Adelaide Crows coach Don Pyke will be turning an analytical mind to the job

DON Pyke watched a genius father mastermind Dennis Lillee’s great Australian comeback. Now Adelaide’s ‘Mr Perfect’ is plotting AFL’s most compelling revival.

AFL - Crows coach Don Pyke at the Adelaide Football Club Headquarters at West Lakes. Photo Sarah Reed.

DON Pyke watched a genius father mastermind Dennis Lillee’s great Australian comeback. Now Adelaide’s ‘Mr Perfect’ is plotting AFL’s most compelling revival.

The third son of sports science pioneer Dr Frank Pyke carries Einstein DNA. Crows power broker Mark Ricciuto astutely followed Pyke’s magic dust in business, football and life in making arguably AFL’s most sophisticated coaching appointment.

There was no margin of error for Adelaide’s board, without a flag in two decades while recruiting a fifth coach in six years against the backdrop of Phil Walsh’s unspeakable demise.

Pyke, 47, enjoys an immediate trump card in pursuit of a third, poignant flag. There’s nothing dual West Coast premiership defender and mining whiz Pyke will ask from players that he hasn’t confronted himself.

Pyke’s incredible journey starts in the sports science laboratory where father Frank would provide the blueprint for techniques used today while rescuing star athletes from ruin.

“It does influence you being around sport from an early age. As a young fella he was just Dad but you were appreciative of the field he was working in,” recalled Pyke of the man who led Australia’s savvy fight back from a barren 1976 Olympics in Montreal.

“He was involved with Dennis Lillee when he broke down with stress fractures in his back. In those days stress fractures for fast bowlers were seen as the end of a career.

“Dennis was around our place a fair bit when he was going through his rehab and very thankful for the work Dad did with him and the program he put in place. Dennis also worked hard.”

Pyke chuckles remembering roles as a crash test dummy with brothers Stephen and former South Australian allrounder and Norwood defender James in cutting edge experiments that spawned current AFL fitness methods.

“Dad was writing papers and one of the early pioneers of affect of heat on the body, GPS monitoring of players loads and running capacity,” Pyke told The Sunday Mail.

“We were human guinea pigs, strapped up to devices and electrodes in a heat chamber on a treadmill. He would elevate the treadmill and temperature so it got slightly harder in both realms. The unpleasant part was at the end you would get a core body temperature reading which in those days was a rectal probe which was a thing you did for science!

“Our reward was probably a trip to McDonald’s.”

Dr Frank Pyke with Dennis Lillee.

The fickle nature of life and health would be illustrated when Frank Pyke’s beautiful mind faced attack from motor neurone disease before he passed away in 2011.

“It is one of those sad times. It was a case of not if but when, there is no cure,” said Pyke of his father’s MND which former Melbourne coach Neale Daniher is also fighting.

“Fortunately he didn’t suffer for long. It was a very sad time in my life.”

Frank Pyke had embedded a thirst for conceptual thinking that would play out in dynamic fashion across the business and sporting landscapes for a multi-talented son.

“I came out of an era in playing when we worked. I retired in 1996 aged 27 due to my shoulder injury and formed a business with two Norwegian guys to do seismic data which helped in oil and gas exploration,” said Pyke, understating the crack intellectual property he assembled.

“We ended up selling the business. Life to me is about opportunity and timing.

“My upbringing gave an analytical focus as to how we can do things better.”

Pyke isn’t coaching in 2016 to pay bills. Instead, commanding an AFL club provides a natural high that top flight business can’t match.

Stints coaching Claremont, serving on West Coast’s board before becoming a midfield strategist with Neil Craig from 2005-06 then Eagles boss Adam Simpson gave Pyke his footy fix. The moment was right to accept a senior coach role at his first attempt.

“There is nothing like being involved in a footy club. The impact of West Coast making the final last season was phenomenal, you can make people feel part of something good,” said Pyke, who famously returned to shut down Garry Hocking after being knocked out by Geelong superstar Gary Ablett in the 1992 grand final.

While some peers struggle to strike a positive work-life balance, Pyke is well rounded. Illinois-born Pyke plays golf off scratch and has the blessing of family to pursue the one goal he’s yet to achieve – coaching an AFL flag.

“This job is all-encompassing but my two daughters have grown up and are fully supportive of something which I have wanted to do since they were born. They are saying ‘ok dad, have a go’,” said 132-game Eagles on-baller Pyke who arrived in Adelaide with wife Jodie in October.

Like predecessor Walsh, Pyke is taking the adjustment from assistant to head decision maker in his stride – powered by a wealth of experience and strong moral compass.

Dennis Lillee in training after a back injury.

“I have been fortunate to work alongside Neil Craig at Adelaide. Adam Simpson came to West Coast out of the Hawthorn environment with a massive focus on teaching, educating and opened me up to range of ideas,” said Pyke.

“It’s important to keep an open mind.

“There’s a few adjustments you have to make but I have been fortunate enough to be involved in business where I had to make the calls.”

Pyke can turn to West Coast premiership mentor Mick Malthouse and innovative former Fremantle boss Gerard Neesham when any need for independent, sagely advice arises.

“Mick as a senior coach taught me a lot about the game and myself. He was a very challenging, confronting coach in a time when it was a bit more tribal. He challenged you to be better for the team,” said Pyke.

Adelaide’s squad will find a coach who has walked in their shoes.

“I had a rough patch early with Mick, some disagreements,” revealed Pyke, who has sponsors like Balfours clamouring to rejoin Adelaide in 2016 despite a tough economic climate.

“I didn’t fit Mick’s mould early and he gave me that feedback. Mick didn’t mess around. It was a pivotal moment in my maturity as a young player, a challenge. Mick was right, I had to be a complete player as compared to cruising.”

Don Pyke in action for the West Coast Eagles.

Pyke now presents as the eminently qualified figure to deal with an unprecedented, haunting postscript at West Lakes. An emotional trough looms after Adelaide’s brave, adrenaline fuelled march to the 2015 finals under caretaker coach Scott Camporeale.

“The tragedy last season makes that a unique situation that I come in on. There’s a lot of things that Phil put in place that resonated with our group which have had a positive impact,” said Pyke of Walsh’s team first, elite standards doctrine.

“My discussions with the players have been, ‘it’s been a tough year, respect that, get some time, clear space mentally and physically freshen up’.”

“One thing I learnt from a successful time in West Coast’s premierships is that if there’s a level of trust, intent and competitive drive, you can get it done.”