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Why the players, not coach Don Pyke, will pay the price if the Crows miss finals

History would suggest that if the Crows miss the finals again, Don Pyke’s job will be in peril. But the current Adelaide mentor does still have some important allies, writes Michelangelo Rucci.

Usually when an AFL coach hears he has total (or “100 per cent”) support of his club’s board, he rings his manager to check how his contract reads for a termination payment.

Crows chairman Rob Chapman said of Adelaide coach Don Pyke on Monday: “He’s got the full support of the chairman and the board.”

Pyke, who lives next door to Chapman, need not fear. Since late April, Chapman has made it very clear in the Adelaide board room that Pyke is not to become the “next Brenton Sanderson” who was sacked at the end of 2014 with two years remaining on his contract.

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Pyke also has another two years on his current deal, but he commands much greater faith in the boardroom than Sanderson did after Adelaide missed AFL finals in consecutive seasons.

Usually when an AFL coach hears of division among his players — and no-one is denying the Crows group has become factional for varying reasons — he knows it is easer for a club to move on the coach than the 46 players.

Adelaide coach Don Pyke with Scott Camporeale after the Round 12 win over the Giants. Picture: Sarah Reed
Adelaide coach Don Pyke with Scott Camporeale after the Round 12 win over the Giants. Picture: Sarah Reed

Crows football director Mark Ricciuto said on Monday: “We’ve got an ageing list …”

The faith this ageing list commanded to end Adelaide’s two-decade premiership drought has evaporated. It is time to move on players to create a new squad at West Lakes.

In October, at the annual AFL end-of-season trade period, Adelaide will be in a strong position to change this. It has Carlton’s first-round draft pick to lever significant deals. It has players who will factor into trades, particularly with Gold Coast as the Suns seek experienced “solid citizens” to re-establish their squad. And the Crows have players who — some since May — have been eager to seek new challenges at new clubs.

There is no question of a residual fallout from the infamous pre-season camp at the Gold Coast last year. No matter how often Adelaide tries to put away this saga, it lingers. The critical bonds of trust between coaches and players were strained if not broken in the fallout of the Collective Mind mess. Some will never be repaired. It is best for these players to move on.

Adelaide coach Don Pyke during the Round 19 loss to Carlton. Picture: AAP Image/David Crosling
Adelaide coach Don Pyke during the Round 19 loss to Carlton. Picture: AAP Image/David Crosling

So the opportunity stands for Pyke to build his own team at Adelaide — one that can live to his philosophies on how the game should be played. He deserves the right to create his own theme with the Crows rather than complete other coaches’ agendas.

Pyke arrived at West Lakes at the end of the dramatic 2015 season to inherit a squad that had been fashioned by others, most notably the late Phil Walsh. He almost completed the mission started by Walsh with Adelaide’s 2017 campaign that ended in a disappointing grand final performance against the less-favoured Richmond.

Pyke left that grand final disappointment determined to have Adelaide live to his beliefs and notable theory on how an AFL premiership should be won.

And he has run into the greatest philosophical question in sport: Does the coach build his game plan to the strength of the players? Or does he condition his players to work to the strengths of his playbook?

Clearly, Pyke this season redefined the way he wanted Adelaide to play. Stronger emphasis on defence when Crows teams have been traditionally known for working to repeatedly breaking the 100-point barrier.

Stronger emphasis on controlling ball movement rather than the quick, slingshot moves from halfback that caught out opposition midfields and defences.

Stronger emphasis on Pyke’s way.


But the Crows players — who have moved sideways far too often this season — have lost their dare and seem so uncomfortable with Pyke’s new playbook. This message was noted, in a frank post-game review by the players, after the round 4 loss to North Melbourne at the Docklands in mid-April.

The past month — with second-half collapses to Port Adelaide and Essendon and a telling loss to Carlton at the MCG on Saturday — has highlighted the current group of Crows players are not on the same page with Pyke’s playbook. Hence the uneasy note of Pyke “losing the players”.

There must be change at West Lakes where Chapman is on the record — after sacking Sanderson — that Adelaide cannot and will not tolerate mediocrity. And for a change it will be the coach who survives and the players who are moved on.

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Original URL: https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/sport/afl/expert-opinion/michelangelo-rucci/why-the-players-not-coach-don-pyke-will-pay-the-price-if-the-crows-miss-finals/news-story/08ebc39cb6b19e1a5e1ccf644443c7f0