Nicks was well satisfied with his team's 63-point trouncing of St Kilda - 21.9 (135) to 10.12 (72) at Adelaide Oval on Sunday.
Adelaide boasted a dozen goalkickers, including its four primary midfielders - Jordan Dawson, Izak Rankine, Jake Soligo and Matt Crouch - who all collected at least 27 disposals.
Recruits Alex-Neal Bullen, Isaac Cumming and James Peatling also kicked majors and performed strongly.
And hyped draftee Sid Draper looked assured on AFL debut after coming on as a substitute.
Nicks, who is yet to take the Crows to the finals as he embarks on his sixth season, senses something brewing - but it's yet to be proven.
"I'm confident our guys are maturing; organically, we're growing as a group," Nicks said.
"We added this year some really high-level acquisitions.
"We brought in a young kid today, Sid Draper from the draft, who showed that he has a lot of potential to be a really strong player in this league.
"So with those, you've got to be confident in your group; I'll back the group in.
"But our challenge is to prove it week-in, week-out."
The Crows coach is demanding a repeat display when his side meets Essendon at the MCG next Saturday.
"We have got plenty of games still to come that we want to have the same performance," he said.
"We've seen over over time, it's not easy to do so. But that's our goal - knuckle down and get ourselves ready to go again."
20°C