Adelaide Senior Coach Matthew Nicks addressed the media after the Crows’ Gather Round loss to Geelong on Thursday night.

Here are five takeaways from Nicks’ post-game press conference.

Nicks on the last quarter

The Crows went into three-quarter time eight points ahead but the Cats managed to swing the momentum their way in the final stanza, and the hosts could not stem the tide.

“I think we had our chances,” Nicks said.

“I thought we played some of our best footy in the first three quarters, and then we really just got it wrong in that last one.

“We got a lot wrong in that last quarter, just some decision making, and our execution, it was really uncharacteristic of us… it wasn’t us.”

On Wayne Milera’s game

Milera spent the majority of last season on the sidelines with a knee injury but recovered well during the off-season and pre-season to play all five games so far in 2025.

The defender played arguably one of his best games on Thursday against Geelong, recording 22 disposals, five marks, three tackles and 367 metres gained.

“I’ve heard there’s been a fair bit of commentary (on him), and I thought he was great,” Nicks said.

“Again, when we talk about the first three quarters, I thought our backs did a fantastic job at being in the right spots.

“There were a number of intercept marks which gave us a chance to set up.

“I’d say we’ll go back and take a look at some of those opportunities where our backs had done such a great job, but then we really didn’t publish quite as well as we would’ve liked, off the back of those intercepts.

“But Junior was a big part of that. He’s getting a little bit more game fitness under his belt as he’s chipping away.

“He’s a guy that hasn’t played a lot of footy even since I arrived at the Club five years ago. Junior has been struck down with injuries, so it’s great to see him now stringing together a number of games.”

On the standard of the game 

For the third season in row, the Crows opened Gather Round at Adelaide Oval with a Thursday night blockbuster. 

Despite the loss, Nicks said the standard of the game set the tone for the four-day footy festival, with a spectacular light show and DJ set before the game got underway.

“I thought for three quarters, I might be wrong, but I thought it was a really good game of footy,” Nicks said.

“We were playing our way with confidence, a really good balance of what we’ve been doing well.

“When we had the ball, we were confident, we gave our guys a chance ahead of the footy and they executed as they had been doing now, quarter-after-quarter.

“We also defended the game quite well, we went at Geelong.”

On the Crows’ four-pronged tall forward line

Adelaide has featured four talls up-forward, with veteran Taylor Walker lining up alongside Darcy Fogarty, Riley Thilthorpe and Dan Curtin in 2025.

The quadruple have combined for 47 goals so far this season, and Nicks said the Crows would continue back in the forward line structure.

“At the moment, (we’re) not really keeping the ball in our front half, and so we are spending a bit of time under pressure,” Nicks said.

“Then there’s an execution piece to that as well. When the game is not necessarily going our way or on our terms, we seem to make more poor decisions and or execution.

“There is a balance in there and we are aware of that.

“We know that things that we really love about our forward line, if we don’t deliver the ball the way we need to and we are a little bit off, it can cost us. We’ll keep backing that in.

“We believe there’s too many other areas at the moment that, if you look at tonight, as I mentioned, it was mistakes in places where, ‘good luck’.”

On conceding high scores

The Crows conceded their highest score so far this season against Geelong, with the Cats kicking 15.10 (119).

The Senior Coach said keeping opposition teams to a more conservative score would be a focus ahead of next week’s Easter Saturday game against GWS.

“We turned the ball over tonight in some spots where it’s just undefendable. 100+ points, that’s a real work on for us,” Nicks said.

“When you play teams like Geelong, if you make a mistake, you’ll be punished, and they did that to us.

“We’ve got to work on the scores against, that will be a big scalp.

“As far as beating a side that’s going to be there in September, we are always going into those games wanting to put on our best performance.

“It looked to me tonight that we were on track, and then we let ourselves down for a quarter of footy.

“In the end, a better team won on the night, they put us away.”