A former premiership teammate and captain of Edwards, Bickley has spent years in the locker room observing him on and off the field.
He believes one of his greatest strengths is his character and integrity as a person.
“I think Tyson has always been pretty understated; he’s just been a fantastic guy,” Bickley said.
“He is someone you enjoy having around the footy club, someone that has been a rock solid citizen which is really important and someone that all of our younger players have been able to look up to. In terms of role models, you couldn’t ask for a much better person.”
Referred to over the years as the lesser of Adelaide’s big name players, Edwards has made a reputation built on his consistency of performance.
He hasn’t achieved the individual accolades of a Mark Ricciuto or Andrew McLeod but his standing over the years in club champion voting is testament to his ability to produce most weeks.
From teammate to coach, Bickley has grown an admiration for Edwards as someone to always rely on.
“I think his story has been about his consistency. I don’t have the figures, but in terms of top five finishes in the best and fairest, he figures quite prominently throughout his career.
“I know as a coach if you have a consistent player to rely on, you’re going to get your seven or eight out of ten each week. He has fitted that bill for a long time.”
The build up to Adelaide’s clash with Fremantle has as expected, been bigger than usual.
Neil Craig said earlier in the week that while the playing group doesn’t draw any extra motivation out of milestone games, the club will give the farewell match the respect it deserves.
Bickley admitted it was business as usual for the group but said the players will naturally want to perform out of respect for their teammate.
“Not very often do you get a chance to play in a game where you farewell one of your champion players and Tyson is certainly that,” he said.
“I know all the players are looking forward to putting on a good performance.”
Adelaide was comprehensively beaten in round one by a Fremantle side which at the time was unknown in terms of their top four credentials.
The Crows had their chances against the Dockers but were unable to capitalise on their early ascendancy.
Bickley believes a focus on ball use and tackling pressure might help to bring about a different result this weekend.
“We certainly have looked at it quite closely and found some areas which we can improve on,” Bickley said.
“We had some opportunities last time we played them. We burnt the ball going inside our 50. That’s certainly an area where you need to complete your play and we created enough run, our transition was good but we didn’t finish off.”
“We also didn’t tackle well last time we played them. They’re some of the things we’re hoping to do better.”
