If the Adelaide crowd’s reaction to Matthew Nicks is anything to go by, the Crows coach is not going anywhere for 2027.
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Nicks couldn’t help but smile as he appeared on the Adelaide Oval big screen late in his side’s 22-point elimination final win over the Western Bulldogs on Saturday night.
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And it sent the Crows faithful into a frenzy, even as Nicks gave the thumbs up to a young fan.
“That might have been a smile there … Good on you Nicksy!” Anthony Hudson said on Fox Footy.
“That’s on the big screen too so the crowd are loving it,” Garry Lyon added.
Matthew Nicks gives thumbs up to fans.Source: FOX SPORTS
“They are going nuts; they are going boonta here.”
“This is what football does to you!” Hudson replied as Nicks was still smiling.
“There’s so many lows so you’ve got to enjoy the highs.”
“He ain’t going anywhere, Nicksy right now. There’d be a riot in Adelaide,” Lyon said.
The coach conceding post-match it was “nice” to enjoy that moment with the crowd, given the tough week as reports emerged this week that a loss could see the club part ways with Nicks.
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“We had a discussion in the box – the young lad was just staring back at me, just a huge grin on his face,” Nicks shared.
“He was about 14 years old, had the double thumbs up waving his jacket above his head at the same time. I was like, yeah no you’re right, this is a good moment for our footy club and for our supporters.
“As a coach, it is hard in those moments. You’ve got to be mindful of not riding this rollercoaster because the highs are amazing. The lows can be really tough.
“You don’t want to go right to the peak until you’re holding that cup up. You’ll see me let lose in three weeks if that happens (smiles).
“It was nice to smile.”
Speaking after the win, multiple players backed in their coach, who was seen high-fiving fans post-win.
“Yeah, well we’ve been on a journey for a long time, and you know it is external noise,” Taylor Walker told Fox Footy.
“You do hear it, you see it, but to us it just stays as external noise.
John Olsen, Chairman of the Crows, congratulates Matthew Nicks after the win.Source: Getty Images
“We knew what we needed to do, and we’ve been doing it for the back half the year, and we just need to keep sticking to our process for the next three weeks.
“And who knows, mate, what will happen.”
“We all love Nicksy. Just glad we got the win for him!” Josh Worrell said in his post-match chat.
“Nicksy’s great! He tried to just bring it back to the team and focus and not listen to the outside noise,” he shared on Fox Footy.
Nicks could only laugh when asked about the week and how he has dealt with the speculation surrounding his job.
“Coaching is a shocking job,” he laughed.
“I think it’s like being a really, really passionate supporter that is just 100% invested. And it’s frustrating – especially when you’ve played because you feel almost hopeless at times.
“The players ultimately do it for you, so on a game day it’s sometimes hard to watch.”
When asked specifically about the reports on his future at the club, Nicks was brutally honest.
“There’s a part of me that I’m a realist, I know the industry, I’ve been in it for a long, long time so I understand the narrative that pops out at this time of year and where I sit as a coach and what we’ve been building,” he said.
Matthew Nicks embraces retiring great Taylor Walker.Source: Getty Images
“Unless you know the detail, unless you’re actually inside the four walls, anyone can throw mud around and have their view – that’s OK. I don’t hold a grudge there at all. But we’re in a really good spot.
“We’re a hell of a lot further on than where we were last year. Getting an experience that we did last year where you’re in the rooms 12 months ago and it was gut-wrenching for our guys, and they didn’t know what they didn’t know.
“We didn’t have enough guys who had experience. We build that into this year and we have guys jumping out of their skin to get out there tonight and make amends for how they felt last year.
“We can win it, don’t worry about that … we just need to believe in ourselves.”
Nicks doubled down on his stance in his post-match press conference, insisting the speculation surrounding his position had done little to distract him during the build-up to the do-or-die clash.
“I’ve been around long enough to understand the industry and the narrative and why things come up about coaches,” Nicks said.
“What’s next? What’s the next big thing? Who’s the best? Who’s the worst? I understand how that works.
“And we’ve worked in that space for a long time. So it was business as usual.”
And despite the external noise surrounding his future, Nicks revealed there had been no need for any extraordinary conversations about his position beyond this season.
“There was no need for a conversation around, I’m contracted into next year,” he said.
“We don’t have a conversation about my contract or any of that. We head down and go to work.”
Matthew Nicks celebrates Adelaide’s breakthrough finals victory over the Western Bulldogs at Adelaide Oval.Source: FOX SPORTS
Nicks said there had been nothing out of the ordinary in his conversations with the club’s hierarchy, adding he had continued to receive support from Adelaide’s president and chairman.
And while Saturday night’s victory may have eased the external pressure surrounding his future, Nicks rejected the suggestion there was a feeling of relief inside the four walls.
“It’s not pressure. We’ve waited 12 months for this night,” he said.
“We didn’t wait. We went to work. What we’ve got here, we reinforced belief tonight.
“We didn’t release pressure. We know how good we are. We know how good we can be, but we also respect that the opposition bring a certain game.”
Instead, Nicks pointed to the pain of 12 months ago and Adelaide’s failure to get the job done as an experience that had hardened his young group.
“The opposition hit the front and the question was asked and we answered it,” he said.
“I think it comes off the back of, you know, 12 months ago, going through a fair bit of pain and what it felt like to not get it done. It’s amazing what that experience can do for a young group.”
For Nicks, the breakthrough was less about releasing pressure and more about reinforcing Adelaide’s belief that it belongs on the finals stage.
“We believe in them. They just need to believe in themselves. And you get that through moments like tonight.”
The Crows will now fly north to Brisbane to take on the Lions in Saturday night’s semi final. The winner of that match will then head to the MCG for a preliminary final showdown with Hawthorn.