Adelaide chairman John Olsen backs coach Matthew Nicks to turn the club’s season around

Adelaide’s season has been a failure thus far, but chairman John Olsen remains resolute in standing by coach Matthew Nicks despite his disappointment after the Crows loss to the Hawks.

Adelaide chairman John Olsen has stood by the decision to re-sign Matthew Nicks, backing the coach to turn around the club’s season, starting against Richmond on Thursday night.

The Crows handed Nicks a two-year contract extension in March and hoped he could steer them to their first finals appearance since 2017 this campaign.

But the club’s top-eight chances were hanging by a thread after a 27-point loss to Hawthorn on Saturday that left Adelaide in 14th spot with four wins, a draw and seven losses.

Olsen said the Crows had no issue with extending Nick’s contract until the end of 2026.

Adelaide’s season has not gone to plan. Picture: Getty Images

“We believed at the time – and still do – that Matthew Nicks is the right coach for the Adelaide Football Club currently,” Olsen said.

“We want to give him the best possible chance to bring this young squad up to consistently perform well at AFL level.

“I hope you will see a response on Thursday night from last week and then we’ll take each game as it comes.”

Adelaide has finished bottom, 15th, 14th and 10th since appointing Nicks in late 2019.

The Crows were buoyed by last year’s improvement going into this campaign, only to lose their opening four matches.

They conceded 10 of the first 12 goals against the Hawks at the MCG on Saturday in their worst performance of 2024.

Asked how badly the team had fallen short of internal expectations, Olsen said: “We’re only halfway through the season so let’s just see how the season unfolds”.

“We did say at the start of the season that we’re embracing expectation rather than are intimidated by it,” he said.

“We were disappointed with the performance of the team last week.

“I, the board and CEO have confidence in the coach and assistant coaches going forward.”

John Olsen is backing in Matthew Nicks. Picture: Tom Huntley

Olsen forecasted Adelaide would field the AFL’s youngest side of this round.

Midfielder Billy Dowling has replaced veteran Matt Crouch, whose season is over due to a shoulder injury, but the Crows are yet to reveal other changes.

Adelaide was weighing up whether to pick spearhead Taylor Walker, who had a fitness test on his back on Wednesday.

“We’re confident Tex will be OK, we’re just mindful of a five-day break,” Nicks said.

Nicks said captain Jordan Dawson (foot) was confident he would play after pulling up much better than last week when he went into the Hawthorn game in doubt.

While Dowling, 19, had been rewarded for strong SANFL form, the Crows were not yet looking to get games into youngsters just because of their ladder position.

“We’re not where we want to be but we have an opportunity to still achieve what we’re looking to achieve this year so we’ll stay in that space,” Nicks said.

The coach said he had talked to Josh Rachele about his role after the third-year forward spoke publicly about wanting clarity on his midfield minutes this week.

“Off the back of poor performance as a team, sometimes what can happen is frustration and we’ve worked our way through that,” he said.

Originally published as Adelaide chairman John Olsen backs coach Matthew Nicks to turn the club’s season around