Adelaide Crows coach Don Pyke pleased with how his side played ‘their way’ against Gold Coast
Adelaide coach Don Pyke says the best aspect to come from Saturday night’s win on the Gold Coast was the style of play.
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CROWS coach Don Pyke says what pleased him most about Saturday night’s 95-point thumping of an undermanned Gold Coast was that the team got back to playing the way “we want to play”.
In a game that was won on the back of better ball movement from Adelaide, Pyke praised the “good, strong, even” performance from his players.
“We were in the contest and from early on I thought we had control of the game,” he said.
“We moved the ball better than we have recently, which was good to see.
“We were really disappointed with last week’s loss and they’re a proud group and they weren’t going to sit back and see a repeat of that.
“So I was happy with how we started the game and set the tone early and we were able to play some really strong footy, which was great.”
Pyke was also pleased that the Crows won every quarter.
“We respect the fact that Gold Coast are a little undermanned at the moment, but we had to come up here and get it done and they did that,” he said.
“We ended up winning every quarter.
“(Gold Coast) kicked a couple late on us, which wasn’t ideal, but that sometimes happens in those games.
“I thought our guys’ intensity and pressure around the ball was pretty consistent all night and again that was a challenge they set themselves, was to keep playing the way we wanted to and they were able to do that and winning every quarter is a good outcome.”
Pyke said he was impressed with Wayne Milera’s run through the midfield. Milera was among the Crows best and was among the best periods of play all night, picking up 27 disposals, taking seven marks.
“We’ve been exploring Wayne playing through the midfield a bit and we thought tonight was a good opportunity to give him some more minutes in there and he did some really nice things, he’s building,” he said.
“When we recruited him, we knew he was going to be a good player, and we’re starting to see that now and he’s just going to get better from here I’m sure.”
Pyke also welcomed Tyson Stengle to the senior team, who kicked three goals and picked up 10 disposals.
“It was good to see ‘Tys’ out there,” he said. “He’s dangerous down there, we know that was the thing that he was consistently hitting the scoreboard at SANFL level so good to give him an opportunity and he certainly didn’t look out of place, so good signs from him.”
But the real test for the Crows comes in five days when they take on Essendon at Adelaide Oval.
“Each week is a challenge as we know in this industry, but it certainly doesn’t hurt from a confidence and a belief viewpoint to come up here and get a good solid win and head back to Adelaide now to play a big game against Essendon on Friday night.
“The reality is, we’ve got to keep winning. We keep winning, we’ll keep our position on the ladder or keep moving forward on the ladder.”