New Adelaide coach Matthew Nicks remembers one Crow as being particularly difficult to face on the field - Mark Ricciuto.

Nicks played 175 games for the Sydney Swans between 1996 and 2005, including 13 against the Crows.

“There is one standout… he knocked me out three times: Mark Ricciuto,” Nicks told AFC Media.

“Mark was a step above most and unfortunately, I stood in his way and he ran through me.

“Me and my mates had plans to go out after those games, because my family and friends were in Adelaide, but he knocked me out twice at Football Park.

“Not through dirty, he was just big and strong.”

WALKER'S JAB: Taylor Walker's cheeky shot at Mark Ricciuto 

Nicks said he is yet to remind Ricciuto of the two players’ past interactions.

“He cooked me a barbeque last Sunday at his house,” Nicks said with a laugh.

“I haven’t brought it up with him again yet… (thought) wait until I get the job.”

The SA local joins the Crows after spending 2019 as Leon Cameron’s senior assistant at Greater Western Sydney and the previous eight seasons at Port Adelaide.

He retired in August of 2005 due to a stress fracture and subsequently missed the Swans’ 2005 premiership.

“I took a year out of the game (after retiring),” Nicks said.

“I missed it so much I got back into coaching in the Sydney footy league and coached again when I came back to Adelaide for Scotch College.”

At Scotch, Nicks even managed to coach a future Club Champion of the Adelaide Crows.