Matthew Nicks conceded Adelaide was slow to start, was outworked, and got beaten up before launching a stirring last-quarter fightback against the Western Bulldogs that ultimately fell short.
On the back of an encouraging season-opening win against bogey side Collingwood at the MCG, the Crows lacked dare in the first half of their home season-opener at Adelaide Oval on Friday night.
A cautious ‘kick-mark’ strategy in a bid to control the tempo against the slick Bulldogs was discarded when Adelaide went 25 points down early in the last quarter.
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The resulting five-goal blast, with an Izak Rankine special the highlight, looked set to keep the Crows undefeated before the Dogs rallied with the last two goals of the contest to win by six points.
“We just were a bit slow to get going for whatever reason, we don’t necessarily know yet what the reason was, but just to get ourselves up and firing took us too long,” Nicks said.
“I think we’re probably lucky to be in it at halftime, when you think scoreboard, they were very good in the first half.
“So, contest? Smashed us in the tackle, beat us at ground ball, and that can be where we’re a couple per cent off, for whatever reason it was disappointing that we put that first half out there.
“But in the end, you give yourself a chance, and it probably adds to the disappointment when you don’t get it done.”
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“You find the front, but did we just leave it too late? You spend all your energy tickets in that last (quarter) doing everything you can, and then you can’t quite hold on.
“Were we a little flat in that first half? You’ve also got to look at our opposition.
“They were very good in the first half and when a team’s beating you up, which they did, that’s the reality of it, they beat us to the contest, they beat us in the ground ball, there’s things you’re not getting right.
“So, we’ll go back and look through that, and they’ll be reasonably simple … it’s really our opposition worked a little harder than us in the first (half), they outnumbered us at balls, and they’re very good with their hands.
“If you give them some time and space, it’s the reason they’re undefeated.”
The numbers tell the story of how Adelaide’s quicker, more aggressive play in the second half flipped the script. But equally why their slow start was so costly.
Their ‘speed of ball movement’ metrics were 36 and 60 respectively in the first and second quarters, compared to 118 and 116 respectively in the third and final stanza.
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Hawks legend Jordan Lewis was critical of how passive Nicks’ side played in the first half given “high-octane football” has proven so key in 2026.
“You can’t watch the first three rounds of football, and then come out and play that way in the first half and think that style of football is going to get it done,” Lewis said on Fox Footy post-match.
“Especially in the first month, six weeks of football — it sort of seems like you need to play high-octane football. They showed that in the second half, when they were in the game.
“Also what it does, is it energises the crowd. When you’ve got a home crowd and you’re chipping the ball around in your back half, the crowd aren’t involved in the game.
“You’ve got to be able to feed off the crowd, you’ve got to be able to play fast at times and excite, to then build the crowd up to get them involved in the game.”
Rubbing salt into the wound for Adelaide was an injury to gun off-season recruit Callum Ah Chee, who aggravated a hamstring injury suffered in the pre-season State of Origin clash.
Playing his first game after missing last season’s finals series and round one through suspension, Rankine started slowly but kicked a brilliant goal to put his side in front with five minutes to go.
“It’s great to get him back out there,” Nicks said.
“I think he’d be the first one to say it wasn’t necessarily his best (game). But what do you expect from a guy who played footy for so long?
“He’s been chomping at the bit to play, so the nerves were there pre-game.
“Our expectation of him was just to come in and play his role. I think he had a few real key moments, which is typical Izak … he can do stuff that a lot of guys can’t, and he’ll be better for the run.
“He’s been leading off field, so it was a chance for him to get on field and get amongst it, which is good.”