Adelaide Crows coach Don Pyke challenges his players to climb the AFL mountain again

ADELAIDE coach Don Pyke has challenged his players both privately and publicly to climb the mountain again next year and pointed to his time at West Coast in the early 90s as proof that redemption can be won.

ADELAIDE coach Don Pyke has challenged his players both privately and publicly to climb the mountain again next year and pointed to his time at West Coast in the early 90s as proof that redemption can be won.

Pyke and chairman Rob Chapman spoke to the players behind closed doors after Saturday’s grand final loss where they were told the club was proud of them but the reality was they had come up empty-handed when it mattered.

“Don said the challenge is to get back here next year, I didn’t play last year and I’ve never been to a grand final obviously, but I didn’t realise how hard it actually is to get here, and that’s what makes it so gutting,” defender Jake Kelly said.

“It is a mountain of work from November to right now to get to this moment and you have one day to put it on show and if you’re not on, this happens.

“You’ve got to use it, you either give up and float through your career I guess now and go ‘it’s f...... all too hard’, but I guarantee this club won’t do that and individuals in this club won’t do that.”

Pyke pleads with his players to find a way to get back into the game as the Tigers took control on Saturday. Picture: Sarah Reed.

Later that night Pyke used his address to players, staff and supporters at the Exhibition Centre in Melbourne to issue a challenge to come back next year and go one better.

Pyke explained how he played in the 1991 losing grand final with West Coast before the Eagles rebounded and won flags in 1992 and 1994.

“I’ve been part of a losing grand final in 1991, when I thought we were the best team, and today I thought we were the best team going in,” Pyke said.

“We lost in ‘91 and came back and won in ‘92 but we only did it because we were prepared to have a look in the mirror and work out the areas we had to get better at, and understand the level required to play premiership football.

“We get an opportunity, it doesn’t have to be tomorrow in terms of looking at the game, but in the next couple of weeks to really reflect on what today was about and what we learnt about ourselves individually and as a group.

“Already I can say there were some positives in 2017, I’m very proud of the players and what they achieved but the reality is if we sit here content, we’re going nowhere.

“We came to win a premiership and came away empty-handed and that’s got to drive us to continue to improve - coaches, players, high performance.

“If we sit still and accept that just making a grand final is good enough, then we won’t win one.”

Pyke said while the players would now enjoy a well-earned break, coaching and football department staff had already started thinking about 2018.

“The players have had a long season so they need a spell, enjoy a bit of a break because they put a lot of energy and effort into the season,” he said.

“But from a coaching and list management viewpoint we’ll start pretty much straight away working out where we can get better, plan pre-season training and start the journey again.”