"When you think about the Adelaide Crows, Tony (Modra’s) name is one that comes to mind.” 

These words from Crows Senior Coach Matthew Nicks serve as a perfect description of Tony Modra and his defining influence on the Adelaide Football Club. 

Nicks addressed the media on Friday morning, following news of Modra being involved in a road accident on Thursday evening. 

He said the Club would throw its support behind one of its most adored figures, and sent his best wishes to Modra and his family. 

“It's a tough, tough time just now, but I think what it does, and we've been here recently, we bond together and we support each other, and most importantly, we put support around Tony and Erica and the family,” Nicks said. 

“That’s what good footy clubs do very well. So right now it's thoughts and prayers with the family, and we're doing whatever we can as a footy club to be there for them.” 

Growing up as an Adelaide supporter in the 1990’s, Nicks explained how he idolised Modra and his entertaining exploits on the field. 

He spoke about the Crows Hall of Famer’s influence on not only the Club, but football in South Australia. 

“Anyone who knows anything about footy, and you speak about the Adelaide Footy Club, Tony Modra always comes up, and what he was able to do (in his career),” Nicks said.

“He's an entertainer, we all have different roles at a football club, his role was to entertain, and he knew that.

“I think, there's certain players that come through the game that we respect for their football ability, and we do that with Tony as he was such a great footballer, but there was more to Tony. 

“Now he's going to fight his way through this, and the fact that he's still around our footy club and he still gives back to the footy club is such a positive for us and we will throw our support behind him.” 

Nicks also touched on his personal relationship with Modra, and how his presence around the Club had helped him in his role as Senior Coach. 

“We still message each other and he gives me tips on how to coach, and we spent time together down in Encounter Bay, and so on,” Nicks said. 

“There's certain people that have an aura about him. Tony's one of those, he still does game days, and he's so well connected with the footy Club. 

“As I said before, he still gives coaching advice, and I'm sure he'll fight his way through this.”

From a football point of view, Nicks spoke about the impact the news of Modra’s accident had on the playing group as his team prepared to face Melbourne at Adelaide Oval on Saturday afternoon. 

“It's hard to say (the impact it’s had), we addressed the group this morning and just talked through (the situation),” Nicks said.

“There's not a lot of detail there, and you know, I don't know all the details myself at this point, so we just got them together and made sure they were aware, and that we were there for the family.

“We're in the game mode now, as we speak, you're able to do both, we're able to have that support there for the family, but also focus on what we're going to do tomorrow as well. 

“Our guys have run out, we've done a training session, we've had meetings this morning where the group were really focused. 

“The family is always number one with us, and this is a moment like that where this is our family, and Tony's part of our family as well.”