Adelaide coach Matthew Nicks has given some pre-season insight into a number of Crows players.
Fresh off signing a two-year contact extension, Nicks spoke of the club’s new draftees including Josh Rachele who was selected with pick 6.
The Murray Bushrangers product arrived at West Lakes as a small forward with Nicks forecasting him to go through the middle once he conditions his body to AFL standards.
“Josh is going fantastic. He was our first pick,” Nicks said on SEN SA Drive.
“He’s probably the standout at the moment. He’s a more mature body.
“He’ll really be pushing come early in the season to put his name out there and say I’ll be ready to play.
“We got him as a forward initially and what we find is it takes a little bit of time to transition.
“Josh would be the first to put his hand up and say he’s still got a little bit of work to do when it comes to getting to that level of AFL midfielder.
“He’ll get there, because he’s a super powerful athlete, but that endurance part for him will be a key to the next 12 to 24 months of him working on that.
“Because the talent, when you watch him get a ball in his hand, the stuff he does with the footy, there’s a reason he went so early in the draft.”
Also new to the club is Jake Soligo, Zac Taylor and in particular Luke Nankervis, who was picked up in the Pre-Season Draft.
“The other guys are fantastic young mids who can accumulate the footy so we’re looking forward to that,” Nicks added.
“Luke Nankervis tackles like I’ve never seen. He’ll be one that they’ll jump onboard pretty quickly, our members and supporters, with ‘Nank’ and so they should because he’s a great young kid.”
Nicks says it is the usual suspects like Rory Sloane, Paul Seedsman and Taylor Walker who continue to set the standards, but one young gun with high expectations is training well above himself in the early stages of pre-season.
Riley Thilthorpe has already been singled out by teammate Sam Berry for his dedication this off-season and now his senior coach has joined in, while also heaping praise on Chayce Jones and new recruit Jordan Dawson.
“There’s still the senior heads around the place that are driving the standards,” Nicks said.
“‘Sloaney’ is big in that space. Seedsman last year took his leadership to another level. ‘Tex’ has been here since the young guys came back and he’s driving those standards.
“But if you talk about some of the kids that are coming through, Thilthorpe destroyed the fitness test today (Monday), he was outstanding.
“Chayce Jones goes on from where he left off last year.
“Jordy Dawson ran some numbers that were super impressive. Not only are we bringing in a really outstanding footballer in Jordy, but he can move as well.
“There’s so many more without going through too many of them.”
Nicks also touched on a range of other topics including the growth of the club while providing injury updates on Wayne Milera and Matt Crouch.
Listen to the full chat below: