AFL 2022: Adelaide coach Matthew Nicks wants to talk to club great Eddie Betts after damning revelations

Matthew Nicks wasn’t coach of the Crows during the 2018 pre-season camp but will still reach out to Eddie Betts and others.

Adelaide coach Matthew Nicks says “putting others first” has been his motto since he arrived at the Crows, so he’ll reach out to Eddie Betts as a priority after being saddened to see the lingering impact of the 2018 pre-season camp.

Nicks said the fallout, after Betts made some starling revelations in his book that led to apologies form the Crows and the AFL this week and prompted a new investigation by the AFL Players Association, had not been a distraction for those still at the club who were involved.

That cohort includes senior players like captain Rory Sloane and veteran forward Taylor Walker, who have spoken both previously and this week about the same camp, revealing a different reaction to some of the events Betts found disturbing.

Nicks, who took over as coach when Don Pyke, who was involved in organising the camp, was sacked, said he had spoken to the playing group this week but didn’t detect any lingering feelings or impact similar to those expressed by Betts.

“None that I’ve spoken to, but that’s not to say that there aren’t any out there,” Nicks said on Friday.

“We made sure that we sat down with the group, footy department staff and players, to just put it out there that the support is here if you need it.

“Maybe over the coming weeks we’ll have some reach out, but I’ve had a chat with a number of those players and staff that were here to check in and see how they’re going.

“I think everyone is affected differently in different ways, so we’ll just continue to work through that to make sure that our people are OK.

Eddie Betts is among the most loved Crows players of all time. Picture: AAP Image/David Mariuz

“People are affected by things differently, I understand that, and I’ll keep working through it.”

That work will include reaching out to Betts and any other former players to “reconnect” to any who still hold grievances.

“I was saddened to see how Eddie, and others, were affected, so I’ll continue to reach out to the players and staff that were here at the time,” Nicks said.

“There’s not many that were here at the time but there were some, so I’ll continue to reach out to them.

“I’ll reach out to Eddie and some past players over the coming weeks just to see how they’re going because it’s sad to see players affected that way.

“We’re doing a lot of work around our past and trying to reconnect to get those guys back into the footy club.

“This is a moment where we want to do the right thing. We’re working on prioritising others, which has been my motto since I arrived here … and part of that involves trust and part of that is putting others first, so we’ll continue to do that going forward.”

But while he was conscious of the magnitude of the issue, Nicks also said his players still had a job to do, and their immediate focus was on playing West Coast this week.

“I want to be really respectful of the situation and what is playing out here, but for these guys it’s business as usual when it comes to our footy,” he said.

“It’s understandable that it is a distraction for some that aren’t within the footy department, but these guys have put their heads down.

“They’re playing a game of footy.”

Originally published as AFL 2022: Adelaide coach Matthew Nicks wants to talk to club great Eddie Betts after damning revelations