Adelaide coach Don Pyke says fade out against Port Adelaide due to mitigating circumstances of pre-season

ADELAIDE faded away in their pre-season loss to Port Adelaide but coach Don Pyke isn’t overly concerned, saying there were mitigating circumstances for the fade out, which is all part of playing pre-season matches.

Sam Jacobs had a huge battle with Paddy Ryder in the ruck. Picture: Sarah Reed

ADELAIDE coach Don Pyke has received a harsh but timely reminder of how quickly a game can unravel after the Crows on Saturday went down by 26 points to Port Adelaide at Alberton.

For the second of its two JLT Community Series matches, a fade-out was match-defining.

Against Fremantle at Strathalbyn the Crows recovered to win, against the Power it was the passage that allowed the home side into the game and set up a win.

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In the first 10 minutes of the third quarter Port Adelaide’s Chad Wingard and Jack Watts kicked two goals each to turn the Crows’ final rehearsal ahead of the home-and-away season on its head.

Bang, bang, bang, bang and the Adelaide team that had looked mighty, slick and in control for all of the first half was suddenly cut down to size.

Sam Jacobs had a huge battle with Paddy Ryder in the ruck. Picture: Sarah Reed

It is this simple — if those 10 one-way minutes don’t happen, Adelaide wins.

Pyke was pragmatic about the fade-out but will watch those minutes of the third quarter closely as he has a final practice match behind him and starts to consider his Round 1 line-up.

“Until half time I think we were playing some pretty good footy,” Pyke said. “I thought we were not only attacking and moving the ball pretty well but (also) defending the game pretty well.

“And in the second half we moved away from some of the things that worked for us in the first half.

“To Port’s credit, they came over the top of us.”

Pyke said there were some mitigating circumstances to the fade-out that started the slide.

Among them were getting minutes into players ahead of Round 1, playing with a larger bench and trying different things.

Darcy Fogarty is in the mix for a Round 1 debut after an impressive performance against the Power. Picture: Getty

But as he watches the game back he will still have a close look at how a lead could slip away so quickly and so dramatically before his side steadied and made a fight of it.

“It was probably more the style we played,” Pyke said. “It’s a bit different when you have seven or eight on the bench as well — you end up guys rotating through and around and it’s a challenge to get the right minutes into guys ... you try to achieve multiple aims.”

One of the highlights for the Crows was the show put on by top draft pick Darcy Fogarty in the first quarter.

He took three inside-50 marks inside the first 15 minutes and finished with three goals for the match in an impressive display of lead-up marking and long kicking.

He also had some minutes in defence, but Pyke expected him to be played as a forward for most of his first season in the AFL.

Pyke said Fogarty was in the mix for Round 1.