Adelaide coach Matthew Nicks says everyone at the club is “on the same page” after a scathing assessment of the team’s performance from Crows football director, Mark Ricciuto.
Ricciuto, who holds the record for most games as Adelaide captain, unleashed on his beloved team following a 42-point loss to Collingwood in round two, calling the team’s performances in the first two weeks of the season “garbage”.
“They’ve been underachieving,” Ricciuto told Triple M Adelaide.
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“They can’t kick, they can’t handball, they can’t kick a goal, they’ve given away free kicks – they really can’t do anything worse.”
When asked about Ricciuto’s comments, Nicks said everyone within the club had held open and honest conversations about the team’s performances over the first two weeks.
“We’re on the same page as to where we are at as a footy club,” he said.
“And if you think we are not having those conversations, well, you’re kidding yourself. The performance at the moment is not at the level.
“It’s not only our execution by hand and foot, it’s playing our roles.”
Nicks’ comments came after Essendon great Matthew Lloyd questioned the impact Ricciuto’s harsh analysis could have on the playing group.
“They’d be pretty upset you would’ve thought,” Lloyd told Nine’s Footy Classified.
“I love Roo (Ricciuto), but that is as negative as you can get. That wasn’t insightful, it was just pretty much saying, ‘we’re a hopeless list’.”
Ricciuto has been known for not mincing his words on all things Crows in his various media roles in Adelaide over the years.
The 46-year-old copped heat in 2020 for his candid explanation of a number of player exits from Adelaide, including those of Jake Lever and Charlie Cameron, with Port Adelaide great Warren Tredrea calling for his sacking in the aftermath.
Former Fremantle coach Ross Lyon said he “wouldn’t enjoy” hearing negative comments such as Ricciuto’s if he was Adelaide’s coach, and recalled a similar instance when he was at the Dockers with then-football director, Peter Bell.
“He was also doing media and he made a comment and it got back to me. I went to the footy operations manager and said ‘mate this is unacceptable’,” Lyon told Footy Classified.
“We went well for a number of years and then we’re struggling and there’s a comment… it was just something about how we were playing.
“So Peter, to his credit, came into the football department. We sat down and he apologised and I said, ‘look you’re always wearing the director’s hat, so it’s very hard to separate it’.”