Adelaide Crows off-season news: Club still caught up in Covid drama involving board member
The future of an Adelaide board member continues to remain up in the air as both he and the club try to reach middle ground over his reluctance to have the Covid-19 vaccine.
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The future of Nick Takos as an Adelaide Crows board member continues to hang in the balance because of his reluctance to have the Covid-19 vaccine.
The Crows are having ongoing discussions with Dr Takos about his ability to stay on as a director since it was revealed last month that he did not want the jab — putting him at odds with the club’s internal Covid-19 vaccination policy.
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Under the internal policy — formulated over several months and put out to consultation — employees and board members had to have their first dose by the end of November 19.
This was built around the AFL’s timeline for the AFLW program and to cover everyone who might have sat outside the league’s mandate.
Adelaide was forced to place Deni Varnhagen on an inactive list because she would not adhere to the AFL’s “no jab, no play policy”.
Carlton’s Liam Jones decided to retire from AFL football at the age of 30 because of his refusal to get the vaccine, while St Kilda’s reigning AFLW best and fairest Georgia Patrikios has taken a leave of absence because of her reluctance to get the jab with the Saints to soon make a decision on her future.
Given what has happened with Varnhagen and Jones it is considered unlikely that Dr Takos, a member elected director with another year on his term, will be able to continue on the Crows board.
On Monday when asked if there was any update about Dr Takos’ status, Crows chief executive Tim Silvers said he couldn’t comment.
“I don’t want to give any specifics around individuals. I understand the interest but I won’t be giving any further update,” he said.
Crows chairman John Olsen has previously told The Advertiser that he was encouraging every staff member at the club to get vaccinated, saying “it will be so complicated to run a season next year if vaccinations aren’t the order of the day.”
Dr Takos, a lecturer at UniSA’s business school, has previously worked at the Crows for 14 years starting in the 1990s.
He also filled a volunteer role with Adelaide’s past players and officials group.
Dr Takos has worked in management positions in other sports such as cricket and netball, while his UniSA page says he is a “specialist in the areas of leadership, organisational culture, management and sponsorship, particularly in the sport and recreation context”.
Clarkson never on radar as Crows defend Nicks deal
Adelaide chief executive Tim Silvers says the club didn’t need to wait until the end of the 2022 season to know that Matthew Nicks was the right man to be the Crows senior coach for the medium-term future.
And Silvers says despite his previous stint at Hawthorn there was no consideration at all about chasing Alastair Clarkson, so confident are the Crows in Nicks.
Despite Nicks still having a year to go on his existing deal, the Crows have signed him to a new two-year contract to extend his stay at West Lakes to at least the end of 2024.
Nicks’ first two years as Crows senior coach has coincided with a rebuild of the playing list at West Lakes.
In his first season the Crows claimed their first ever wooden spoon, while in his second Adelaide managed seven wins including upsets of Geelong and Melbourne.
Silvers said they were confident that Nicks could lead them back to contending.
“Nicksy has been the coach the last two years through some challenging times and some Covid-19 times but what we’ve seen through this period is a genuine improvement, an improvement in our team and an improvement in our list,” he said.
“There is a genuine buy-in from our players, coaches and staff.
“I feel like he is the right person to take us forward and build some sustained success.
“We felt it was the right time to back him in as a leader for us for the next three years.”
After the Crows announced the re-signing on Monday morning, Port Adelaide premiership player Kane Cornes questioned why Adelaide weren’t waiting longer to see if Nicks was the right man for the job.
The availability of Clarkson, after he left Hawthorn at the end of the 2021 season, threatens to hang over several coaches next year.
Silvers said despite his previous relationship with Clarkson he wanted to back in Nicks.
“That (Clarkson) was never an option,” he said.
“I’ve been at this club for nine months and what I’ve seen is the genuine buy-in from our group.
“He is creating a great culture, a selfless culture based on prioritising others and what we’ve seen is an improvement in our group.
“And because we have the right leader here I want to be a leader who backs the right person in and he is going to bring sustained success to our footy club for a long period of time.
“If you have the right man in the right job you want to back him in, he’s the right leader for us.”
Talks over a new deal for Nicks began in September.
He said his deal was “a small thing in the bigger scheme of things” for the club.
“From a personal point of view it gives me some confidence that we are heading in the right direction and I’m part of that,” he said.
“It is amazing what some confidence can do to an individual.
“It also gives my coaching group and the players a feeling of empowerment. They feel like we are all together.”
Nicks said he was confident the Crows could start to make an impact in the competition.
