Jordan Dawson and Isaac Cumming after the round 22 match between West Coast and Adelaide at Optus Stadium, August 10, 2025. Picture: AFL Photos

ADELAIDE coach Matthew Nicks has conceded his side’s nine-point win over West Coast on Sunday evening “felt like a loss”.

The bottom-placed Eagles led for large parts of the game including at three-quarter time, before the Crows’ leaders lifted and did just enough to get their side over the line for the four points.

EAGLES v CROWS Full match coverage and stats

“Walking down after the game, I found myself trying to snap out of it. I felt like we’d lost,” Nicks said in his post-match press conference.

“But to get over the line in the end where our opposition were just better than us with their energy, their intensity, the pressure they brought. They beat us in that part of the game tonight. 

“So that’s probably why I was disappointed. But then when you look back on that, you say we’ve been so good in that area for most of the season.”

Key Adelaide players had unusually quiet first halves, including Izak Rankine, who had just three disposals, and Riley Thilthorpe who was kept goalless to the main break.

The two were instrumental in the Crows’ final-quarter comeback, Thilthorpe kicking three in the second half, including two in the fourth quarter, and Rankine finishing with 23 disposals, eight inside 50s and a goal. Reliable skipper Jordan Dawson also played an important role.

“I like Jordan a lot. Izak Rankine as well. I thought Izak, you know, to his credit, wasn’t the best first half, but we didn’t really give him many opportunities, we didn’t give our forwards a lot of opportunity. But I felt like, you know, those two especially stepped up.”

Key forward Thilthorpe was involved in an incident with West Coast captain Liam Duggan in the third term, where Duggan made contact with Thilthorpe’s neck in a bumping action.

Nicks was asked whether he thought that there was anything in the incident that might have been untoward.

“No, I didn’t think there was anything in it.

“I think he jarred his neck, which might have then shot some nerve pain down his arm. It looked like he was coming off. We were worried that he’d done something to his shoulder, but after a minute or so of recovering, he was fine.”

For West Coast coach Andrew McQualter, he was extremely pleased with how his team performed despite the loss, claiming it was a much improved performance on his side’s 83-point loss to Melbourne the previous week.

“Yeah, look, really, really pleased with the response. I was really flat last week,” McQualter said after the game.

“We were disappointed with the effort we gave last week, but we dug into that a fair bit this week and I think if we play like that every week, we’ll be OK.

“Probably for a month we’ve dropped our level and then it’s been a little bit of personnel. There’s been some challenges, no doubt, in that space, but I think we saw today and we learned today that it doesn’t take any talent, skill, where you were in the draft to give defensive effort and intent. I thought that was the best we’ve defended all year.”

McQualter particularly sang the praises of young defender Reuben Ginbey who quelled the impact of Thilthorpe for three quarters.

“I think it was a real team effort, but in particular, like Reuben Ginbey, it’s extraordinary he wasn’t in that under-22 team (2025 AFL Players’ Association’s 22Under22 squad).

“People aren’t watching closely enough if he’s not in that team. He’s just an unbelievable competitor. 

“And I thought he was well supported today. Our system of defence was what we expect from our players today. And the way we defended our D50, we were really pleased with.”

McQualter explained that a number of his players were carrying niggles in the match.

“We had a few guys that were a bit wounded. Archer (Reid) came off at stages with a sore foot. ‘Flynny’ (Matt Flynn) copped an ankle knock and Ryan Maric had a bit of a corky. Clay Hall got a hit late.

“Sometimes in footy that happens and you just have to fight your way through it. I thought those guys continued to compete and provided some aerial presence for us.”

Of the incident with Duggan and Thilthorpe, McQualter said he hadn’t seen it closely.

“I thought he got him in the shoulder. I saw Thilthorpe come off with a shoulder, on the bench that’s what I saw. I obviously didn’t see the vision, so I’m not sure. 

“He chose to bump, did he? Well, Thilthorpe played the game out, so it looked like he came off with a shoulder to me.”