MATTHEW Nicks has no doubt Adelaide "got it right" in dropping Josh Rachele for the Crows' final game last season, having seen the talented youngster's pre-season form blossom.

And the coach is encouraging Rachele to stick with his animated goal celebrations in 2025 as one of Adelaide's growing array of forward-half weapons. 

Rachele's omission for Adelaide's final game of 2024 following the Showdown loss to Port Adelaide sparked a huge debate in the football world but Nicks said the decision had been vindicated by the 21-year-old's summer training.

"I'm a huge believer in that reward is what brings out the best in people. But occasionally there's a need to challenge. I felt that towards the end of last year that we needed a small challenge," Nicks told AFL.com.au.

"For mine Josh will be a leader of this football club in the not-too-distant future. So when that happens I want him leading in the right way. He, to his credit, took on board the information I shared with him at the end of last year and has had his best pre-season. There's no doubt about that.

"He's been playing a bit more forward of the ball at the moment and that's really because of [our midfield] mix. There are some guys going through there.

"In time through his career I think you'll find him doing at least 50-50 onball/forward. We want to keep that competitive stuff around the footy. I love guys who love to fight, love to put it out there. You just have to temper that on occasion and we'll work with Josh on that in coming years."

The omission of the goalkicker was one of the controversial moments of the season and ended a campaign that didn't go to plan for the Crows, who missed the finals, but Nicks said the conjecture didn't change his view on it being the correct move. 

"It wasn't something I was concerned with. My concern was with how do I get Josh to the point where I need Josh. In a way there was some risk around that because I like to reward players, I feel I get the best out of them but on this occasion we got it right," he said.

"It doesn't matter about the noise. The noise doesn't mean anything inside the four walls here and Josh to his credit probably did exactly what I thought he'd do and put his head down and went to work."

The coach has backed his players, including the likes of Rachele and fellow livewire Izak Rankine, to pull out eye-catching goal celebrations.

"I love celebrations. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for that. I'm all for that culture of enjoyment. Get out there and show me the celebration. Practice it, as long as it doesn't get in the way of practising your skills. You have to execute, but it's how we go about those. I'm a big one for respecting your opposition and we'll always be that as a footy club," Nicks said.

Rachele and Rankine provide the Crows with genuine gamebreaker qualities and Rankine booted 29 goals from 15 games last year in a season disrupted by suspension and injury. Expect the former Sun to be deployed a little differently in 2025, having spent all of the Crows' pre-season with the midfield group as they add different dimensions around the ball.

"He's had a really strong pre-season and it's the first pre-season where we've had him 100 per cent in our midfield group, which means he's sat through a lot of the meetings. But more importantly, he's played there through the pre-season. His hamstring injuries have come from high speed out of stoppage trying to win the game for us, running at a speed I'm not sure even he'd ever gotten to before and trying to kick it at the same time," he said.

"This year he's actually been able to work on those areas a lot. He's trained his body. Our hope is that he's been able to put in that body of work around stoppage and explode away, and we've got a little bit more of that under his belt, rather than just being forward of the ball just working on leading patterns."

Asked whether only injury was stopping the former No.2 draft pick from being among the game's very top echelon of players, Nicks said he has sensed another level from Rankine. 

"He's shown incredible connection with our midfielders because he definitely brings a different dynamic – elite from a football intelligence point of view as well as speed, power and agility," he said.

"I hope you're right about him being one of the best players in the game because I feel the same. I feel that he's got it all there, it's now a matter of putting it out on the field under pressure from some of the best opposition."