Crows tap into Lions defector’s inside intelligence
Steve Larkin |
Adelaide coach Matthew Nicks knows Brisbane’s secrets.
But he says that doesn’t guarantee success in Friday night’s clash against the reigning premiers at Adelaide Oval.
Nicks credits much of the knowledge of the Lions to a key off-season signing for his club – Murray Davis.
After spending 13 years with the Lions as an assistant coach, Davis was lured to Adelaide for this season in a newly created position of coaching director.
And Davis’s inside intelligence has been a key factor in third-placed Adelaide’s preparation for hosting the second-placed Lions.
“We go into this game knowing what they will do,” Nicks told reporters on Thursday.
“It’s a matter of whether you are able to stop it or not.
“But our oppo (opposition analysis) this week has been reasonably thorough, having Murray Davis inside our four walls.”
Nicks openly admires how Brisbane rebuilt under coach Chris Fagan on a journey that delivered last season’s premiership in Fagan’s eighth season at the Lions.
Nicks, in his sixth season and yet to take the Crows to the finals, has picked Davis’s brain about the Lions’ path to the pinnacle.
“We have spoken a lot since Murray arrived about how they went about things on their journey and their build, how they got to a premiership last year, how Fages (Fagan) operates,” Nicks said.
“There are so many things that we have looked at and some we have implemented.
“We watched a lot of what they have done from afar … been incredibly impressed with the way they have built, their patience.
“They’re a club that should be proud of the way they went about it and they are going to have sustained success off the back of that.
“There’s no doubt we look at a lot of clubs across the league … and Brisbane is certainly right up the top.”
The Crows are the competition’s highest-scoring team this season, kicking 100 or more points in seven of their 12 games so far.
But Nicks said an April 10 loss to Geelong – 119-100 – had been a turning point.
After the defeat, Nicks said he made a “tweak” to his side’s defence. Since, the Crows boast the league’s stingiest defence.
“A little bit structurally on what we do, but moreso our mindset and our ability to, in really important moments, our click to defend,” he said.
“It was minor. But it has obviously made a major change to our game.
“And credit to our group that they embraced it so quickly, we probably thought it might take a little longer to turn it around.”
AAP
