Liam Phillips

WHEN the Adelaide Crows’ off-season review identified a need for a head of culture and leadership, coach Matthew Nicks called Trinity College’s basketball coach, and the MC of his best mate’s wedding, Rupert Sapwell.
Sapwell, who played 360 games in the NBL, including the 36ers’ 1998-99 championship, said that, though the decision to turn down the Crows’ offer was tough, he values what he has built in his roles at Trinity College and Central Districts Basketball Club too much to leave.
He remains close friends with former teammate Paul Bauer, with the two catching up for lunch as part of a bigger group, including Nicks, once a year.
From this peripheral relationship, Sapwell believed that Nicks had been aware of what the former had accomplished as a SA-title winning coach with Norwood, as well as turning Trinity College into one of the best basketball schools in the country.
“I think (Nicks) was looking for someone who was not in footy, but understood the business,” Sapwell said.
“The type of people who are getting these sort of roles are superstars in their sport.
“Cooper Cronk (leadership consultant at GWS), or Billy Slater (leadership coach at St Kilda), and those types of guys are the ones who are being picked up by other clubs.
“I am definitely not in that superstar category, so it was just all about the actions that I must have done with my teams behind the scenes.
“I guess ‘Nicksy’ thought they were getting someone who would understand the inner workings of a club, and not just what it feels like to be a superstar, because I actually don’t know.”
Sapwell said the Crows’ due diligence was staggering, with discussions taking place on six different occasions as they tried to iron out exactly what the role would entail, and what it would take to land him.
“I think if I could parcel up what they wanted into a nice sentence, it would be that (the Crows) wanted it to be a motivating and fun place to be,” Sapwell said.
“When you’re talking about culture, you have to ask yourself if you are an entity that creates mercenaries, or memories.
“You know the culture’s good when people just hang around, they don’t just scoot off everywhere and can’t wait to get away.
“You’re more likely to suffer through things with people that you love and respect, so on those best teams that I’ve been a part of, there’s that life-long brotherhood or sisterhood.”
While Sapwell stressed the importance of a strong culture, he admitted that as much as he could have helped, the culture of the Adelaide Crows will live, or die, by Matthew Nicks’ hand.
“85 per cent of it rests on the head coach,” Sapwell said.
“I already know that Nicks will have a significant impact in that area, I think he’s a great culture guy already, he’s very aware of it.
“He understands the importance of individual relationships and making sure he’s touching base and you feel like as a player, you feel like a coach has your best interests at heart, and understands what your best interests are.
“A high degree of emotional intelligence is what Nicks brings, so a lot of the culture springs from that.”
Ultimately, Sapwell said that he valued his position at Trinity at such a level that he “swung for the fences” with his demands, which the Crows decided not to meet.
“I would’ve had to give up all of (Trinity and Central Districts Basketball Club commitments), so that was a leap just a little too far for me,” Sapwell said.
“It really was a tough decision.
“When I first took the job at Trinity, I was asking myself why I would want to come all the way out here, and probably given my notoriety, I could’ve got a job at a leafy green school.
“But the thing that excited me about Trinity was that I actually felt I could have an impact with some of the kids there.
“It was good for my soul to feel like I was doing something there, and trying to provide a positive role model for young men and women.
“It’s something I would have felt comfortable doing at the Crows, but their lives are a little different to these kids I’m dealing with at Trinity, so I felt like that was a hard thing to leave.”