ADELAIDE coach Matthew Nicks has declared he is the man to take the club forward, despite a successive semi-final loss, this time a 53-point defeat at the hands of Brisbane.

After a straight sets exit last year, the Crows at least recorded a win in the elimination final, after reports swirled that the seven-year senior coach's future may have been in doubt if that victory hadn't occurred.

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"Yeah, I think I do (have the internal belief), and I've got the right support around. We've got a fantastic group of people from our chairman, CEO, we've got a great football department who know their stuff," Nicks said in his final post-match press conference of the year.

"We've got a really good young group who are improving year on year, and that's our goal, to keep striving to take another step. This year, we were going to have to win another three, that's not easy to do.

"No (I won't seek assurances). There's no guarantees in football. I'm confident with where we're at, and the conversations that are ongoing with the leaders of our football club and my colleagues, that we'll continue to work together. 

"We've got great forward momentum as a football club, we're building something quite special. We're not there yet, and we know we've got a fair way to go, but there's no doubt we're heading in the right direction and we've got the right people around the club. I'm blessed to be a part of that as one of the leaders of the club, and I'll keep working. Just back to work."

Nicks said the heavy loss – which saw the Lions slam home five goals in a blistering opening five minutes – was a "reality check".

"It's not so much about individuals when you have these sorts of games, it's not an individual that puts you in that position in the first quarter. That's us being – ready's not the right word – but physically and mentally prepared to do it again after a week prior," he said.

"We knew what was coming, as I mentioned before, we'd experienced it last time we were here, and that was with an even younger group. Tonight, we unfortunately were on the end of it again with a more mature [group]. We don't have many out at the moment, so we were in a good position to have a crack at it. We felt we could play for the month, and you always believe in yourself. Maybe tonight's a bit of a reality check, we've still got some work to do.

"Their strength over the ball, the contest – they came out, they took contest early. It's finals football, and it took us too long to adapt to that. When the scoreboard ticks over as fast as it did in the first five minutes of the game, you're constantly then chasing from behind, and that's when some skill errors or decision-making errors come in."

The loss also brought an end to the 319-game career of former club captain Taylor Walker, who was given a guard of honour by the Adelaide and Brisbane players, emotional as he left the field with his three children Hugo, Louis and Harriet.

Nicks had pointed out Walker in his three-quarter time address to players, clearly urging them on for the club champion's last term in the AFL.

"He puts absolutely everything into the football club, it means the world to him. We're a family-first footy club, he's 100 per cent family first, but our footy club isn't far behind. He's got the most beautiful family who are here tonight – he's not losing a family, but he feels like this football club is part of that family," Nicks said.

"He did say to the group just as we left the room that we're not getting rid of him. He's sticking around in some capacity, I don't know what that is. 

"It's just been an absolute pleasure to coach him. We've had our challenges along the way, he and I, but that's what builds an even higher respect, when you go through challenges and you share your thoughts and ideas on life. But he's been like having another coach, for me. I totally understand why there's emotion there. That's nearly two careers he's played, 19 years. 

"The game at that point, unfortunately, it was really just 'how do we want to finish our season off, how do we want to finish for this big guy?' I think he was quite emotional in that moment as well. I guess you saw how they wanted to finish for him."