Adelaide senior Coach Matthew Nicks is no stranger to the excitement and trepidation that comes with the start of a new AFL season.
New young faces are set to don the tri colours in the Club’s opening Round clash with Fremantle at Adelaide Oval on Sunday, while experienced stars will also look to hit their straps early.
For Nicks, the season opener presents new opportunities; to help develop every single player on the Crows list, win games of footy and to make the Crows faithful proud.
Speaking on the first Crows Show episode of 2022, Nicks urged Members and Fans to get to the first home game and embrace the opportunity of a fresh season.
He said there had been plenty of improvement during pre-season and was keen to see it come together on game day.
“I think if our Crows fans continue to come out, they’ll enjoy some really exciting footy,” Nicks said.
“We are looking at this year doing small tweaks around our game plan.
“We want to be aggressive with the footy when we get our chances and we still want to put some of the performances out like we did last year when we were at our best.
“They key to all that is consistency and that’s where we are doing most of our work at the moment, our ability to mentally stay in the game and stay strong.
“Stick with us, the boys are going to play an exciting game for you, it’s going to be an entertaining round of footy.
“It’ll be the DNA we talked about last year where we are in the oppo’s face and we are up for the fight.”
Nicks said he had also worked hard on improving his coaching during pre-season, with a focus on relationship building.
“Most of my development has come in listening, spending a lot more time opening up, listening to players, listening to fellow coaches and getting an understanding of where they sit,” Nicks said.
“We feel like we are well and truly ahead of where we were this time last year.
“From a coaching point of view we’ve got real confidence that our group is now 12 months on. More importantly it’s 20-odd games.
“These guys have now had a season under their belt more than they did last year.
“They got things right during that season and it was really pleasing to see them play some good footy.
“They also got things wrong at times and what we want to make sure from here on is that we’ve learnt from those mistakes.”
Also on the show this week, Belinda Sloane is given an insight into Ebony Marinoff’s Pilates routine, Wayne Milera joins Tom Doedee to discuss his Crows ‘Whopper Moment’, and fans will get a look at how the coaching team runs a training session.
The Crows Show airs on Channel 7 Adelaide at 3pm this Sunday before Adelaide’s Round One clash with Fremantle.
Interstate fans can catch the full episode on afc.com.au shortly after.
The Crows will take on Fremantle in the season opener on Sunday, March 20, at 3.40pm, with tickets on sale now via Ticketek.
Prolific Aussie band Killing Heidi will also rock the stage ahead of first bounce at Adelaide Oval.
The best way to secure your seat and be part of the unique game day experience is to become a Member. A number of options are available now at crowsmembership.com.au.
