Pressure mounts on Adelaide and Port Adelaide boards to make AFL coaching changes
Port Adelaide 2004 premiership captain Warren Tredrea says both the Crows and Power boardrooms are under pressure to make calls on their senior coach with fans unhappy at recent results.
- Sunday pizza at Pyke’s after horror Blues loss
- Every Port position to be reviewed: Koch
- ‘Absolutely safe’, Ricciuto backs Pyke
- Finals are a minimum in 2019 says Hinkley
If Don Pyke and Ken Hinkley weren’t contracted, they’d be out of a job.
With both clubs underachieving and with only four rounds to go, regardless of a finals appearance, the tree needs a shake.
Adelaide have lost four out of their past five matches by an average of 33 points - their sole win coming against the hapless Gold Coast Suns by 95 points.
Port Adelaide has also lost four from five by an average margin of 28 points – their only win coming in Showdown 47 by 57 points.
While Adelaide and Port Adelaide are stumbling on the field, off the field both club’s board of directors must be seriously considering where they go from here.
A hurdle in any immediate coaching change is the fact both Pyke and Hinkley were prematurely locked in to new deals until 2021, and its unknown whether the deals are conditional or not.
Right now, Crows and Power fans are demanding change after two years of mediocrity - you know they’re upset when hashtags such as #pykeout was trending on social media over the weekend.
Crows members are within their rights to query where their football club is headed.
It was less than two years ago their club was playing off for a premiership, since then they’ve selfdestructed and fallen off a cliff.
Last season was set to be the year to go one better, but they misread the mental state of the group following their grand final collapse and then reacted by pushing the players too hard on the track.
The pre-season camp debacle, multiplied by a number of hamstring injuries being the obvious concerns.
Fans wanted answers and accountability from the Crows leaders - yet no one paid the price.
They’re also asking how come 2017 assistant coach David Teague didn’t have his contract renewed when his forward line was ranked No.1 in the competition?
And why did his replacement Josh Francou leave after serving only one year of a three-year deal, so soon after moving his family home from Sydney?
They challenged the leaders, trying to make it better.
After a horror 2018, and with a soft draw playing St Kilda and Gold Coast twice redemption was on the menu, yet all Crows fans have become accustomed to seeing is a team who consistently falls apart when the pressure’s applied, especially after half time.
In seven of Adelaide’s losses against Hawthorn, North Melbourne, West Coast, Geelong, Port Adelaide, Essendon and Carlton, the Crows have conceded 54 goals after the main break, while only scoring 18 majors themselves.
Fans are right to be upset, either their team isn’t fit enough, or Don Pyke and his coaching staff can’t make moves that can change the course of the game.
There’s a disconnect with the playing group, and players have lost trust in the football program and the leaders who run it.
Happy teams who work together aren’t regularly beaten up at the contest and appear dishevelled and unwilling to bring pressure to fight it out.
The other big issue facing Adelaide is too many senior players are below their best and their list management has been desperate and poor – they went all in, with little thought for the future by handing out big money long-term deals to players who are right now in serious doubt as to whether they’ll be able to run the course and perform accordingly.
Co-captain Taylor Walker, Josh Jenkins and Bryce Gibbs still have two years to run on big money deals, while Eddie Betts, 32, still has one year to go.
Why were the contracted Charlie Cameron and Mitch McGovern let go so easily, when McGovern had only just re-signed on a long-term deal.
And what future lies ahead for out of contract duo Alex Keath and Hugh Greenwood when Adelaide’s salary cap is reported to be almost full?
While across town at Alberton, Port Adelaide also has its fans off-side.
After finals appearances in only three of the past seven years, fans are demanding change.
It’s little wonder, the Port Adelaide faithful have had enough and with only 27,591 attending last Saturday night’s one-point home loss to GWS Giants, pressure is well and truly being felt at board level, let alone the club’s purse strings.
The stats don’t lie, Port Adelaide has only won nine of its past 25 matches, and when you consider wins against the reigning premiers West Coast in Perth, the smashing of home town rival Adelaide and then top of the table Geelong, why is it they can’t perform week in, week out?
For a club steeped in tradition, naming two captains and ignoring history of a single captain wearing number one, they’ve misread the room and annoyed the diehard fans.
And how come former skipper Travis Boak was left to flounder on a half forward flank for all of last year, when upon his immediate return to the midfield in 2019 he’s recaptured career best form averaging 31 disposals per game, six more a game than his previous best ever year.
But what disgusts fans the most is the Power has failed to score a goal in seven uncompetitive quarters in 2019 and it has cost them victories.
In four first quarters against Collingwood, Hawthorn, Adelaide and GWS and in three final quarters against Fremantle, Western Bulldogs and Brisbane, Port Adelaide has conceded 22 goals and 21 behinds while only adding 20 behinds to their score.
Fans believe Port Adelaide have been treading water for too long, and bar the exposure of a few young guns, they still play with no obvious forward structure, are unreliable in front of goal, have poor skills and decision making and can’t consistently get the best out of its players.
And with the club’s 150-year celebration set for 2020, the club will have to ask themselves, with attendances on the decline and memberships numbers down, will it be cheaper to pull the trigger on a coaching change for 2020?
With the Crows set to embark on a rebuild at seasons’ end and with Port Adelaide’s already underway, the respective boards must ask themselves are Pyke and Hinkley the right coaches to lead the forward.
The fans are clearly voting no, they have had enough and want change.
It’s now over to the board rooms, to make a courageous call.