After being announced as Adelaide’s new Senior Coach, Phil Walsh was inundated with well wishes and congratulatory messages from friends, teammates and colleagues across his more than 30-year football career.

But one text message resonated with him more than others. It was from Caron Bailey, the wife of his late-best mate and Crows Strategy and Innovation Coach, Dean Bailey. Bailey, 47, tragically passed away in March following a brave battle with an aggressive form of cancer.

Two great football minds, Walsh and Bailey became close when they worked together at Port Adelaide in the early-2000s. The pair was regarded as playing a key role in the club’s 2004 premiership.

When Bailey became critically ill, Walsh was a frequent hospital visitor up until his final days. After the devastating loss of ‘Bails’, Walsh delivered a stirring eulogy at the funeral which moved everyone in the room to tears, laughter and then tears again.

Walsh, 54, was famously quoted as saying he’d only work at “one club” in South Australia, meaning Port Adelaide, even after Bailey switched allegiances and joined the Crows upon his return from Melbourne ahead of the 2012 season.

On Tuesday, Walsh had a wry smile as he addressed the media for the first time as Adelaide coach.

“In my life journey, I’ve had a few moments, particularly, over the last 12 months. I don’t want to go into them privately too much, but I will share that I just got a text message from Caron Bailey and it made me quite emotional,” Walsh said.

“Caron said, ‘Dean would have a little bit of a giggle about this’.

“It really did resonate with me and I got a little bit of a warm heart about it.”

Asked about his switch from cross-town rival Port Adelaide, journeyman Walsh was pragmatic.

“I played at three clubs. I’ve coached at three – about to be four clubs. Once I walk in the door of those clubs, I’m 100 per cent committed to that Club. The other 17 clubs are the enemy and that’s how I see it,” he said.

“It’s a ruthless industry. Right now, all I’m thinking about is how we can best get ahead of the curve with all those other teams. I dislike a lot of clubs. I’m now 100 per cent committed to his Club.”

He grinned when presented with the proposition of coaching his first Showdown next season.

“I’ve been to Adelaide Oval. I know what it’s like,” Walsh said.

“I want to win. I don’t want to walk off there losing.”

Walsh becomes the seventh coach of the Adelaide Football Club.

New CEO Andrew Fagan, who also starts in a full-time capacity at West Lakes this week, said the former West Coast and Power assistant, regarded as a brilliant football mind and tactician, was the “standout” candidate.

“In the end, it was a clear-cut decision,” Fagan said.

“He blew us away at multiple stages through the process with his vision for the Club, the experience he’s got in the game, where he sees this Club being and, importantly, how he’s going to get there. This is about hard work and he’s going to drive that through the football program.

“He delivers a hard edge. He’s very driven and passionate and has some personal values, which I found particularly enlightening. He’s a very humble man, a selfless man and is very much about team first. They’re the sorts of qualities we want to be a core part of our footy club.

“He was the absolute, outstanding candidate. I’ll sleep easy tonight knowing I’ve got his signature on a piece of paper and he’s going to be an important part of the future at the Adelaide Football Club.”

Walsh will start in his new role immediately, only taking time out for a pre-planned three-week holiday (reduced from four weeks) to Europe.

“I’ll be moving coasters around and drawing on napkins (while I’m away),” he said with a laugh.

Walsh aims to touch base with every player on Adelaide’s list in the next 48 hours and hopes to join the Club’s recruiting team in Melbourne for the Trade Period later in the week.

The former Collingwood, Richmond and Brisbane Bears player said his first job as coach would be to “get inside the Club and listen”.

“From the outside, we all have perceptions of what’s going on. I want to find out what this Club is made of. I want to find out why the Club was inconsistent this year. What is it that stopped them playing the type of footy they could play for long enough … because they’ve showed their best footy is good enough,” he said.

“I’m going to spend a bit of time listening and then gather our thoughts. We’ll build the car we think we need to get us where we want to go and then we’ll drive it as fast as we possibly can.”

Walsh, who identified team defence as a major area for improvement, said it was too early to say how quickly to expect success from the Club on-field.

“We’ve got a talented list and are good enough to make finals, but who knows? I might find some things that are going to take a bit longer to fix,” Walsh said.

“I’ll tell you one thing though, I’ll only select players who are totally committed to the team. I always believe that when you’ve got enough of those players, you’ll get where you want to go.

“You’ve got to make sure all the key people, the players, the fans and the rest of the Club are on a shared vision and all understand what we’re trying to get. We don’t deviate from that.

“You want to get a bit of cement and steel in your footy club, you’ve got to stick fat and stick to your vision.”