They Manage to Keep Themselves Up and About - Nicks on Crows’ Motivation
Adelaide’s season is not the one that they had in mind. Sitting three and a half wins outside the eight, Adelaide need a miracle if they are to play finals, and realistically, they remain only mathematically a chance. Despite this, the Crows players are “motivated” heading into Saturday night football against the Saints, says head coach Matthew Nicks.
“There’s not a lot of motivation needed at the moment, which I know might be a surprise for some from the outside. We have a group that are led well,” Nicks said on the Crows’ motivation for the rest of the 2024 season.
“If we feel that they’re struggling in that space, then we’ll try and help out with that. I think the group feel like we’re not that far away and so that keeps the group motivated.
“The season hasn’t been at the level we want it to be, especially in the win-loss column. We just haven’t got that done, but we are going to finish off strong.”
Tactically, tonight, the Crows have gone taller than they usually would. The club have named the likes of Darcy Fogarty, Taylor Walker, Elliott Himmelberg and Riley Thilthorpe to tackle the Saints.
“We’ll be a little taller tomorrow night, which will be good,” Matthew Nicks began on his forward line structure for his side’s massive clash with the Saints.
“The danger with that, is it is a Saturday night game. You can get wet and slippery, but there are certain things you want to get done in a game. One of those is to dominate the air and challenge the opposition.
“[St Kilda] are at a super high level when it comes to ground ball score. That’s been one of their weapons across the season.”
Nicks also mentioned his worry at St Kilda’s ability to score quickly;
“I think Ross [Lyon] has added another part of their game where they can score and score quickly. They have some real talent when it comes to the way they use the footy.
“If given too much space, they can score multiple goals in a row. We’ll have our work cut out for us.
“We’ll be coming and really trying to get the game on our terms. [It’s] our home ground, where we play our best footy. We’ll be trying to take it up to them early.”
A massive in for this week is spearhead Riley Thilthorpe, and Nicks says the club is “excited” to welcome him back;
“Riley coming back in is exciting for us, but we’ve got to temper our expectation a little bit,” Nicks said.
“[Thilthorpe] has played two games this year, both of those at SANFL level. It’ll be nice to have him back in because we felt like his off-season and his pre-season was a really high level.
“[However] when you haven’t played footy for a while, the touch isn’t quite there.”
In terms of why Thilthorpe was forced to wait for a return, Nicks labeled it a “combination,” of factors;
“It’s not necessarily what he’s done in the last couple of weeks in the SANFL.
“It’s his feet being underneath him, he’s done a hell of a lot of work to be fit and ready to go. He’s still got to get his touch back as any player does when they miss that much footy. That was the main reason for a couple of games in the SANFL.
“We’re looking for him to come in and impact the game, but we’re also understanding that the expectation can’t be too high when you haven’t played that much football across the last six months.”
One of the players the Crows will miss is Izak Rankine. The superstar Crow will miss the next month due to this incident with Brandon Starcevich in the Crows’ loss to the Lions.
“We are just there for him, whenever he needed, from a support point of view. He’ll miss for the month, but he’ll keep his head down and go to work.
“It gives the opportunity for someone else to step up into that. We are going to celebrate the fact that Hugh Bond comes into the side and he brings his own weapons, his own strengths.
“He’s had a fantastic four weeks of footy at SANFL level. Again, you temper expectations: he hasn’t played a game of AFL yet, so it’ll be a big test.
“He deserved his opportunity, he wasn’t gifted one. What he lacks in polish, he makes up for with his endeavours.”
In terms of Bond’s mood, '“Excited is an understatement,” if you ask Nicks.
“He’s really looking forward to it. We’re just trying to work with him on balancing that so he doesn’t get lost in organising tickets for the family. He’s got a beautiful family to come over and support him. [His] brother and sister, [they’re] his biggest fans.
“He needs to spend the next 24 hours just chilling out a bit and getting ready.”
Unfortunately the news is not as nice for Mitch Hinge, who will join Rankine on the side lines. The Crows are “hoping” it is only one week, but are also understanding that it may “take two [weeks]” as Hinge recovers from an adductor injury.
“He was managing a little bit of adductor soreness going into the game, to be honest. He was happy to keep going, but we really wanted to insert Zac Taylor into the game,” Adelaide’s high performance manager, Darren Burgess, commented during the week.
Burgess also echoed Nicks’ thoughts;
“It’s more than likely we will manage him through this week and he will miss the game against St Kilda, but it will only be one week and he will be back for the Essendon game.”
Lachie Murphy has played a lockdown role at the Crows in previous weeks and Nicks was first to elaborate on the idea of him playing a similar role against the Saints;
“We went there for the second half and he definitely had an influence on the game. It’s probably not plan A though. He plays a really important role for us pressuring ahead of the ball.”
Sam Berry spent a lot of the early part of the season playing the sub role at the Crows. However, in recent weeks he has been in Adelaide’s starting 22;
“We really wanted to give Bez [Sam Berry] the best crack at a full game in and around the midfield. I think we know at his best that he can hold his own and can match anyone in that area.
“He loves it in and under. Sometimes that’s tough to do when you come off the bench as a sub. I’m confident that Sam will give his best.
“Sam Berry’s one who’s been quite vocal this week when it came to our learnings and what we were going to bring when it came to St Kilda.”
Nicks was also asked about the future of Sam Berry;
“I’m very optimistic on Sam Berry [staying]. He’s a great player. He’s a superhuman off the field with our group.”
Berry has a deal that runs through until the end of this season, but has put contracts talk to one side as he looks to play “good footy.”
Berry himself commentated that he, “Loves Adelaide, loves its people, and that he has really enjoyed his time here so far.”
SEN SA’s The Run Home did link him to the Collingwood Magpies, saying that he’d be a “perfect fit at the moment.”
“The Crows will offer him a contract. Whether he’s looking for a better one or wants to go home, I don’t know. I think he just wants regular game time,” host Kym Dillion explained.
Elsewhere, the Saints were coming off a win against the ladder-leading Swans and Nicks was quick to give praise to the Moorabbin outfit;
“Their block of work has been more than just a win against Sydney. They’ve had a really strong month-plus. We know we’re gonna have to bring our A-game. The Sydney game was a good chance for us to look at them against the best team in the competition.”
The game is live on Channel 7 and Fox Footy, with seven o’clock the set time for first bounce at the Adelaide Oval.