Digs at Tex, Ange inspo, TikTok stars: Inside Adelaide Crows’ Club Champion awards night
There was plenty of optimism at the Adelaide Club Champion award as the Crows look to 2024, while Taylor Walker copped a roasting. Here’s what happened.
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Like Robbie Williams and the Fonz, Matthew Nicks is an Ange Postecoglou fan.
So much so the Adelaide coach took to the Crows’ club champion awards night on Saturday with a bearded look in a homage to the Tottenham manager.
“I’m not too far off, I just need a little bit of salt and pepper in it,” he joked.
“I’ll come back to Ange a little later in my talk tonight.”
Nicks has used his speech at previous best and fairests to touch on specific metaphors regarding the Crows.
Last year he spoke about the African elephant when detailing the development of the Crows over the previous couple of years.
On Saturday night at the Adelaide Convention Centre he gave Crows fans a licence to dream as Nicks spoke about his admiration for what Postecoglou was doing in London.
“Ange’s leadership has been on full display for the whole world at the moment and Ange was asked in a press conference recently after his team had a barnstorming start to the season ‘should the fans temper their expectations?’,” Nicks said.
“That was the question that was put to him and Ange said ‘no, no, no, no. Let them go and enjoy it. My role is not to burst people’s bubbles, let them get excited, let them get ahead of themselves’.
“He said, ‘our supporters deserve to have some happiness and they should enjoy it in any way they want to’, he kept on (going) and said ‘that is the beauty of being a supporter, they go through enough pain mate, you want to let them enjoy and if they think we are going to be world beaters then that is great. It is up to us to match that expectation’.
“I can feel the energy in the room tonight and there is a sense of accomplishment and optimism. We are still young and we are developing and the season has proven we are on the right path.
“We are a good side, as members, fans and supporters you have every reason to be excited about where we are at the moment and the potential that lies ahead.
“Get excited, get ahead of yourselves, have high expectations. For the players and staff it is our job to live up to those expectation.
“Let’s transition from being a good team to a truly great one, it won’t be easy but I have every confidence we are up to the task.
“We have the talent, the dedication and the support system to achieve greatness.”
While the Crows did not make finals in 2023, there was plenty of optimism in the room. There was also some reflection.
The Crows celebrated the career of wingman Paul Seedsman, who has retired because of concussion issues.
He was introduced by Matt Crouch and showed why he was and is a much loved member of the Crows, with his story of how he gets free drinks at RSL clubs because of his Anzac Day Medal win while playing for Collingwood a particular highlight.
Milestone men and good friends Taylor Walker and Rory Sloane spent a significant time on stage reflecting on their careers after passing the 250-game mark this year.
Both signed one-year contracts to go into 2024, with Sloane joking the two would have to be “scraped off” the West Lakes walls for their careers to end.
The Crows also gave a little bit of a glimpse into the inner sanctum with ruckman Kieran Strachan – supported by Lachie Murphy and Reilly O’Brien – revealing his important role of being the fines master at West Lakes.
O’Brien, Walker, Nick Murray, Josh Rachele, Luke Nankervis, Jake Soligo and Ben Keays were in the firing line of Strachan on Saturday night for fineable behaviour including TikTok or Snapchat dances (Murray, Rachele, Nankervis and Soligo), poor golfing ability (O’Brien) and for claiming he had dirt on his shorts in an image that went viral earlier this season (Keays).
Walker copped his fines for using a metaphor about a rollercoaster in a TV interview that had many laughing and confused, while he was the victim of some home security camera footage that revealed a fall he took on the freshly-laid lawn at his house.
But the big ticket item, along with Dawson’s entering the select group of Malcolm Blight Medallists, was the announcement that the State Government would provide $25 million towards the Crows’ new home at Thebarton Oval.
SA premier, and Port Adelaide fan, Peter Malinauskas said this would help address the advantages Victorian clubs had in the AFL.
“Two of the premierships of the last 17 have been from a non-Victorian club,” he said.
“There is a baked-in inequity, a baked-in injustice in the draw the AFL provides and it is not right.
“I’ve tried to do my bit, we’ve got the Gather Round... but we need to do more than that.
“If we want to see that story reversed our two AFL clubs need the best facilities that we can provide them in the nation.”
Unsurprisingly, after a search for a new home for the Crows that has taken years, Malinauskas’ announcement got the biggest cheer of the night.
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Originally published as Digs at Tex, Ange inspo, TikTok stars: Inside Adelaide Crows’ Club Champion awards night
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