The odds on Matthew Nicks to be the next Adelaide coach are shortening and Crows legend Tyson Edwards says it would be the best move for the club
Crows great Tyson Edwards has reiterated calls for Matthew Nicks to get the vacant Adelaide senior coach position, as the odds continue to shorten for the GWS Giants assistant to get the job. But axed Fremantle coach Ross Lyon has ruled himself out.
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Crows great Tyson Edwards has reiterated calls for Matthew Nicks to get the vacant Adelaide senior coach position, as the club confirms axed Fremantle coach has been scratched from contention.
As more candidates were either ruled out after taking other vacant coaching positions, or ruling themselves out, GWS assistant Nicks continued to firm as one of the favourites to succeed Don Pyke at the Crows with his odds shortening from $21 to $2.75 with one agency.
Having started as a rank outsider following Pyke’s shock decision to step down after nearly four years as the Crows senior coach, Nicks is now second to Hawthorn assistant Scott Burns in betting markets as to who will be Adelaide’s next head honcho.
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The Crows are deep in the hunt for Pyke’s successor after finalising a four-person panel of chief executive Andrew Fagan, football director Mark Ricciuto, former player and assistant coach James Podsiadly and four-time Olympian Phil Smyth.
A final decision is not expected for at least a week.
Ricciuto confirmed on Tuesday panel members had met with axed Ross Lyon in Melbourne but the axed Fremantle coach wasn’t putting his hand up for the role.
“We really just wanted to see where he was at and what he was up to and what happened at Freo and what his thoughts are on coaching,” Ricciuto told Triple M.
“We had a great chat, he’s a very experienced and knowledgable coach, but in the end he didn’t want to put his hand up. He needs a bit of a rest and has some other things on his mind. It was a really interesting chat and I thoroughly enjoyed it and we learned a lot.”
Edwards, who ranks second in games at Adelaide with 321 from 1995 to 2010 and played in the club’s 1997-98 premiership teams, worked with Nicks as an assistant coach at Port Adelaide.
He said the former Sydney Swans’ “time had come” to be an AFL senior coach.
“As far as what they are looking for he is the perfect candidate,” Edwards said.
“He is really good at building relationships with players... that is one of his greatest strengths and that’s what the Crows need.
“He has a really good mix of being serious and being able to give a rev up to players and being less serious which is what you need.”
Nicks last week said while senior coaching was his “ultimate goal”, he would see how Saturday’s grand final played out before he gave a move back to Adelaide any consideration.
He was one of nine coaches inducted into the AFL’s level four coaching program in 2015.
Before heading to Western Sydney last year Nicks was the Power’s development coach, then defensive coach, then forwards coach before becoming senior assistant in 2017.
Edwards said this had given him an ideal grounding to become the Crows next coach.
“In my time there working with him he did stand out at a person that could become a senior coach,” he said.
“He has had the rough times under Matthew Primus and then a rebuild and resurgence under Ken Hinkley before going to GWS.
“He has had some good experience and I think the timing is right, he has done his apprenticeship and his time has come.”
Edwards said he was a big fan of Nicks’ philosophy on the game.
“He is strong on defence and structure, but I’m sure as other coaches have he would be prepared to change this if required,” he said.
Already two potential candidates have been ruled out with one-time bookies favourite Ben Rutten to succeed John Worsfold at Essendon while on Monday Collingwood assistant Justin Longmuir was announced as Fremantle’s new coach.
David Noble, who was the Crows’ head of football before going to Brisbane in 2016, on Monday also dismissed talk of him becoming an AFL senior coach.
Former Crow and current Port assistant Nathan Bassett is also set to be in contention, while Ross Lyon has been linked with a shock move to Adelaide.