Adelaide chief executive Andrew Fagan send letter to members preaching patience
As the losses and pressure mounts on embattled Adelaide, chief executive Andrew Fagan has sent a letter to members, confirming the club is in a rebuilding phase and asking them be patient in this trying time.
Crows
Don't miss out on the headlines from Crows. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Adelaide has asked its members for patience as the Crows officially declare their commitment to a full-scale rebuild for the first time in club history.
Chief executive Andrew Fagan has written to members confirming new coach Matthew Nicks is “aggressively rejuvenating the playing list with a strong emphasis on youth”.
Monday marked exactly one year since the Crows’ last win. They have gone 0-12 since with an average losing margin of six goals and are closing in on their first wooden spoon.
Fagan said the Crows rated the 2020 draft as “a strong pool” and wanted to stockpile first-round selections in the next two drafts.
Watch Footy LIVE & On-Demand Every Day from July 29 - August 17 with Kayo. New to Kayo? Get your 14-day free trial & start streaming instantly >
Some clubs believe this year’s crop is a weak draft and recruiters are largely flying blind given the lack of junior football staged this year.
But the Crows currently hold draft picks No.1, No.13, 20 and 30 - their strongest hand ever - and they could also receive No.2 if free agent Brad Crouch leaves on a mega deal.
South Australian tall Riley Thilthorpe looms as a potential No.1 pick while father-son prospect Luke Edwards is also rated in the first round.
The son of dual premiership star Tyson Edwards has not committed to the Crows though and is considering entering the open draft instead.
“We entered this season knowing there were going to be challenging periods as we worked through the rebuild of the playing list,” Fagan wrote in his CEO note to members.
“However we expected to perform more consistently than we have. We now find ourselves going down a path of aggressively rejuvenating the playing list with a strong emphasis on youth.
MORE AFL
Adelaide Crows have reached rock bottom, but now the long climb back to relevance can begin
Matthew Nicks bizarre halftime address captured in rooms at halftime
“We are not the first, nor will we be the last club, to take this approach. It requires patience, commitment and a narrow focus on staying the course with a well-thought out strategy, as well as sound decision-making both on and off the field, particularly in the area of recruiting and list management.
“We made some bold list management decisions at the end of last season, we will target the first round of the draft in the next couple of years, and then invest in fast-tracking the development of those young men, along with the talented players already at the club.
Fagan said the Crows were in the final year of a five-year strategic plan that had failed to deliver the club its third premiership.
“While we achieved many of our objectives, such as growth across the organization and two AFLW premierships, we obviously did not win the men’s premiership despite making our first Grand Final in 20 years,” Fagain said.
“This remains our central point of focus. The process of building a new blueprint for the future had begun prior to COVID-19 and like many organizations around the world, we are now working on a short to medium term plan focused on recovery to ensure we emerge from the pandemic in the best possible shape both on and off the field.”
CROWS SET FOR RESTRUCTURE
Further changes to Adelaide’s coaches box appear on the way next year as the winless Crows plan how they will restructure their football department to support Matthew Nicks and in line with a new cap on spending.
The Crows host Melbourne on Wednesday night and are staring down the possibility of a winless season after losing to 17th-placed North Melbourne by 69 points on Saturday.
Adelaide chief executive Andrew Fagan on Monday told The Advertiser the club was already reviewing every department of its football program for next season after being told its budget would be cut from $9.7m to $6.2m due to the coronavirus.
“It’s a performance industry and like most other clubs we are striving to get better, we have to constantly review each department or area and do our due diligence on everything and everyone,” he said.
“That’s always the case, it’s ongoing and it’s the reasonable expectation of our members and fans and the understanding internally when you work or play at a football club.”
Saturday’s horror loss prompted further calls for Nicks’ coaching box to be supercharged next season, including the addition of an experienced assistant to fill the void left by Scott Camporeale last year, and Crows board member Rod Jameson on Sunday suggested that process was under way.
