Results on way for the Crows

Coach feels confident

THE pressure is on at Adelaide to make the finals for the first time since they lost the 2017 decider but Matthew Nicks wouldn’t have it any other way.

Even though Nicks only took charge at West Lakes at the end of 2019, there was no honeymoon period.

After the club’s first ever wooden spoon in 2020, the Crows have improved in the past two seasons with finishes of 15th and 14th – but the club’s fans are used to September action and want it back.

Nicks has always been wary of saying when he thinks the Crows will play finals again.

“Finals is an outcome,” he said. “We are working at the moment to make ourselves better consistently. We go out every week to go out and make our supporters and members proud, those people who come to the game.

“If we are able to leave the ground and feel proud of what we have left out there, more than often the result takes care of itself.

“There have been games over the last couple of years where I have no doubt that people would have felt proud about what they saw. And I’m confident with the work that we are doing that we will get the outcomes and the results that we are looking for.”

On top of the wooden spoon in 2020, Nicks has another unwanted first among Crows coaches: he is the first coach to keep his job after two seasons without finals football.

“I’m always aware of records that we are breaking, I think I had a record of 0-13 at one point,” Nicks said. “Always aware of that, that’s where pressure comes from and … that’s why I love what I do.

“I love the group that I am working with, this is a fantastic footy club and a club that expects to win games of footy.

“We want to get back to that as soon as possible … That is a goal of every side, to win more games than you lose, and there is nobody who wants to do that more than me.”

Another pre-season under renowned high performance guru Darren Burgess has Nicks optimistic his side can learn from last season and improve.

“Some of the moments we didn’t get right last year cost us results. We’ve done a lot of work in that space,” he said.

“We know how close the competition is. Sometimes you can feel like you are a long way away but we know how close we are.”