As Crows coach Don Pyke fronted the media to explain the reasons for his departure, he stayed true to himself right until the end
As Crows coach Don Pyke resigned his position at the Adelaide Football Club, he did it with dignity and grace, surrounded by senior players, board members and staff.
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In the end, Don Pyke stayed true to Don Pyke.
For his final press conference at the Adelaide Football Club, Pyke may no longer have been wearing his usual Crows tracksuit, but he was still very much the same man who’d fronted up to the media each week since he was first appointed in the October of 2015.
He was measured and well-spoken. Calm and gracious. Somewhat stoic, even.
Earlier in this year, Pyke had said that he strove to be the type of coach who “won with humility and lost with dignity”. And that’s precisely how he handled his final moments in front of the Adelaide press.
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Pyke read from a prepared statement on his iPad and as he scrolled through his written words there were moments — particularly in the beginning — where his wavering voice gave away just how much this hurt.
The 100 or so people who filed in to listen to Pyke’s final address — which included not only a significantly swelled press corps, but a myriad AFC staff and coaches along with board members — was so much larger than a typical press conference that the club relocated it out of their usual room and into a larger space nearby that is usually reserved for official functions and player meetings.
Of course, this was no typical press conference.
It was just before midday when various whispers began to filter through that Pyke had resigned the coaching role that he had held for the past four seasons.
Then at 12.29pm came the official confirmation via an emailed “Crows Club Statement”, with a press conference called for 2pm. Just after 1pm the carpark at the Crows’ West Lakes headquarters — unusually quiet than when compared with a Thursday afternoon during the men’s season — began filling with cars, as media vehicles started filing in.
As the lunchtime patrons at the Crows cafe, located at the entrance to AFC headquarters, went about their usual business, the media contingent swelled. But the relative calm inside the cafe could not disguise that this was a day of great upheaval and change.
Outside the club, the dozen or so cameramen and photographers stood outside, tripods resting on shoulders while football writers quietly chatted among themselves. Inside the club, Pyke was talking to some of his senior players about his decision to leave the club, two seasons before the end of his contract.
Those same senior players were standing at the back of the room (including captain Rory Sloane and outgoing captain Taylor Walker alongside 2014 All-Australian Brodie Smith and Tom Lynch), as Pyke revealed how the significant pressure of the AFL industry had taken its toll on himself and his family.
Pyke was seated next to Crows chairman Rob Chapman and club CEO Andrew Fagan. He he looked down at the black tablecloth in front of him and swigged on his water as he listened to Chapman explain that the club would go through an exhaustive process to find its next leader.
Who knows what was going through his mind at this point. In fairly typical Pyke fashion, you couldn’t tell just by looking at him.
And then, with a rousing round of applause instigated by Chapman, it was all over and Pyke walked calmly from the room and into the great unknown. That press conference must have been the hardest — and longest — 28 minutes of his life. But he did it just the way Pyke should have.
Originally published as As Crows coach Don Pyke fronted the media to explain the reasons for his departure, he stayed true to himself right until the end