiserSport pic.twitter.com/o97LK37KwY
— Andrew Capel (@andrewcapel) November 13, 2019
Fifth-year men Wayne Milera and Tom Doedee, who is returning from a knee reconstruction, also trained.
Adelaide is in rebuilding mode after missing the finals in consecutive seasons following its 2017 grand final appearance.
After finishing 11th with a 10-12 win-loss record this year, the Crows have gone down a “rejuvenation” path, with veterans Sam Jacobs, Eddie Betts, Josh Jenkins, Richard Douglas and Andy Otten leaving the club, along with Alex Keath, Hugh Greenwood and Cam Ellis-Yolmen.
They’re back! 81 days after the @Adelaide_FC 2019 season ended, the 2-4-year players have returned to training. And they have been joined by the more experienced Gibbs, Smith, Lynch, Milera and Doedee. pic.twitter.com/ox212H8vc2
— Andrew Capel (@andrewcapel) November 13, 2019