AFL 2023: Collingwood star Taylor Adams reveals how he changed his ways to keep flag dream alive
‘The old feeling of fear has been eradicated and that is probably through Fly’s doing’ - Taylor Adams lifts the lid on just how different things are at Collingwood today.
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Taylor Adams thought his footy career was done in December.
The Magpies hard man nicked his groin late in the regular season last year and then blew it completely in the qualifying final loss to Geelong.
Almost three months later, Adams was battling to get out of bed, or out of his car, the pain was so bad.
And at training, as Nick Daicos and Tom Mitchell flew around the track, Adams could barely move.
“I was thinking I probably wouldn’t play again. Honestly, I didn’t think I would play again,” Adams said.
“I was really sore and we would do these kicking sessions in pre-season and I would have five kicks and then the next day I was genuinely unable to walk.
“I am a stress head. I can exaggerate things, but this was tough.
“So, yeah, I was worried.
“But (high performance manager) Jarrod Wade and (physio) Simon Anning, they were amazing. I was so lucky to have them.
“They just kept saying: ‘Trust me, trust me. You will be OK.’
“It got to the point where I was like, ‘Yeah, sure I will be’. I was probably more negative than I should have been, but it is hard to trust when you are feeling so sore.”
By the time Adams had unwrapped his Christmas presents and returned to training in January for an important midfield redesign meeting, the sharp pains had begun to ease.
Slowly, the tightness vanished. He had the power back and Adams was kicking the footy again.
But at the same time, things were about to take a big turn in the engine room as match simulation begun to ramp up.
The man who played his best game of the season in the win over Fremantle in round 18 (gathering 23 touches and two goals) and followed it up with another important performance in his 200th game against the Power, is now a fully-fledged forward.
Adams, 29, saw the midfield tweaks unfold in real time.
Daicos and Jordan De Goey sizzled over summer and clearance-winner Mitchell had made the most seamless of moves into an onball role.
To keep the premiership dream alive, Adams had to adapt to a new pressure forward role, otherwise there were no guarantees he would remain in the team as the Magpies chased a flag.
Earlier in his career, that might have been a hit to the ego, like a lot of players.
Adams was one of the best on-ballers in the competition in 2018 when he finished second in Norm Smith Medal voting and in 2020 when he was All-Australian and best-and-fairest.
But the hard nut did not hesitate to embrace the new challenge heading into 2023.
“I am a realist. You could see there was going to be a bit of a squeeze on,” he said.
“We had six A-grade, bona fide midfielders who would play for every team, and then Josh (Daicos) and Steele (Sidebottom) on the wings, and then Patty Lipinski goes through there.
“And Crispy (Jack Crisp) won the best-and-fairest, again.
“So ‘Fly’ (Craig McRae) brought all of the midfielders into a room in January and we had a conversation about what that looks like and I was one of the guys who was identified as someone who could be a forward-half ballwinner and apply that pressure.
“That would allow Tom to play in his primary role and hunt the ball and Jordy and Nick could be our flair.
“They are the guys with the great finish and electrifying speed and skill, the stuff you need to have a point of difference.
“And then ‘Pendles’ plays as our more defensive midfielder. That selfless role.
“It takes someone who really doesn’t care about how many times they touch the ball but is always in the right spots to connect everyone and read the game and execute really well to do that.
“So, to be honest, when you look at the whole group, I was just happy to be out there playing, and just feeling good again.”
Against the Dockers, the Geelong Falcons product collected nine AFL coaches’ votes for his wrecking ball efforts, again underlining the razor-sharp multi-pronged threat Collingwood presents in attack.
They can get you a number of ways, the Magpies.
There’s Mason Cox’s height. Mihocek’s workrate. Bobby Hill’s speed. Beau McReery’s sledgehammer. Jamie Elliott’s craft. De Goey’s brilliance. And Adams’ energy.
Plus Dan McStay is now back.
The forwards joke that it was Adams’ turn to get a lick of the ice cream against the Dockers on Saturday.
But even though Hill, for example, only had three possessions, McRae highlighted his running patterns in the review which created space for Elliott’s and Crisp’s majors.
That is the selflessness and the detail coming to the fore under McRae, the man developing a reputation as footy’s Pied Piper.
And this season, the team which was widely tipped to slide following a string of so many close wins last year has become the side to beat for the flag.
Adams doesn’t want to miss out on that opportunity.
But he has realised over the past five or six years his outlook on the game, like many young stars of the competition, had to shift slightly.
It had to broaden.
Like the Western Bulldogs’ Bailey Smith or Melbourne’s Christian Petracca, moving out of the onball action can be tricky when all you want to do is win the Sherrin.
“I’m not necessarily chasing the ball as much anymore and you can go a quarter without touching it, if the footy is on the other side of the ground,” Adams said.
“But I’m setting guys up and being a bit of a conduit. You absolutely park the ego, you have to.
“I am in a team which is stacked, and I understand that. Five years ago, do you turn your toes up and throw the toys out of the cot?
“Early days, I probably wasn’t as selfless as I am now.
“I had that want to be the best-at-all-costs in me, rather than want to be my best.
“You come here and, it’s natural, you want to prove yourself. To your teammates, the fans, the club.
“But I have been through the egotistical part of my career which I think every junior or young player goes through.
“I have got enough runs on the board now internally and my teammates’ respect me.
“So, over the last five or six years, I think I’ve been a really good teammate.
“Now I know. Whatever it takes to win. Just tell me what to do.”
Changing off the field
There has also been enormous change at Collingwood off the field since Nathan Buckley, president Eddie McGuire and CEO Mark Anderson moved on, all over the past two years.
Now it is McRae, Jeff Browne and Craig Kelly’s club.
And it is humming, Adams said.
In particular, there is more autonomy and trust within the football department, as part of a significantly different leadership style.
“We lost some big personalities that had a great standing within our organisation, including obviously ‘Bucks’,” he said.
“The change has been good for us and good for him.
“He is thriving in what he is doing and ‘Fly’ has been brilliant bringing the boys together.
“We are playing some awesome footy. But the day-to-day running of the football club is going as smooth as I’ve experienced and the players are thriving with it.
“The general feel is that everyone who comes here are empowered to get better in their own way.
“There is no single way to get the best everyone. It is all individualised.
“So the old feeling of fear – which most footy clubs have used around performance and performance anxiety – has been eradicated and that is probably through Fly’s doing.
“The autonomy for players to drive their own careers and get better every day is something he speaks about a lot.
“It is definitely more carrot than stick (approach).”
Finding balance
By nature, Adams has always been a fierce competitor. A bull at a gate.
And 2021-22 he had been hampered – and incredibly frustrated – by dual medial ligament setbacks.
But the man who was named in Collingwood’s leadership group for the eighth season this year as co vice-captain with Brayden Maynard and Jeremy Howe has more balance and perspective in his life.
He can relax more. Off the field, Adams runs a boxing gym and is handyman for his fiancee, Ellie, and her Wonder Words Speech Pathology clinic. He is also studying an MBA.
There is more to life than footy for the former GWS Giant.
“Over the past five years or so, I have been able to relax and enjoy myself more which has led towards me playing better and having better connections at the footy club,” he said.
“But the thing I enjoy the most is the competitive side of it. That satisfaction of winning and succeeding is better after a bit of hardship.
“I just don’t ride the highs and the lows as much, I’m more neutral than I used to be, and that comes with experience and maturity and not tying yourself completely to footy.
“I still hate losing.
“Ninety-nine per cent of the league struggles on a Monday morning after a loss no matter how hard you try to put it past you.
“But that is what makes the winning so enjoyable.”
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