There is ‘enormous scrutiny’ coming for Matthew Nicks and the Crows – can they handle it?
When Graham Cornes says Matthew Nicks will come under ‘enormous scrutiny’, it isn’t hyperbole. So, with everything seemingly now in place, can he handle it? We take a close look.
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Few can understand the sentiment, and articulate it, when it comes to the Adelaide Crows as Graham Cornes.
So when the inaugural Adelaide coach says Matthew Nicks is now under “enormous scrutiny” going into what is looming as a crucial 2025 for him, it is not hyperbole.
“I felt last year for the first time in his tenure there, given the difficulty of the job he had, for the first time I felt he was under real pressure,” he said.
“There was some negativity coming from the fans in the stands that we had never seen before.”
After largely showing patience to the team and Nicks since he arrived at West Lakes at the end of 2019 and into ground zero of a rebuild, last year the feeling around Adelaide has started to shift.
Following a 2023 season in which the Crows would have played finals if not for the goal-umpiring mistake against Sydney, expectations were that Adelaide would finally finish in the top eight for the first time since 2017.
This was fuelled by the talk of the club itself, with the message that the Crows were now “ready to embrace expectations”.
To stop what could have lingered on for the entire season, the Crows announced a two-year extension for Nicks – who was out of contract at the end of the season – before the Round 2 clash against Geelong.
Adelaide’s leaders have long said they believe Nicks is a “next generation coach”, but come the end of the season the decision to go early and lock him in for two-extra years was being questioned as fans raged.
The rage was initially at the Crows slumping to 15th spot on the ladder, but this was further inflamed by the decision to drop young star Josh Rachele for the final game of the season against Sydney for repeatedly not upholding the groups’ team-first standings.
It all combines to make 2025 the most important season of Nicks’ tenure to date at West Lakes.
“He is going to be under enormous scrutiny because now the expectations are that they must make the finals,” Cornes said.
“They seem to have bolstered their list, brought in players who will make it better and every Crows supporter in the state will be anticipating a return to finals.
“So then it becomes about pressure and it becomes a week-to-week thing, it will be a rollercoaster for him week-by-week.
“Good weeks will be terrific, unexpected losses there will be all sorts of pressure on him.”
The good thing for Nicks is the club has made sure he and the team is given the best chance of achieving their goals in 2025.
After promising to be aggressive in the off-season, Adelaide walked the walk in a strong trade and free agency period.
Melbourne premiership player Alex Neal-Bullen was joined by Isaac Cumming from GWS, while his Giants teammate James Peatling knocked back several other clubs to pick the Crows in a big coup.
This has helped transform the Crows list demographic from the second youngest to inside the top 10 for experience.
Murray Davis was lured from Brisbane to become the Crows’ director of coaching, while the club was finally able to snare former Collingwood, Geelong and Richmond footy boss Neil Balme as a board member – joining along with former St Kilda list manager James Gallagher as part of its “football first” focus.
Nicks himself went to the prestigious Harvard University to undergo its Authentic Leader Development – which bills itself as helping participants “discover and develop the qualities that define the highest level of authentic leadership: ironclad principles, a clear and unifying vision, and the ability to inspire trust and dedication in others”.
He also spent time at reigning NBA champions Boston Celtics and NFL powerhouse Green Bay Packers.
Listen in to Neil Balme's first comments as a Crow ðŸ¤ðŸŽ¥ pic.twitter.com/grPyXclDaJ
— Adelaide Crows (@Adelaide_FC) March 6, 2025
FOLLOWING THROUGH ON A PLAN
Crows chairman John Olsen told The Advertiser it was about addressing the issues that were identified in 2024.
“We looked at last season, which we were disappointed in the outcome of and determined that there were a number of steps that we needed to put in place,” he said.
“Firstly relating to the depth of the squad we set about bringing in experienced players, three of whom have played finals and one of them has won a premiership, into the squad and in addition to that bringing Tyler Welsh and Sid Draper in (the draft).
“So we addressed the issue of depth in our squad which was exposed last year because of injuries, concussion, suspension, etc and that impacted on our performance last year.
“We looked at bringing into the football department Murray Davis to assist the coach so a) the playing squad and b) the football department putting in resources so they can be the best they can possibly be so that they can succeed and we fully expended our cap to ensure that we have provided all that is required for the football department and the playing squad to be successful in 2025.
“We addressed the issues last year, we put in place measures to supplement support and put all the resources we can in place for the footy department and the players so they can achieve their goal and our goal, which is success on the deck and we are focusing on that.”
As well as bolstering the list, it has stayed largely injury free so far this pre-season, which was a far cry from this time last year.
The Crows were without Riley Thilthorpe, who sat out most of the season after his knee injury, Taylor Walker was dealing with a back issue, Nick Murray was coming back from an ACL tear, Mark Keane was concussed in a practice match, while Jake Soligo started as the sub after an injury interrupted pre-season on his end.
