Matthew Nicks praises Josh Rachele, Dan Curtin and Sid Draper press for round 1 selection
Josh Rachele’s resurgence continues to gather steam and the role one of Adelaide’s key off-season recruits has played has been revealed. Plus, the latest on Sid Draper and Dan Curtin.
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From being dropped for repeatedly not upholding the club’s team-first standards to knocking on the door of the leadership group, Josh Rachele’s resurgence at Adelaide continues to gather steam.
Some scoffed when Matthew Nicks said earlier this year that Rachele had one of the best off-seasons from a player he had seen in a long time.
But the redemption arc of the young Crow at West Lakes has accelerated at a rapid rate.
Rachele kicked three goals in the first half of the Crows’ internal trial at Port Pirie on Friday, when the club’s likely best 23 were matched up against the remaining players.
It was only two quarters, but enough to indicate Nicks’ statement might not have been an overexaggeration.
“He has gone to work, he has put his head down and gone to work because he is a pro,” Nicks said.
“He is one of those young guys who still has work ons as we all did at that age but he is getting reward for hard work over the break.
“And the group knows that so the group is getting around him, the group he is playing alongside in Alex Neal-Bullen and Ben Keays I think is really helping him with that and he knows that.”
Neal-Bullen was outstanding on Friday afternoon, and seems all but certain to be added to the Crows’ leadership group in his first season at the club.
Nicks said Rachele was another whose leadership qualities had stood out.
“I think his footy has always been at a very high level, so there was no issues about his workrate and what he is doing there,” he said.
“I think he is giving to the team (more), we haven’t selected our leadership group for the year but Josh has made big ground in that space.
“He has really stepped up and worked with the young group, so he will definitely be a leader of our young group (of players).”
Aside from Izak Rankine, who was away with the Indigenous All Stars, and Lachie Sholl who missed with bone bruising in his knee, the Crows had a near-full compliment of players for their internal trial.
With Rankine in Perth, No. 4 draft pick Sid Draper featured for the A side and showed that his weapons can help the Crows in 2025 as he pushes his spot for Round 1.
“For a first-year player he showed that he has what it takes at the level,” Nicks said.
“He has a lot of work ons but it is a really positive sign for the footy club.
“Yeah it depends on how the next couple of weeks go, but I see his game at the moment he has attributes that I think will come through at a higher level, the higher level of footy he has played he has stepped up each time and that is a really good sign for a young kid.”
Dan Curtin is all but certain to be in Adelaide’s best side after impressing as a hybrid forward.
“He is going really well Dan, another guy who worked in the break,” Nicks said.
“He went away and worked with a speed coach back in WA, there are some guys who are just pros. He was an early draft pick for a reason, he is a competitor, he had a fair bit to work on when it came to the balance of his body, he was a big young kid who hadn’t quite balanced it out yet.
“But he has embraced the gym, he looks so much stronger at the moment and another player when the ball is there to be won he is one take and he executes.”
It means the Crows could go with a tall forward line featuring talls Taylor Walker, Darcy Fogarty, Riley Thilthorpe and Curtin.
Nicks said Curtin showed he could make an impact when the ball goes to ground.
“It is not necessarily a height thing, Dan is showing that he does fight one-on-one when the ball hits the ground, Darcy Fogarty does the same, even Riley Thilthorpe for such a larger player fights quite well when the ball hits the ground,” he said.
“But there is a part of it where we don’t want teams to run out and challenge those guys too much the other way.”
Earlier, the Crows announced that they had landed former Collingwood, Geelong and Richmond footy boss Neil Balme as a board member after a lengthy pursuit, also adding former St Kilda list manager and former Crow James Gallagher.
The Crows have also added Murray Davis from Brisbane to add more experience around Nicks.
“I’m a very lucky coach, I have a club that wants to do whatever it can for us to succeed so there are great people I have around me,” he said.
Ahead of what looms as a crucial year for him and the club, Nicks went to the United States late last year on a study tour, going to Harvard University and visiting teams such as the Boston Celtics.
“Harvard was an incredible experience, you do a lot of work on your purpose and what it is you want to achieve in life,” he said.
Originally published as Matthew Nicks praises Josh Rachele, Dan Curtin and Sid Draper press for round 1 selection
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