“I’m really confident that with the people we have at the moment to take us forward we will have success sooner rather than later,” he said.
“You get the right people around the footy club and you create the environment that we are creating, with a little bit of luck on your side things turn your way quickly.”
Locked in: Why Crows love what Nicks is building
Adelaide senior coach Matthew Nicks has signed a two-year contract extension to stay at the Crows.
Nicks’ contract expired at the end of 2022 and the Crows have moved early to lock in their senior coach.
Crows chief executive Tim Silvers said the club viewed Nicks as a long-term coach after seeing significant progress on and off the field.
“There is genuine buy-in from the players, coaches and staff to the relationships and standards that Matt is driving,” Silvers said.
“His leadership style is exactly what we need when you consider the evolution of our playing group and he is forging a culture underpinned by people having a selfless approach.
“The connection goes well beyond the locker room and stretches to our administration, as well as our past players and officials, corporate partners, members and fans.
“There is no doubt it has been a tough initiation starting his senior coaching career at the same time as a pandemic but we have seen growth over the past two years.”
Nicks took over the job at Adelaide from Don Pyke when the Crows were embarking on a rebuild of their playing list.
In his first season, the team won just three games and claimed the club’s first ever wooden spoon but, in 2021, Adelaide posted memorable victories over Geelong and Melbourne to show some progress.
Nicks said he was confident the club was heading in the right direction.
“The whole club is heading in the right direction and it stems from a willingness to work hard,” he said.
“We have brought together the right people, from coaches through to high performance, medical and welfare staff, to create an environment where our players can reach their potential.
“Last season we showed glimpses of what we would like to produce consistently in the future and on the whole we saw a young group develop and make some ground on where we’re trying to get to.
“There was on-field growth from every player and the new guys we’ve brought in over the past few weeks are going to make us better.”
Inside anxious Walker’s return to Crows training
- Matt Turner
Adelaide wingman Paul Seedsman says Taylor Walker has seamlessly reintegrated with the squad since returning to training after his racial vilification ban.
Former Crows captain Walker rejoined his teammates for the start of pre-season last week — three months on from receiving a six-game AFL suspension for a slur to North Adelaide player Robbie Young.
Walker took time away from the club after the incident before attending its best and fairest in late August.
Asked how his 31-year-old teammate had slotted back into training, Seedsman said “seamlessly — everyone’s gotten around him”.
“He’s paid his dues, he copped his whack and admitted fault,” Seedsman said.
“Everyone’s welcomed him back with open arms.
“It’s good to see his personality starting to come to the fore again.”
As for how the Crows’ Indigenous players had handled Walker’s return, Seedsman said he had not noticed anything different.
“Benny Davis is bouncing around like he normally does, so everything seems as per normal,” he said.
Walker told Triple M on Friday he was quite nervous and anxious before pre-season began.
“Feels like I was five or six years old going to my first day of school back in Broken Hill,” Walker said.
“Bit of the unknown but the boys were quite welcoming when I got back.
“To get back and kicking the footy around is what I love doing so it’s been awesome to be back around the footy club.”
Walker called the incident one of the most challenging things he had gone through.
The Crows’ all-time leading goalkicker said he had since learnt a lot about himself, his Indigenous teammates and the community.
He will serve the remaining three games of his ban to start next season.
“I was in the wrong,” Walker said.
“It’s something that’s forever going to be there, it’s never going to go away.
“I’m looking forward to trying to make a difference in the community.”
Walker went on a cultural immersion trip to Port Augusta with Crows teammates, coaches and staff in October, describing it as an awesome experience.
“I was quite nervous going out there but they were a very supportive, lovely community up there,” he said.
“I learnt so much and it was great to be able to go up there with young (teammate) Tariek Newchurch — that’s his community.”
Walker said his wife, Ellie, had provided amazing support these past few months.
“You just don’t get through these things by yourself,” he said.
“I’ve had a few people that have supported me immensely through this and I suppose when you go through things like this, you understand who your true friends and family and mates are.”
Walker will serve the last three games of his ban at the start of next season.
Meanwhile, Seedsman, who finished third in the best and fairest this year and re-signed in October until 2023, said he was looking forward to teaming with fellow wingman Jordan Dawson next season.
“He’s clean, moves well, uses his voice really well and directs out on the field … beautiful kick, tackles well, so he’s going to be a great asset for us,” he said of the ex-Sydney Swan.
Seedsman, a Victorian, is remaining in Adelaide over Christmas before getting married in SA later this month.
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