The Crows then had probably their best player Izak Rankine only play 15 games due to injuries and a suspension and promising young defender Josh Worrell broke his arm and missed plenty of time as well.
Nicks’ former coach at Sydney Paul Roos said a fit list was key for any coach.
“We are all better coaches when our best players are on the field but that gets back to a bit of consistency,” he said.
“Watching him from afar the way he has handled his career so far has been very impressive. He doesn’t seem to get very flustered, he says the right things after games.
“When Adelaide play at their best they are a really good footy team. The biggest thing for the Crows is to just narrow that gap.
“They have the ability to beat the best teams in the comp at times, and that is part of the growth.
“That’s what I think makes this year such a high pressure year for them because I think we have all seen them play really good footy, but the way Nicksy has handled himself I couldn’t be any more impressed.
“I think he has represented the club really well.
“The only thing you don’t know is injuries, that is the thing there is no margin for error now.
“...I think they are very well placed to have a fair crack at the eight definitely.”
A NEW CAMPAIGN
While last season it was all about “embracing expectations” and returning to finals, the lead-up to the 2025 campaign for the Crows has been completely different.
Publicly none of the leaders are looking beyond round 1 against St Kilda.
Even Nicks replied when asked about what Crows fans should be looking forward to in 2025 with “round 1, just look forward to round 1”.
But Nicks is well and truly aware of what another season without finals could mean for him, even with a contract that runs to the end of 2026.
Already other clubs such as fierce cross-town rivals Port Adelaide, and Fremantle, have made moves to take some of the pressure away from their senior coaches – be it the Power announcing a succession plan from Ken Hinkley to Josh Carr, or the Dockers moving Justin Longmuir into an ongoing employment agreement.
It means that the pool of “under-pressure coaches” has lessened, and those still there are going to be potentially even more under the microscope.
Cornes said Nicks had to remain focused.
“You have to insulate yourself from that,” he said.
“Word does filter back to you but at the end you focus on your most important job, the next game, the next contest.
“So you are able to insulate yourself from that but it is hard.”
Roos said Nicks had the temperament to be able to handle the scrutiny and pressure.
“I can only speak as a player (coaching him), he is a pretty laid back sort of guy and on the face of it those people tend to handle the pressure a bit better because they aren’t as naturally high strung,” he said.
“But as I have learnt in footy over 40 years you never know how someone is going to react under pressure, it is very difficult to predict.
“I just think as a coach you are always aware of what is going on. You don’t need any more or less pressure if that makes sense.
“We all know the industry, probably where it does get frustrating, and Nicksy is probably past that point, is when you know you are coaching a team that just doesn’t have the talent and the media is writing things that you just can’t really do at that particular time.”
The Crows are definitely past that point.
After the additions of Neal-Bullen, Cumming and Peatling, as well as the drafting of Draper and Thilthorpe having a full pre-season, there is plenty of optimism at West Lakes about where the group now is – and where it could end up.
After a focus on tightening up defensively going into 2024, the Crows felt like they didn’t truly attack their opposition when they had their opportunities and not take it up to them like they needed to at times last year.
There is a focus to make sure this isn’t going to be the case in 2025.
While doing its rebuild, Adelaide has made a conscious effort to try and replicate what Brisbane has done – with the Lions going from five bottom four finishes in a row to six successive finals campaigns culminating in a premiership last year.
It is a reason why the Crows went and got Davis from the Lions to be their director of coaching, and why he is so highly rated at West Lakes.
Having been there for the entirety of the Lions’ transformation, Davis can see how the Crows’ one is fairing in comparison.
After an initial period of observation, Davis’ voice is getting a lot more prominent on the track at West Lakes.
Off the track, he is working on the game plan with Nicks, and, by also collaborating with footy boss Adam Kelly in other areas such as scheduling, it has freed up the Crows senior coach to spend more time with his players.
When hailing the impact Davis had already had at West Lakes at the Crows season launch, Nicks said they could have gone after a really experienced former senior coach – “Paul Roos for example” – but in the former Lion they had “found what we need”.
Roos said he believed Nicks had the right people around him for the crunch year.
“Interestingly enough he rang me before he got the job (in 2019) and asked me if I would be (interested in a role) and I said ‘give me a call back’ and I never heard from him,” he said.
“I like him, he’s a good guy. But that was almost six years ago and I would have definitely not done it full time, ‘I said look I’m in Melbourne’ so maybe I couldn’t do the job that he wanted anyway.
“But I think he has quality staff, he has quality people around him and he seems to be on the right track but the pressure does go to another level this year no doubt about that.”
Originally published as There is ‘enormous scrutiny’ coming for Matthew Nicks and the Crows – can they handle it?
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