Adelaide Crows coach Don Pyke backs axed Eddie Betts to bounce back to his best after shock axing
Adelaide coach Don Pyke says Crows fans haven’t seen the last of Eddie Betts after revealing he took the unusual step of breaking the news of the star forward’s axing over a coffee.
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Crows coach Don Pyke says he still believes there is a lot of “good footy left in Eddie Betts” despite the shock decision to drop Adelaide’s much-loved star for the clash against his old side Carlton at the MCG.
The Crows dropped a bombshell at the selection table dropping Betts for the first time in his Adelaide career, just two weeks after kicking six goals against the Gold Coast but has struggled for consistent form in recent weeks.
Pyke said he broke the news to Betts, the Crows oldest player at 32, over a coffee on Thursday — something he doesn’t usually do when dropping players form the team.
“Obviously Eddie is a much loved player and a guy I love and I love coaching and it wasn’t an easy decision to take but these are the decisions we need to take to give us the best chance of winning this week,” he said.
“Eddie has been frustrated with his form…. But I believe there is still a lot of good football in Eddie Betts the good thing is that we aren’t seeing that deterioration in his speed, agility and movement unfortunately it is just his form.”
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Earlier this week Betts himself said he had moments this year when he thought the game had passed him by, but he was confident of still playing the final year of his contract next season.
Pyke backed Betts to rediscover his best form/
“The thing in sport and footy is the same you look at guys it seems that 30 almost seems to be the barrier,” he said.
“But there is Roger Federer at 38 still competing and winning grand slam tennis titles.
“For me age is just a number, for me it is about how they are able to manage their performance, their speed, their ability and love for the game their commitment to the things they need to do to maintain that high performance.
“The AFL has plenty of examples of this, Shaun Burgoyne, Luke Hodge and even ‘Boomer’ Harvey before that.
“So there are plenty of guys and I’m not seeing with Eddie that this is the end by any means, I think Eddie has really good footy left in him.
“I’m seeing still good footy left in Eddie Betts.”
Tyson Stengle will come in for Betts, while out-of-contract Hugh Greenwood has also been dropped and Alex Keath left out to fully recover from an ankle injury — although he will travel to Melbourne as an emergency.
Patrick Wilson and Andy Otten will also come into the side.
Pyke also said Crows co-captain Taylor Walker was no chance to be dropped this week, despite intense debate over his recent form and place in the team.