Adelaide coach Matthew Nicks says keeping his group of 44 players connected during an indefinite hiatus has been the toughest part of his job to date.

With Crows spread right across Australia – from Ben Keays in Brisbane to Billy Frampton in Perth – the Club has relied on online video conferencing software to keep players, coaches and staff engaged.

Speaking to The Optus Crows Show, Nicks said it played an important role in challenging times, however, does not replicate or deliver the same benefits as a sit-down meeting.

“That connection over the Zoom platform, or whether it’s WebEx or so on, that’s one way to do it but it is tough,” Nicks said.

“It’s tough in these times, you don’t get that face-to-face, that ability to get out and train the things you’re trying to work on.

“You get into this sport because you want to work as part of a team. We’re still doing that at this point, but I’m sitting in an office all on my own at the moment.”

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The extended shutdown has allowed Adelaide’s players and coaches to thoroughly review the three-point loss to Sydney in Round One.

Nicks believes this will hold the Crows in good stead when football returns.

“The edge comes from the detail. The ability to spend more time with your entire playing group,” Nicks said. 

We’ve had a good opportunity to go through that with a fine-tooth comb - without overdoing it - and have a look at some of the areas that we want to improve on coming into Round Two, which who knows when that will be.

- Matthew Nicks

“Rather than analysing a game and backing it up in seven days’ time and being pushed into another game, what we’re able to do at this point is go into a lot more detail with some of our younger group. When I say younger group, sometimes even some of our older players.

“Sometimes it’s hard to change habits and we’re doing a lot of work on slightly tweaking our game plan, so being able to spend time with some of our leaders like (Rory) Sloane, Tom Lynch, Tex Walker, Brad Crouch, these older players, has been beneficial for us as well.”

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