Crows Q&A: Adelaide chairman John Olsen opens up on Matthew Nicks’ future and more

Desperate to improve on their 15th-placed finish in 2024, Adelaide is making a flurry of off-season changes. Crows chair John Olsen reveals what it all means in a Q&A with MATT TURNER.

Adelaide’s season officially ended six weeks ago when it lost to eventual grand finalist Sydney at the SCG.

The Crows – and their chairman John Olsen – have been very busy since, desperate to improve on the club’s 15th-placed finish that fell well below expectations.

Over the past few weeks, Adelaide has hired its first coaching director, Murray Davis, a long-time assistant from 2024 premiers Brisbane, to help support senior coach Matthew Nicks; signed defender/wingman Isaac Cumming from GWS as a free agent; convinced in-demand Giants midfielder James Peatling to want to become a Crow; been in the hunt for highly-regarded former Hawthorn and Collingwood administrator Graham Wright to oversee the club’s football department; edged closer towards a long-awaited turning of the soil at its new home at Thebarton; and been dealing with the SANFL and AFL as they have improved concessions for both South Australian top-tier sides in the state league.

Olsen had a lengthy chat with Matt Turner about those matters, Nicks’s future, what went wrong this year, why he remained confident the club was not far off ending its finals drought and several other key issues.

Crows chairman John Olsen has been busy this off-season. Picture: Roy VanDerVegt

Matt Turner: What’s been occupying most of your time since the end of the season?

John Olsen: We started about four months ago having a look at our structure, operations, how we could improve and that’s when some dialogue opened up with Graham Wright. We looked at the football department and how we could give additional support to the senior coach. That’s when we identified that Murray Davis would come in to supplement, take over and therefore free up some of the role that Matthew Nicks has been doing. A number of other football clubs have a not too dissimilar structure. It allows Matthew more time to make the calls he needs to be making as senior coach.

MT: Why didn’t you have that support around him last season?

JO: On the back of 2023, we’d had incremental improvement year on year through the rebuild. But for a goal umpire’s decision, we would have been playing finals in ‘23 so as ‘24 approached, you anticipated we’d take another step forward. That wasn’t the case. Not only are our fans frustrated, disappointed – and some are annoyed. Believe me we share that frustration, that disappointment that the season hasn’t turned out as we expected. We’re not shying away from that, so you’ve got to make strategic, careful decisions, not emotionally-based decisions. So we’ve worked through over the last four months to look at our structure and how we can get better support in that structure, so they can be the best they can possibly be.

MT: Did Nicksy come to you or CEO Tim Silvers and say ‘I need more help around me?’

JO: Discussions take place all the time. You make assessments after each game. We’re judged on wins and losses … but the culture in the club is good and the fact we’ve been able to sign (Josh) Rachele, (Mark) Keane, (Jake) Soligo etc for longer term contracts tells you they’re on board, they are important components of the club … and are backing in the culture that’s being developed, which goes to Nicks and the football team. Was Matthew Nicks doing too much? I think the answer of that was yes. That’s why we looked at supplementing the footy department to free the senior coach up. We’ve talked for a while about bringing an additional person in whether it’s a Neil Balme or Graham Wright or Murray Davis. Were we underdone before? That could be the answer. But when you look at making a change, it takes some time. You can’t snap your fingers and put them in place because people have got other commitments.

Matthew Nicks is entering season six in 2025. Picture: Getty Images

MT: You said not long before last season that you could not remember being more excited heading into a season. The club went on to finish 15th with just eight wins and a draw from 23 matches. What went wrong?

JO: There’s never one thing. We had injuries at inappropriate times. We had suspensions at inappropriate times. We had a competition that’s as even as it’s been – it was a footy tipping nightmare for people. And the difference between success and failure, wins and losses, narrowed down. We’ve got to do better and that’s where we started this focus four months ago. We’ve focused on what’s needed to improve, the structure around the football department and then bringing in experienced players who could integrate into the team straight away.

MT: Did you overachieve last year? And did you get ahead of yourselves going into 2024 about where you were really at?

JO: No. In 2023, putting good, four quarters together, we could match it with any team and we demonstrated that. The narrow losses to top teams would also underscore that point. So I don’t think we got ahead of ourselves. There was real disappointment not making the finals at the end of 2023 (the Crows finished 10th with an 11-12 record). What did we have – three apologies from the AFL for umpiring decisions late in games? I don’t want to use that as an excuse. We had the toughest draw this year of any team and that’s OK, you’ve got to front up. But as I said, the impact of injuries, suspensions at an important time of the year all played into the result of ‘24. I want to repeat, we’re not shying away from our disappointment. We didn’t meet our expectations, but we’ve focused on how we improve and what’s the next step we need to take.

MT: No senior coach since the AFL began in 1991 has kept their job after six straight years at one club without making the finals. Matthew is going into his sixth season and has not made the finals yet. What happens if he doesn’t get there next year?

