Don Pyke facing biggest challenge at Adelaide as Crows tumble to 10th with third consecutive loss

CROWS coach Don Pyke is facing his greatest test in his three years at the Adelaide Football Club after the Crows suffered a third straight loss and tumbled to 10th on the ladder after losing to Fremantle in Perth.

Eddie Betts leads Crows players off the field after losing the Round 12 AFL match between the Fremantle Dockers and the Adelaide Crows at Optus Stadium in Perth, Sunday, June 10, 2018. (AAP Image/Richard Wainwright) NO ARCHIVING, EDITORIAL USE ONLY

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CROWS coach Don Pyke no longer recognises his once pacesetting Adelaide team — and nor does the AFL world that last year admired the grand finalist for its smooth and high-scoring football.

Adelaide has tumbled to its third consecutive loss and 10th spot with a 6-6 win-loss record that leaves the battered Crows in a massive fight to contend for a fourth successive run in September’s top-eight finals.

And the three-point defeat to an unfancied and inexperienced Fremantle at Perth Stadium last night is darker for reliable defender Luke Brown suffering a left-ankle injury in a fall from a marking contest in the last term.

Tom Doedee latches on to Michael Walters to win a holding-the-ball decision in one of few highlights for the Crows in the second half at Perth’s Optus Stadium on Sunday. Picture: Paul Kane/Getty Images

Pyke, who has never worked through a three-game losing streak in his three seasons at West Lakes, refuses to put a label on Adelaide’s dire position that externally will be seen as an on-field crisis — partly created by the Crows’ gambles with fitness and mind training in the pre-season.

“I don’t look at it that way; I look at it that we have won six and lost six — and we’ve got some work to do,” Pyke said.

“For us, now it is a great opportunity — a challenge and an opportunity both in the same breath.”

Pyke held no regret for his rushed recall of captain and key forward Taylor Walker, who scored just 1.2 in a modest return from his hamstring woes.

“I’m still comfortable with the decision,” Pyke said.

“He performed like a guy who has missed three weeks … and it wasn’t through his conditioning. It would not have been an easy game at times (being) ahead of the ball.”

Pyke repeatedly offered the “no excuse” line on his team’s fall to the Dockers. But he is working the hefty injury list at West Lakes by saying his players have suffered by a lack of “consistency and continuity” in training and in play.

“Clearly, we are not playing to our level; we’re certainly not playing the sort of footy we’ve historically played,” Pyke said. “It is fair to say we are not playing with our usual level of confidence.

Docker Luke Ryan wraps up Crows skipper Taylor Walker. Picture: Daniel Carson/AFL Media/Getty Images

“We need to gather ourselves — and be really clear which is the way forward and head down that path.

“We’re not going to just sit take a (defeatist) attitude … we’re going to take the attitude that we have an obstacle in our way and we need to get past it.”

Adelaide returns to the MCG — for the first time since its grand final loss to Richmond — to play finals contender Hawthorn on Saturday. Pyke is hopeful of regaining forward Tom Lynch (ribs) and All-Australian defender Rory Laird (broken hand), but is not putting vice-captain and prime midfielder Rory Sloane (foot) in contention until after the mid-season bye.