Crows coach Don Pyke’s guarded appearance in a high-profile sporting job will be tested to the limit as his team fails
DON Pyke has — as he wanted — the lowest profile of any of the seven Crows coaches since 1991. The attention on his AFL team’s demise put him under the searchlight for the next nine weeks
Michelangelo Rucci
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DON Pyke’s honeymoon is over. And so is the Crows’ coach preferred way to carry a low profile in SA most-watched role — even beyond sport.
When the Crows were winning — as they did 34 times in Pyke’s first 49 games (a stunning 69 per cent success rate) — the West Australian could do as he pleased. He had returned to Adelaide, after being an assistant coach to Neil Craig in 2005-6, with one clear mission: Deliver the Crows’ third AFL flag.
Unlike Ken Hinkley at Port Adelaide in 2013, Pyke did not need to be on a billboard at the top of Port Rd nor in radio and television commercials saying: “We will never, ever give up!”
Pyke could just be the coach. If the West Coast premiership midfielder wanted to be reclusive — say go to the local supermarket with his baseball cap down low to avoid eye contact with the ever well-wishing fans who wore down Malcolm Blight in 1999 — so be it.
Of the seven senior coaches appointed by the Crows since 1991, Pyke has least connected with the city and people of Adelaide. He clearly has never wanted to replace the Premier as the man with the greatest influence on the emotions, confidence and spirit of South Australians.
In 1991, Graham Cornes engineered a Crows-led recovery to the SA economy after the State Bank crisis. In 1997-98, Blight did live up to the “messiah” tag to deliver back-to-back AFL premierships and gave South Australians more pride (just as the Crows club song says).
And in 2017, Pyke almost — almost — delivered the third AFL flag that would have again changed SA’s mood … and (as the club song says) made the Adelaide FC the “admiration of the nation” for overcoming unprecedented setbacks and challenges.
Less is known of Pyke than any of his predecessors.
But this luxury ends now. More and more is being asked of Pyke the coach as Adelaide hits its biggest on-field wall since 2011. Currently in a four-game losing streak, the Crows next week resume from the mid-season bye facing predictions of this run extending to seven — the worst run since Craig lost six in a row in 2011.
Pyke, the man, will remain a mystery. Uneasy in talking the basics of football in his AFL-ordained media conferences before and after games, the 49-year-old millionaire is unlikely to engage in a “fireside” chat on television to reveal his personality in the next three months.
Pyke, the coach, is up for public scrutiny, however. This he cannot escape.
Those who have worked with Pyke, particularly at the WA-based AFL clubs, note a man with exemplary understanding of the game and the way a game unfolds. The perfect “manager” from Monday and Friday. The master of the theory.
The grand final loss to Richmond in September has left the image that Pyke — as was said of Craig in a previous era — being inflexible, stubborn or lacking a creative feel on game day. This theme has only increased this season.
So the honeymoon is over. In the next nine weeks, Pyke will be tested like never before. And many South Australians will get another lesson on the folly of hanging their emotions on a sporting team.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
ALONG the way, there have been more than a few other extravagant theories.
Adelaide Football Club chief executive ANDREW FAGAN in his email letter to Crows members on Tuesday evening about the side’s 2018 collapse.
REALITY BITES
CROWS CONFIDENTIAL
WEARING many hats does trouble people in football, particularly when — as Collingwood president EDDIE McGUIRE knows far too well — there is a media role in the portfolio.
This dilemma engulfed Brownlow Medallist, Crows football director and TripleM breakfast radio host MARK RICCIUTO last week when it was claimed young Crows forward Mitch McGovern took issue with his contract after Adelaide traded in Carlton midfielder Bryce Gibbs.
Ricciuto said of Gibbs: “He’s on less money than what he was on at Carlton and he is on less money than Mitch McGovern. I know that for a fact.”
As the man commanding Adelaide’s football program there is no doubt Ricciuto knows what is in each of the confidential player contracts at West Lakes. But should Ricciuto be publicly declaring where Gibbs and McGovern stand on the salary scale?
If — as Ricciuto states as fact — McGovern is on more money than Gibbs this season, the suggestion that Gibbs has back-ended his contract to fit into Adelaide’s current salary cap gain more credibility.
And the case for public disclosure of AFL player salaries — as happens in so many other professional sports — becomes stronger. If an AFL club board member is prepared to make such declarations on player salaries in breakfast radio space, the moment for public listings cannot be far away … can it?
AFL WARNING
QUESTION of the week could be: What is the AFL — and some of its potentially adventurous clubs — taking out of the Optus fiasco with the World Cup soccer coverage from Russia?
Some clubs — including Adelaide — are fascinated with the prospects of generating more cash by taking AFL coverage from traditional free-to-air television and Pay-TV network Foxtel noting the growth in sports coverage with Twitter and Google at Wimbledon and in the American football NFL.
Surely the “Floptus” moments with the World Cup will make them think again. Surely.
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK
DID the Adelaide Football Club rush its injury announcement with goalsneak EDDIE BETTS at 9pm Tuesday by suddenly remembering he had a radio gig with FIVEaa breakfast the next day?
It was such a strange time for an injury update.
TWEETS OF THE WEEK
FROM SBS cycling, in particular Tour de France, present MICHAEL TOMALARIS:
I'm not a betting man but..
— Michael Tomalaris (@miketomalaris) June 19, 2018
World Cup Specials
$1.50 SBS to air all remaining World Cup Games
$2.40 Optus to retain exclusive rights after 21st June
$10 Denmark to score a penalty from VAR decision
$17 Australia to score a penalty from VAR decision
AND from everyone’s favourite, TITUS O’REILY:
If the Crows were any other business, Worksafe would have shut them down by now.
— Titus O'Reily (@TitusOReily) June 19, 2018
michelangelo.rucci@news.com.au
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