Kayo is your ticket to the 2020 Toyota AFL Premiership Season. Watch every match of every round Live & On-Demand. New to Kayo? Get your 14-day free trial & start streaming instantly >
When Nicks was appointed coach in October he declined the club’s offer to recruit another senior assistant per se, preferring to work with the stable that was already there which included Martin Mattner, Matthew Clarke, Michael Godden and Ben Hart.
Hart and Godden are believed to be out of contract at the end of this season, while Clarke looks more secure given he is set to coach Adelaide’s AFLW team again in 2021.
The usual date for an assistant coach to be advised of their position for the following season is August 1, but AFL Coaches’ Association boss Mark Brayshaw has said that may need to be “fluid” due to the uncertainty of this season.
“It’s also inappropriate to make public comments about individuals, particularly during a time like this when so much uncertainty already exists and we are working through restructuring our footy department on a reduced cap,” Fagan said.
Completely outplayed... pic.twitter.com/VL7YOopymD
— Adelaide Crows (@Adelaide_FC) August 1, 2020
“But clearly we’re working to make sure every area is as strong as it possibly can be.”
The Crows will take a strong hand into this year’s national draft but Fagan said they will also be active in the trade period.
“We said we needed to rebuild, we’re going to continue to invest in youth and position ourselves with picks to go aggressively at the draft,” he said.
“It’s a process to get high-end talent into the club, including at the trade table, to complement the guys that are already there and we’ll do it as aggressively as we can.
“We obviously want to win each week but the process also calls for calmness and patience because it’s going to be bumpy along the way, and we’ll be challenged in the immediate term.
“We had several weeks in a row where we felt we were making progress, and pushing sides and perhaps letting a couple of opportunities pass us by.
“That was clearly a frustrating and disappointing performance on the weekend and a step backwards.
“I do know that having spent some time in the footy department bubble (recently), the guys are working their backsides off, the attitude is tremendous, they’ve bought in and are positive, not withstanding the challenges that they are confronting or making light of the fact that we are 18th.
“The scoreboard measures you week to week, but we are also talking about a rebuild here that needs to be measured on a longer time frame.
“This was never going to be turning around on a dime.”
Nicks has been somewhat hamstrung by COVID-19 this year in it has restricted his ability to train his entire squad – which lost a wealth of experience in the off-season – together so he can work on his game plan.
Players are still training in groups rather than together for the majority of the week leading up to games.
Speaking on Monday, Nicks said criticism from media commentators that his players weren’t trying against the Kangaroos on Saturday was off the mark.
“It’s not a lack of effort, it comes across and looks very much like that on the TV, that the players aren’t trying, (but) sometimes they’re trying too hard in the wrong areas,” he said.
“Pressure is building, we know it’s there, we’ve got to be bigger than that, pressure is going to be there every week, we’ve got to back in the system that we’re working to.
“That’s the mental strength we’re asking our guys to have, to stick to it, and we talked through that (on Sunday) in detail and it was quite a long discussion that we had, really open and honest, and what it comes back to is the ability to communicate and stay strong in those pressure moments.
“I believe they do (have it), we have a mix of young and old and that was probably our oldest group we’ve played for the year so that was disappointing we weren’t able to show that mental strength in the game to at least fight back and get the game back on our terms.
MORE FOOTY NEWS
“We need our leaders and experienced players to step up in those moments.”
Selection for the Demons clash will be finalised after training on Tuesday.
Taylor Walker is expected to return after a bout of gastro, Darcy Fogarty will need to prove his injured shoulder is OK and Fischer McAsey may return after being rested on the weekend.
“We’re not about making statements, we’re about getting better so we’ll make decisions around who’s playing for the side, who’s there for the team, who’s going to put their body on the line when it’s their turn to go,” Nicks said.
“Basically we want to put a product out there that supporters are proud of.
“There is also an important factor of making sure our group is balanced, we’re not going to put 18 young kids out there with no experience and expect them to show experience, that’s just stupid, so we’ll look at that balance.”
Originally published as Adelaide chief executive Andrew Fagan send letter to members preaching patience