Adelaide Crows coach Matthew Nicks on the parting message he had for his players as they left the club without knowing when they will return

Adelaide coach Matthew Nicks on his key message to the Crows on Monday as he sent them away on a break with no definitive date of return.

Crows coach Matthew Nicks during Adelaide’s Round 1 loss to Sydney. Picture: David Mariuz (AAP).

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Crows coach Matthew Nicks says his key message about prioritising others has never been more important in a much wider context than football, as he sent his players into a break on Monday with no definitive date of return.

Nicks told AFL360 on Monday night he wanted the group’s young players from interstate to return to be with their families while the league and the country deals with the unprecedented coronavirus crisis.

“I love building relationships and this has been a really challenging time where that’s been super-important,” he said.

“We’re now about prioritising others and it’s interesting that a lot of information about the virus and the spread is ‘it’s not about you, it’s actually about everyone else’, so this isolation is tough for the community but it’s really important that everyone gets on board and we now as a code have well and truly got in a position where we can help.

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“There is still a bit of uncertainty around about where it’s heading, we don’t know exactly how long our break is going to be, and that fits in line with the community so there’s nervousness about that.

“A lot of our players like to plan and prepare as professionals do, so it’s our job to give them some certainty about where we’re heading, we’ll make sure we stay in touch with them more as friends than as football coaches, as people who care for them.

“I’ll be here for any of our players that need me and we’ll be preparing as best we can for whatever comes late May, if it happens to be later we’ll make sure we’re around our players throughout that time.

Nicks with head of leadership Daniel Jackson (left) and head of football Adam Kelly (right) on Saturday. Picture: Sarah Reed.

“It’s been tough for everyone, in these tough times the really good people come to the front and I’ve seen some amazing people and it’s been a pleasure to work with them.

“It’s been tough for all of our staff and players and will probably be tough for the next six or 12 months.”

Nicks admitted he felt “a bit of fatigue” after an emotional weekend in which he coached his first AFL game for Adelaide before the league was suspended until May 31 at the earliest.

He described Monday as a “tough day” and said his focus was on making sure his players felt supported.

“We got them in reasonably early so they had plenty of time to get organised with borders closing down and more of a challenge travelling around the country, especially for our younger group from interstate we wanted to make sure they could get home to be with family,” he said.

“And our older guys to give them time to prepare for what’s going to be a challenging time, there is a lot of stuff involved with this break that’s slightly different to a normal off-season break.

“Some of that is around their ability to train and get outside like they normally would.”

It’s been reported that up to 80 per cent of AFL and club staff will be stood down in the wake of the league shutdown, and Nicks said that had taken a toll on everyone.

“It’s been a really challenging day in that respect, we’ve had to talk to our staff about how can we save costs going forward and look after people’s health more importantly,” he said.

“Part of that is to not spend as much time in the football club, there’s not a lot for us to do at this point other than be here for our players on the phone or in their home states.

“We are forced to make some decisions around staffing and there’s going to be a lot of pressure on in coming years about reducing some of our numbers in football departments so the code can continue and succeed.”

Originally published as Adelaide Crows coach Matthew Nicks on the parting message he had for his players as they left the club without knowing when they will return