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Matthew Nicks says his first job as Adelaide's new AFL coach was to reach out to Crows players with a simple message.

New Adelaide coach Matthew Nicks' first job was reaching out to players with a reassuring message.

"It's only a phone call just to say hello but to let you know I'm here for you - and put this number in your favourites and call it 24/7," Nicks told reporters on Tuesday.

Nicks, appointed Adelaide's coach for the next three seasons, has yet to speak to all Crows players or meet face-to-face with his assistant coaching brigade.

He joined a club without a football department boss or a senior assistant coach after Brett Burton and Scott Camporeale were sacked in the wake of an external review.

Taylor Walker has stood down as co-captain and a batch of experienced players including fan favourites Eddie Betts and Sam Jacobs have been traded.

But Adelaide-born Nicks had no reluctance in pushing to win the Crows' top job - he didn't apply for this year's four other head coaching vacancies.

"The moment this job became available, I was straight on to it," he said.

"I have obviously been preparing for a number of years but I knew the fit was right. "The more we sat down and I got a better understanding of actually what is going on inside the club, the hungrier I was to win the position."

Nicks departed GWS, where he spent last season as senior assistant to Leon Cameron. He spent the eight previous years in assistant roles at Port Adelaide.

As a player, Nicks featured in 175 games for Sydney from 1995 to 2005 and he now intended to implement the Swans' famed Bloods culture at Adelaide.

"You learn from where you have success and we had success at Sydney with the Bloods culture ... it was all about prioritising others over yourself.

"I took a lot out of that.

"I believe if you want to be successful then you have to have a mutual respect.

"So I will be pushing that from this moment forward with our playing group, with our administration, in our football department - that we put ourselves second and put teammates first as well as colleagues."