Can new Crows coach Matthew Nicks deliver a ‘magical’ campaign to get his side into September?
A senior player has described how things are going with new Adelaide Crows coach Matthew Nicks as ‘magical’. Can he be what they need to guide them back into finals?
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It was a simple question. The reply was completely unexpected. “Magical”, said the senior Crows player.
He had been asked how it was going with the new coach.
“It’s magical”, he said.
I’d never heard the term used before when talking about a footy coach.
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Tough, charismatic, funny, professional, innovative, different, fair, compassionate, smart, are all adjectives that you would expect to be used to describe your new coach.
Of course there would be others less complimentary if you weren’t getting along with him! But magical? It almost has a mystical aura around it.
Matthew Nicks has been the Crows coach for barely three months.
It’s too early to be making bold predictions but it is fair to say he’s made an enormous difference to the morale at West Lakes.
Forget fitness, strength, pace and skill; the buzzwords at the Adelaide Football Club in this summer of 2020 are “connection” and “relationships”.
Old school coaches wouldn’t recognize the modern AFL coach.
Of course the great ones – even the not so great – had their own way of connecting with a player.
It might have been a one-on-one talk before, during or after training.
Perhaps it was an invitation to the coach’s house for dinner.
Occasionally the coach might drop in at the player’s place of employment, but generally the only communicating between coach and player was at training.
They weren’t full time coaches either.
They had daytime jobs to go to, as did the players.
It was the troubled players who seemed to get the most attention.
The old adage that 95 percent of a coach’s time was a taken up by 5 percent of the players often rang true.
The model players were left to their own devices and initiative.
They were easy to like and easy to trust.
Looking back, one wonders if they suffered in silence and if they needed more.
However, the Crows players are loving their new coach.
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Not that he’s soft on them or backing off on the training track. They’re working as hard as they ever had.
“He’s tough on us” said another player.
They wouldn’t respect him if he wasn’t. It’s the effort he’s making to get to know them that they respect.
The AFL clubs are back into full training now after the Christmas break.
Apart from grand final week if you’re a contender, it’s the best time of the football year.
There’s plenty of laughs. Training is tough but there’s not the pressure of performance on the weekend or the constant demand to explain or justify. That will come soon enough.
There is no doubt that training is hard.
Matthew Nicks had somewhat of a wake-up call when he joined Port Adelaide as an assistant coach from Sydney.
The intensity of training, particularly from some individuals surprised him.
He knew they had trained hard in Sydney, but this was at another level. He brings that level of intensity with him.
The Crows posted video of the players’ two kilometre time trial this week.
It made for fascinating viewing. The players aren’t elite runners but they are great athletes.
A time trial at this stage of a footy season is essentially a measure of aerobic fitness levels but you can learn a lot about a player by watching his performance in a time trial.
Is he serious about his football? He may not be the best runner but has he got heart? Has he improved from last year? Is he a competitive beast?
Chayce Jones won this year’s time trial running away from the pack.
The young Tasmanian who will wear the number one jumper this year has been compared to Patrick Dangerfield.
He played eight games for the Crows last year in his first season but injury-free expect him to play a prominent part in the Crows resurgence.
He finished third behind Jones to indicate he’s fit and serious about his footy.
The player who made everyone sit up and take notice was rookie Ben Keays who came second in the time trial.
He’d been on Brisbane’s list since 2015 and played 30 games for the Lions but had languished over the past two seasons.
He was resigned to playing VFL football for Box Hill under Andy Otten until the Crows selected him in the rookie draft.
He has another chance. His great-grandfather played for both Collingwood and the old Fitzroy and interestingly served in both World War I and World War II.
Some of the best advice a young player can be given is to “make them notice you for the right reasons”. Ben Keays has done that already.
Others to impress in the time trial were Rory Atkins and veteran David McKay. Rory Sloane also ran a personal best time.
Why he hasn’t yet been named as captain remains a mystery and is a distraction the Crows don’t need at this moment when there is so much to be positive about.
Pre-season predictions from the football “experts” haven’t been kind to the Crows – or to Port Adelaide for that matter.
The prevailing sentiment is that neither team will make the eight.
However, there is much to like about both teams.
Port’s 150 year celebrations, their exciting young players, plus Ken Hinkley’s declaration that he’ll be gone if they don’t make the eight should add another level to the team’s performance.
At West Lakes, the Crows still have the nucleus of a good team.
The influx of exciting new players and the influence of a charismatic new coach give rise to fresh optimism.
They may very well defy the experts and appear once again in September.
Now that would be magical.
Originally published as Can new Crows coach Matthew Nicks deliver a ‘magical’ campaign to get his side into September?
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