Matthew Pavlich believes youth and inexperience will be no barrier for the Crows to rebound under Matthew Nicks
Matthew Pavlich knows the inner workings of the Crows better than most after leading its external review last year and he believes youth won’t stop them from bouncing back this season.
Matthew Pavlich believes youth and inexperience will be no barrier to Adelaide rebounding quickly this season after he helped lead an external review of the Crows’ football department last year.
Pavlich and former Hawthorn great Jason Dunstall interviewed almost every player, coach and football department staffer last year and the findings of their report led to widespread change at the top.
“That was a pretty big and complex process but I loved it,” Pavlich said.
Watch every match of every round of the 2020 Toyota AFL Premiership Season LIVE & On-Demand with KAYO. New to Kayo? Get your 14-day free trial & start streaming instantly >
“It was great to get back to speaking with players and coaches and admin staff and property managers and everyone at a football club to get a 360-degree view of the club, and that was a fascinating process.
“They obviously had their own views of what needed to change or stay the same, and our role in that was to investigate further and have some independence and objectivity to that process.
“Hopefully we did that, and they obviously made a number of changes and kept things similar in other areas, so it will be interesting to see how they go this year.
“I don’t really know what to expect this year, it’s hard to tell, obviously they’re a younger, developing list but our experiences in the AFL these days show that it can turn around very quickly.”
The former Fremantle captain was back in Adelaide over Christmas and returned again this week to promote his latest business venture – PickStar.
He was joined by the likes of jockey Kerrin McEvoy, basketballer Chris Anstey and Olympic gold medal ice skater Steven Bradbury for a promotional shoot on Monday.
PickStar was launched three years ago and now has more than 1600 athletes and personalities on its books.
“Realistically we are a technology company that aims to make the process of discovering, matching and booking talent much more efficient than the normal process is,” Pavlich said.
“The idea was born out of talent or sports people wanting more commercial opportunities, and knowing consumers, brands and fans want access to talent but they don’t really know how to.
“Take what is a 70-step process and make it automated ... whether it’s traditional media or new media you still need to have a great experience.”
Pavlich is combining business with media in his life after footy and will continue his roles with Fox Footy and Channel 9 this season.
“I was one of the fortunate ones to play for a long time and was able to study and complete two university degrees and build great connections in the media space,” he said.
“I had the opportunity to stay in the game but I was really keen to investigate a couple of business interests but at the same time still have an arm’s length role in footy and that’s what the media has given me.”
reece.homfray@news.com.au