Adelaide CEO Tim Silvers has covered a broad range of topics in his sit-down chat with AFL Media' Callum Twomey, including the Club's push to be involved in next year's Opening Round, greater expectations, extending Senior Coach Matthew Nicks' contract, and appointing a new list manager.

Read what Silvers had to say.

OPENING ROUND

Adelaide wants in on Opening Round, with Crows chief executive Tim Silvers to push for his club to host a game at Adelaide Oval to launch the season next year.

The AFL added an MCG marquee game to its Opening Round this year, with more than 82,000 fans flocking to the Collingwood and St Kilda match on Sunday night ahead of the Labor Day public holiday on Monday.

But with the MCG in doubt to be available next year in the corresponding weekend due to the Australia and England 150-year anniversary Test match taking place, Silvers, who was at the launch of the season last week in Sydney with other club bosses, said the opportunity was ripe for the Crows to host a game.

"I see the intent of the AFL and I get it, having recently been up in the northern states for the last week. I see what they're trying to do, but when you do have a game in Melbourne as well it seems to reduce that objective," Silvers told AFL.com.au on Monday.

"We're chatting today on a public holiday here in South Australia and there's no game of footy, so what a great way to launch the season if the Adelaide Crows were to play a game today or even the Sunday night game. I just think it would be a nice way to really bring footy into the state of SA, remembering it's a footy heartland state."

Silvers said the Crows are keen to be a part of the weekend, after two games in New South Wales and two games in Queensland were played in the League's third year of splitting its games to start the season.

"We had a discussion last year and there are some challenges with access to Adelaide Oval that I think we can work through if logic prevails," he said.

"Knowing next year the centenary Test match would be on this weekend so the MCG won't be available, so I'm sure we'll be putting our hand up to play a game at Adelaide Oval here in Opening Round."

In a wide-ranging interview ahead of the Crows' first game of 2026, Silvers wasn't shying away from the club's ambitions.

GREATER EXPECTATIONS

The Crows' minor premiership last year saw it claim the most wins (18) it has ever achieved in a home and away season. But two defeats in the finals at Adelaide Oval made for a bitter end to 2026, compounded by the loss of star matchwinner Izak Rankine to a four-game suspension on the eve of the finals due to a homophobic slur.

Silvers said Crows players had returned with extra resolve after their September lessons and despite a number of injuries over summer, he expects only Dan Curtin (knee) and Mark Keane (leg) to be unavailable against Collingwood on Saturday night.

"What I've found with our group is we've got no worries with the way they prepare, what they do in the off-season, they're professionals, they keep themselves fit, so they came back to the club in really good nick," Silvers said.

"You could see there's a bit of steel in the eye and a bit of a glint to make up for what was a good season in a lot of ways, but we were disappointed with the way we ended. That's going to be the fire in the belly that really drives us through this year.

"We have been struck by a few injuries, and with some long-term injuries to Dan Curtin and Mark Keane, but we've been conservative with a lot of other players and we expect basically every other player to be ready for round one. We'll be up and firing and can't wait to play Collingwood at the MCG and hope for a massive crowd."

Finishing in the top six on the ladder has made for a tougher draw under the AFL's fixture matrix, and it starts with four clashes against fellow premiership hopefuls – Collingwood, the Western Bulldogs, Geelong and Fremantle – but Silvers said the Crows were ready for that challenge.

"It's a risk to get too bogged into the detail of the draw. We know finishing minor premiers and in the top six we were going to be tasked against more challenging teams in our block and that was part and parcel of having a good year last year," he said.

"But big games against big teams in big timeslots – I think that's great for our club both on and off the field. Pressure is a privilege and for us to be able to play in big national games, under pressure, will set us up for the future because we're still continuing to build and we still have a young group. The more big games we can play, the better."

EXTENDING MATTHEW NICKS

IN DECEMBER, coach Matthew Nicks signed a one-year extension as coach to be tied to the club until the end of 2027.

He was due to come out of contract at the end of this year, but mutually agreed with Adelaide's administration that a short-term extension was the right path, with Nicks set to embark on his seventh season in charge this year.

Nicks admitted to allowing his players the time to "sit in the disappointment" of the finals results, and the Crows hierarchy did the same, but quickly wanted to lock in their coach after a return to September for the first time since the 2017 Grand Final.  

"When we were reviewing the year that was, we saw a lot of the positives that came out of it. We looked at what we'd been building with 'Nicksy' for a long period of time and it's tough for a coach to come in and the club has made the commitment to go through a rebuild, which was the first time in our history," said Silvers, who joined the club in 2021.

"He's developed a great culture, helped build a really good list, and we can see some positive momentum. We've been really aligned the whole way through and I've seen success and alignment between the positions of the CEO, senior coach, the chair and the GM of footy and we've been really aligned for a long period of time.

"We have belief in Nicksy and his vision so we wanted to get something done after the season and we mutually agreed to extend by the one year."

APPOINTING A NEW LIST MANAGER

Adelaide is closing in on landing its new list manager as the Crows prepare to again be aggressive in the player market this year. 

The Crows have been searching for a replacement for Justin Reid in recent weeks, after Reid was poached by the AFL to lead its player movement division after 11 years building Adelaide's list.

Hawthorn's Jarryd Roughead, Geelong's Simon Murphy and Crows football operations manager Tom Hurley are all considered leading candidates for the role, which Silvers says is an appealing position given the club has gotten through the tough years of a rebuild.

"The hard yards have been done in a lot of ways (in terms of the rebuild). These positions are highly critiqued by everyone and everyone who is in footy has a view on recruiting and list management, so it's a tough role and we've had a really resilient team there," Silvers said.

"Like I've said before, the decision to go through a rebuild was a bold one for our footy club and what I'm most proud of is we were able to stick fat, stick to the plan and continue to have a methodical build. 

"I wish Justin Reid all the best at the AFL. He did 11 years at our club and did a great job, especially during my time over the last five years, and I wish him well. We're hoping to make an appointment for the GM of list management role in the next week or so. We're down to a shortlist and hope to make a decision in the next week."

Adelaide has been active in the player market in recent years, aggressively chasing some of the game's biggest names with significant offers, including a mammoth set of offers presented to Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera last season as the superstar Saint weighed his contract call.

Silvers said the club's salary cap position meant they will again be targeting A-grade talent, but that a focus would also be on managing their total player payments given the rise of their crop of early picks in recent seasons.

The Crows jumped up the ladder last year to claim the minor premiership and reach the finals for the first time since 2017, with the young stars Riley Thilthorpe, Josh Worrell, Josh Rachele, Jake Soligo, Dan Curtin and Max Michalanney forming the nucleus of their flag push.

The Crows have done a strong job of securing their talent long-term, with Worrell (to the end of 2033), Darcy Fogarty (2031), Michalanney (2030), Soligo (2029), Rachele (2029), Jordan Dawson (2029) and Thilthorpe (2028) committed.

Silvers said finding the balance between attraction and retention would be a focus this year. 

"In terms of salary cap we've managed our cap reasonably well over a fair period of time, so it does give us some flexibility to make some moves in the short term," he said.

"But I've got a counter that we've got some good young talent that are going to come out of contract and they are going to be the core pillars to hopefully some premiership success so you've got to balance what we do with the external market as well as make sure we maintain and keep our key pillars for our future.

"We saw our club around 2017 when we made finals and made Grand Finals we did lose a lot of talent, and we've got to make sure that doesn't happen to our footy club. Yes, we're going to be into the external market but we're going to balance it with holding and retaining our own."