Adelaide coach Matthew Nicks has explained how and why the Crows picked Jordan Dawson to succeed Rory Sloane as captain of the club.
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“We feel it’s a great decision for the footy club,” Nicks said on the Rush Hour with Bernie, Blewy and Jars.
“It’s been an ongoing discussion.
“We spoke about in the press conference, Rory and I have been talking through this for about 6-12 months, what’s best for the footy club, what’s best for Rory, and in the end the conversation just kept finding its way to Jordan Dawson.
“We recruited Jordy with leadership in mind, when you do your due diligence on players we watched a hell of a lot of his footy, and you could see it sitting behind the goals and watching the way he goes about his footy.
READ MORE: Sloane steps down as Crows’ captaincy is passed to Jordan Dawson
“He’s one of those players that impacts the game when you need someone to impact the game, whether it’s ball in hand, which we saw in the Showdown, or even some of the stuff people don’t see with his leadership.
“Positioning teammates, positioning himself to impact the game. He’s a very, very good on-field leader.”
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Nicks paid tribute to Sloane’s leadership during a tough time for the Crows.
“We couldn’t have had a better captain for the last three years, with Rory basically staying positive,” he said.
“The way he works with the younger players and the group, to maintain that positivity, he’s the perfect captain…. what we felt as a footy club, and Rory’s involved in that decision, is for us to now go that next step, we need that player that’s really gonna step up on-field and grab the game, and Jordy was unanimously selected by his peers and the footy club.”
Nicks praised the depth of leadership at the club with Sloane still playing after handing the capraincy reigns over.
As a leader, we’ll still have Rory out there,” he said.
“That’s the bonus we get, Rory Sloane and Taylor Walker as ex-captains, or former captains, to play alongside Jordan Dawson who’s our current captain.”
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Nicks also discussed how the other candidates for captaincy took the decision, the Crows’ goals for 2023 and more.
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