If the Bryce Gibbs’ axing was to send a message, the Adelaide Crows players have failed to note it

A week after dropping high-priced recruit Bryce Gibbs to get a reaction on the field, Crows coach Don Pyke is under the spotlight for his response off the field.

Taylor Walker of the Crows. Picture: Scott Barbour/Getty Images

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Where does Crows coach Don Pyke go now?

If — as presented — high-priced Carlton recruit Bryce Gibbs was dropped last week to send a message to the under-performing Adelaide players, how does Pyke respond in his match committee this week after the Crows slipped further into mediocrity?

The list of Crows players who have fallen into deeper concerns on their form grew with Adelaide’s 12-point loss to the previously winless North Melbourne at the Melbourne Docklands on Saturday night.

Crows coach Don Pyke’s decision to dump high-priced Carlton recruit Bryce Gibbs to the SANFL was to have sent a “strong message” on his selection policy at Adelaide. How this continues after the Crows’ poor performance against North Melbourne will test Pyke. Picture: Tom Huntley

If Gibbs’ form was a line in the sand, many are on the wrong side of that marker today.

So does Pyke stay true to his theme? Has he become painted into a corner by his defining statement on selection?

“Performance is what holds you in the team,” said Pyke in declaring his selection philosophy last week. “So whether it be the midfield or anywhere else, we need to make sure we are consistently performing to a high standard.”

Adelaide is anything but the team that set the pace in AFL Season 2017 when it was minor premier. The Crows scored a 108-point average, after managing 113 in 2016 — Pyke’s first year in charge at West Lakes.

Adelaide’s scores this season are 55 (v Hawthorn at home), 88 (Sydney at SCG), 75 (Geleong at home) and 59 (North Melbourne).

Adelaide Crows senior coach Don Pyke at three-quarter time Picture: Michael Klein

The 69-point average this season is three goals down on last year’s mark; and almost seven goals off the 2017 pace. It also is the lowest scoring average in the Crows’ 29-year AFL story.

It makes a mockery of key forward Josh Jenkins’ enthusiasm at the start of the season for a recharged Adelaide attack free of injury and able to re-establish long-standing connections.

Jenkins told The Advertiser during the pre-season: “I played every game last year … but it wasn’t with Eddie Betts, Taylor Walker and Tom Lynch, let alone with Mitch McGovern, there alongside me for all those 22 matches.

“We had built our attack with us playing 90 games together … and last year it would not have been more than four or five.”

Jenkins, Walker, Betts and Lynch have played four consecutive games. The return of the “old gang” has delivered just 15 goals — Betts (6), Jenkins (4), Lynch (3) and Walker (2).

Only 14 Crows players have scored goals this season — a year when the game, with its new rules, and Adelaide, with its healthy list, was expected to return to its blitzing ways as defined in 2017.

Crows co-captain Taylor Walker leads his side off the field after the loss to North Melbourne. Picture: Scott Barbour/Getty Images

Instead, Adelaide leaving the impression last season’s failing were not just about injury maintenance and that pre-season camp.

If Pyke is true to his “strong message” with Gibbs, he has to persist with significant changes at selection this week for the home clash with the super-confident Gold Coast (that has never beaten the Crows).

Or is the bail-out option to suggest there is not enough viable selection options in the SANFL to merit another axing to match the statement delivered with Gibbs?

Darcy Fogarty’s formline in the SANFL — where he has been worked as a defender rather than as a forward — probably does not force a change to the Adelaide attack. But many will note co-captain Taylor Walker’s numbers too ...

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