Adelaide coach Matthew Nicks has lauded his young group for handling a grand yet unfamiliar occasion with such maturity.
The Crows boss even suggested he himself was somewhat overwhelmed when famous Australian singer – and club ambassador – Guy Sebastian walked into the rooms after a Gather Round opening night that featured ample glitz and glamour – but arguably nothing as glamorous as the home side’s breathtaking win.
Adelaide on Thursday night pulled off its third win on the trot, setting up a 56-point win over Carlton with an eight-goal first quarter.
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It was an emphatic statement from the young Crows at the start of the inaugural Gather Round, which has seen the AFL world descend on Adelaide.
While the build-up was significant and the branding across the city blatant, the vibes continued inside a jam-packed Adelaide Oval. Peking Duk performed pre-game before Sebastian was seen mingling with Crows players after the win.
“The occasion (was significant), it’s a Thursday night, Gather Round that we’ve never seen before,” Nicks told reporters.
“We had Guy Sebastian in the rooms – even I lost my composure for five or 10 minutes. Photos and autographs – I do love him. But our players just remained focused and smiled their way through.
“We had a stage on the oval – a lot of our guys have never played a game where there’s a stage on the oval. Some have, but it’s pretty rare. Even when we were walking around in the pre-game and the question you have as a coaching group is you just don’t know what sort of energy you can burn in a lead-in to a game like this.
“But that adds to the win, the fact that our guys were able to come out like they did. They hadn’t burned any energy, they were ready.”
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Nicks said the Crows ensured they had a “reasonably standard” build-up to Thursday night’s game, but had urged the playing group to be “mentally flexible”.
“There was always going to be things that pop up, like Guy in the changerooms, the lead-in the traffic that was around. It was a big, big stage, so we acknowledged all of that,” he said.
“Our guys reacted really well to that. I can’t guarantee you we’ll do that every time, but this is a great step for us to be able to play a big stage and get it done. We haven’t done it since I’ve been at the footy club.”
Nicks said he was “more impressed with the fact that we held our nerve when we were challenged”, rather than the opening-term blitz.
“I’m proud, more than anything, that we stuck tight, good connection and it came together on the big stage. Last time we played on a big stage we learned a fairly important lesson and I thought we responded really well tonight,” he said.
“There’s not much bigger than what we went up against. Carlton are a fantastic side and Thursday night footy with every single football person in the state, there was a fair bit going on. And so I thought our group handled it so maturely, the way they balanced their intensity with just their composure.
“I thought right across the board tonight, we showed every facet. We fought early, the contest was huge for us. Then we knew what would come because Carlton are a great footy side and we just weathered the storm, battled and fought and did everything we possibly could to not let them get back in it. Then we would finish the game off so well.”
Nicks said he was “really pleased with where the group’s at”, adding his side’s recent form was a result of gradual improvement over several years – a purple patch he wanted his players to “embrace” and “ride this wave while we can”.
“I mentioned it during the week that form is fickle and we know it can disappear really quickly. So we want our group to remain really confident and believing in themselves – and I thought that’s what you saw tonight. A group that just believe in what they’re doing,” he said.
“Now, the tough challenge is to do it again.”
The Crows’ win over the Blues on Thursday night will elevate external expectations of Nicks’ side. But the coach said he believed those hopes wouldn’t have to be managed.
“We’ve got a very high quality group of men that have humility. They’ve got a really good balance with the way they go about things,” he said.
“Our boys are just loving their footy, they’re celebrating – we want them to stay in that space.
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“The danger with that is you can be labelled a bit, ‘oh look at them getting ahead of themselves’ – they’re not ahead of themselves, they’re just enjoying their footy. We’re trying to embrace that. We’ve seen teams of late that are doing that in the competition at the moment and we’re probably trying to take a leaf out of their book.
“We’ve got players that are happy to not touch the footy for a quarter if they’re playing their role. That’s a really good space to be in and that’s how connected they are at this point.
“We’ve never lacked effort. Now we’ve just started to get a little bit more maturity about how we play our footy.”
Nicks praised his backline and the defensive attitude of his entire team. He even suggested there’d been a cheeky mid-game agreement between him and the players that they’d be rewarded if they restricted the Blues to a certain score by full-time.
“I don’t want to talk too much about what we do in-house, but I can tell you there’s a few happy boys in that room at the moment that the number (we conceded) was 62 – and that number is a lot more important than the number we put up,” he said.
“I’ve given them Wednesday off, actually … 62 points.”
