Adelaide chief executive Tim Silvers defends Matthew Nicks, club direction after loss to Richmond

Adelaide’s chief executive has leapt to the defence of under-fire coach Matthew Nicks, telling angry supporters he feels their pain but the club is adamant it is heading in the right direction.

Adelaide chief executive Tim Silvers has backed embattled coach Matthew Nicks and defended the club’s direction as pressure mounts after a disastrous home loss to lowly Richmond.

Thursday night’s eight-point loss effectively ended the Crows’ finals hopes after 13 rounds, a far cry from the team which only missed out on the top-eight due to a goal umpiring error last year.

The defeat prompted unrest among Adelaide supporters, who are raging as the club faces yet another year as September spectators.

Speaking on FIVEaa on Friday afternoon, Silvers said he could “feel the hurt, the anger and the disappointment” among fans.

“We need to find a way to get our season back on track, we need to be better,” he said.

“I have been in footy for a long time and I do know that these rebuilds take time and they don’t always take the course that you want but in my time we have seen improvement across the years.

“These last couple of weeks and our start to the season has been really disappointing but it is not always linear.

“We had a deliberate strategy, we cut as hard as any club has in its history I reckon and we made some tough calls.”

Listing Riley Thilthorpe, Jake Soligo, Josh Rachele and Max Michalanney as young players the Crows have drafted who “can take us to the next level”, Silvers said Adelaide still “need to top up with elite talent to take that next step”.

Matthew Nicks is facing mounting pressure. Picture: Sarah Reed/AFL Photos via Getty Images

The painful defeat to Richmond has prompted calls for the Crows to examine their problems with a review.

In response, Silvers said “good footy clubs review themselves every week” and that he was sure the Crows were on the right path and had the right people to take it.

“That is part and parcel of what we do, we have the mid-season bye coming up and that gives us a bit more time to be strong, be challenging, hold each other to account. Look at what we have done well but also look at these failings and how we are going to get better,” he said.

“Review is running the ruler over what you are doing, whether you are in administration or in the football department and we will continue to hold each other to account.

“Not everything is rosy obviously… we haven’t met expectations on the field.

“But we still feel like in terms of the overall strategy we are still on the right path, I believe Matthew Nicks is the right coach for the footy club.

“We’ve got to get better and find ways to improve.”

As well as Nicks, who signed a two-year contract extension after Round 1, fans have also laid the blame on football director Mark Ricciuto, list manager Justin Reid and recruiting manager Hamish Ogilvie for the Crows’ woes.

Silvers, Nicks and footy boss Adam Kelly comprise the club’s list management committee.

“I still think that we have the right people around it to deliver and I am sticking by them,” he said.

‘WEAK, PATHETIC’: ROWE TAKES AIM AT ROO, REID AND THE ‘BOYS CLUB’

Outspoken radio host and former Adelaide player Stephen Rowe has teed off at the Crows hierarchy in the wake of their woeful loss to Richmond on Thursday night, labelling them as a “boys club”.

Needing a win to keep their faint finals hopes alive, the Crows were largely outplayed on their home ground by a Tigers side that had only won the one game prior and had been ravaged by injury.

After the game, Rowe teed off against the state of the club on FIVEaa.

The 29-game Crow took aim at club great, board member and football director Mark Ricciuto, list boss Justin Reid and chief executive Tim Silvers.

Rowe has been a constant critic of key figures at the club, while his son James was delisted at the end of the 2022 season after playing 36 games for the Crows.

Rowe and radio co-host Tim Ginever. Picture: 5AA

Rowe labelled the board and executive “weak” and called the recruiting “pathetic” as he went after the decision makers at West Lakes.

“I support the players, I support Matty Nicks and the coaching group for what they are wanting to do with what they have got at their disposal,” he said.

“Matty Nicks has fallen to a 29 per cent win/loss in that period … no-one survives that and Nicksy knows that.

“What are the alternatives? and I’ll tell you the alternative I am so worried about. I don’t rate the decision makers that are now having to make a judgement on this and move forward with the list.

“And you know who I am talking about, the football director Mark Ricciuto now people will say that I have been into him for years yeah because this was always coming this tsunami of response to where we are.

“Justin Reid, the list management team … that list management group has to 100 per cent go into the Bunsen burner.

“I know what will happen, we will have a review. Tim Silvers will stand up and say we will have a review, an internal one, an external one, a bit of both.

“And I know what will happen, they will throw an assistant under the bridge, they will say the development is not right and the same key people that I have been onto for a number of years will still remain in their chairs.

“And that is the frustration I think a lot of Crows fans have.”

The Crows season sunk to a new low. Picture: Mark Brake/Getty Images

Rowe said fans had “a bloody gutful”.

“Not enough people say it, it is a boys club. I thought Tim Silvers would come in here with a silver bullet but it is the Stockholm syndrome … you become them.

“Tim, Tim … we need to drill down on what your plan is from here forward because they are coming for you, they are coming for the club and when I say they it’s your fans.

“I see people who have paid $1000 for their membership and they have had a bloody gutful.

“Forget win/loss and Nicksy, it is the decision makers. A weak board, now a weak executive, a pathetic recruitment group for a number of years and that is the by-product.

“What we see is the by-product of pathetic recruiting, retention and attracting of players.”

Originally published as Adelaide chief executive Tim Silvers defends Matthew Nicks, club direction after loss to Richmond