JO: I’m not going down the hypothetical path. We’ll make judgments along the journey. We’ll make them on performance and we are judged on performance. We’re putting in place a structure so our coaches can be the best they can possibly be. If we’ve underdone it in the past without sufficient support services in there, we’ve corrected that. Murray Davis comes with intellectual property from finals, a premiership, observing. He’ll work across the coaching staff and that then leaves Matthew Nicks to focus on the senior coaching role.

MT: Where do things sit with Graham Wright? You have been chasing him for a “godfather” role, overseeing the football department.

JO: We’ve had dialogue with him for considerable time and it was a productive dialogue. He’s got other options that have now emerged, but we have secured Davis and that is part of the equation for the football department.

Adelaide has chased former Collingwood and Hawthorn administrator Graham Wright.

MT: The club said it would be aggressive during the trade period, so it must be pleasing before the trade period even began to have three very good players – GWS duo Isaac Cumming and James Peatling, along with Melbourne’s Alex Neal Bullen – say they want to play for the Crows? Coming off a 15th-placed season, it would have been very easy for them to say ‘that’s not for me’.

JO: It’s been a very pleasing period. With Cumming, Neal-Bullen, Peatling (trades pending with Neal-Bullen and Peatling), as well as pick four in a draft that has real midfield talent, according to the commentary at the moment, there’s an opportunity for us. The three players from other clubs, you have the ability to plug them straight into the team. So you introduce those players and I would expect that to make a difference next year. If you put all that together in one hit, that’s about as good a trade period change as we’ve had in a long time.

MT: The SANFL has made concessions to remove recruiting restrictions but you guys – and Port – both still want to play in an AFL reserves competition. Why?

JO: Between now and 2028, when the current agreement with the SANFL expires, hopefully the changes will assist us in the development of our players and access to players. But we are still disadvantaged compared to 14 other AFL teams who have access to talent and development that we are constrained upon. We appreciate what the SANFL’s done and will give our all in the SANFL over the next four years.

MT: You say four years. It feels like the AFL is putting the reserves competition in the too-hard basket. How likely is it that they establish one anytime soon?

JO: I don’t envisage one in the short-term or a national reserves competition coming in before our deal with the SANFL ends in 2028. In the fullness of time, we will move to a national reserves competition, in my view. I can’t put a timeline on it.

GWS midfielder James Peatling wants to join the Crows. Picture: Getty Images

MT: What did you make of your Port counterpart David Koch’s comments saying the SANFL wanted Port Adelaide to win the SANFL’s wooden spoon and that the recruiting concessions were rigged against the two AFL clubs?

JO: I’m going to leave that to David (said with a smile).

MT: What’s the latest with your new headquarters at Thebarton?

JO: We’re in the final days of contract negotiations and should there be no impediments to that, I’d hope we’d be in a position to turn soil at Thebarton Oval in November.

MT: What about the timeline for actually being in your new home?

JO: We are intent on achieving a 2026 move and making the full transfer at the end of 2026 into our new facility. It’s a 22 to 24-month build so therefore we would move in by the third or fourth quarter of 2026.

MT: How long do you plan to stay in your role, John?

JO: I’m due to conclude my current term in March 2027.

MT: Football director Mark Ricciuto’s board term expires in February 2025. Have you identified a replacement?

JO: Not at this stage. Mark has the capacity for one more year. We’ll have those discussions between now and next year.

New Crows coaching director, ex-Brisbane assistant Murray Davis. Picture: AFL Photos

MT: You and the club entered 2024 with such optimism. What makes you confident that 2025 is going to be different?

JO: We’ve got work to do and we’ve made decisions to try to be better as a football club in performance on the deck. That’s what our fans want, what we want and what our sponsors want. Footy performance is our number one priority. We’ve focused on delivering on that. The competition is very even and tight these days, and small things make a big difference in outcomes in games. We’ve got to get every one of those right – from culture, to squad, injuries, the list goes on. I have confidence and belief in our squad being able to deliver with additional resources and support, and the talent integrated into the team.

MT: What are your own plans during the off-season? Are you able to have a breather from the role?

JO: This job never stops. It’s like no other job.

MT: Not even your former job as Premier?

JO: There are some similarities to that (laughs). It’s challenging, it’s time-consuming, enjoyable, stimulating. If you have a passion for football, it’s one of the great jobs despite the pressure that it brings and challenge it brings. I don’t envisage those in any environment letting up unless you’re in finals and heading towards a premiership. Football is not an exact science. You’re dealing with a whole raft of individuals, different personalities, moulded into a team with a culture and direction and buy-in. And in those latter couple of points, I’m convinced this club’s got that. It’s got the right culture, it’s got buy-in from the players, it’s got a focus and determination and real willingness to succeed, we’ve just got to deliver on that.

Originally published as Crows Q&A: Adelaide chairman John Olsen opens up on Matthew Nicks’ future and more