Adelaide coach Matthew Nicks reveals Crows used Sam Draper vision as motivation prior to win

Adelaide coach Matthew Nicks has revealed the Crows used the vision of Sam Draper’s ‘duck dive’ to motivate the side ahead of their victory over Essendon.

Sam Draper’s ‘duck dive’.

Adelaide coach Matthew Nicks has revealed the Crows used post-game vision of Sam Draper celebrating with a “duck dive” following the controversial round six loss to Essendon as motivation for Friday night’s come-from-behind victory over the Bombers.

“It’s incredible how Karma works,” Nicks said on 3AW on Saturday as he dissected the Crows’ thrilling two-point win at Marvel Stadium.

The victory on Friday night came after Adelaide kicked the last three goals, with a simple set shot miss from Draper right in front of goal late in the game proving costly for the Bombers.

It came three months after Draper dived on the ball in the dying seconds of the clash the last time these two clubs met at Adelaide Oval, but was not penalised. The Bombers held on to win that game.

Matthew Nicks says the Crows used the Draper celebration as motivation. Picture: Mark Stewart

"Just rubbing it in now" 😅

Sam Draper re-enacts the controversial dive post-game. pic.twitter.com/5Rhcqu0TY1

— Fox Footy (@FOXFOOTY) April 19, 2024

The AFL ruled at the time that the umpire erred in not paying a free kick to the Crows, which would have given them a chance to win the game.

The Essendon ruckman opened some wounds for the Crows when he celebrated on the ground following the three-point win in April by replicating a duck dive in front of a few teammates. The vision was captured on Channel 7 and didn’t go down well with the Crows players.

“We didn’t talk a lot about the last game we played (against Essendon), but we may have popped a tiny bit of vision up of Sam (Draper) and some of his excitement post the win,” Nicks said on 3AW.

“Our guys really enjoyed the win … for a number of different reasons.”

Nicks praised Josh Rachele, who kicked the winning goal on Friday night, for the way he had responded to question marks on his physical approach to the footy the last time these teams met.

On that occasion, he owned up to ducking his head on two occasions, but post-game admitted he needed to make changes to his game, which the coach said he had addressed.

“From Joshy’s point of view, it was nice to see him get a bit of rewards … he has gone to work and he was the one who put his hand up last time, which I was really impressed with,” Nicks said.

Josh Rachele celebrates with Nicks. Picture: Getty Images

It comes as leading SEN analyst David King said Essendon should have gone beyond giving up games late in the manner it did against the less experienced Crows on Friday night.

“This is an experienced group, top five this round for experience,” he said. “To me, they looked like they let the opposition play too regularly uninterrupted, unimpacted … ‘have your way with Essendon’. I thought they had gone past that.

“At the end of the day we are a resultist industry.”

He said key defender Ben McKay had dropped off in form in recent weeks after a strong start to his first year with the Bombers, saying he had to be better than he was against the Crows.

“I don’t think they brought Ben McKay in to teach him how to play, I think they brought him in as a finished product,” King said of the former Kangaroos defender on SEN.

“He was captain clanger for about five minutes and it sent the game into a tailspin.

“They are paying him a million a year for this guy not to make (those) mistakes.”