Crows coach Don Pyke welcomes the Showdown scare his team needed

ADELAIDE coach Don Pyke says a scare against Port Adelaide was the ideal preparation as the club prepares to finish its home-and-away season against West Coast next week.

Finding a way ... Taylor Walker celebrates after kicking a vital goal in Showdown 41. Picture: Sarah Reed

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ADELAIDE coach Don Pyke says a scare against Port Adelaide was the ideal preparation as the club prepares to finish its home-and-away season against West Coast next week.

Pyke conceded the previous comfortable wins against Essendon, Brisbane and Fremantle had let some concerning “patterns” to take root and that the fierce nature of the Showdown had helped reinforce the intensity and pressure required from here on.

“I thought it was a good, high-contested game of footy,” Pyke said. “I wouldn’t expect anything less.

“We knew that Port in Showdowns prior to that have come out and played the way they did.

“For us it was in some respects a really good game to have based on the previous three games, which had been comfortable wins. It was good to get a tough win like we did tonight.

“Just our ability to keep going with it.

“I think you can fall into some patterns which exist through winning by easy margins, whereby the pressure on the ball is not sustained and consistent.

“So I was really happy with our game.

“Tonight’s game and next week’s game will give us a really good lead-in (to the finals).”

Pyke spoke highly of the players’ maturity, because he conceded there had been times when the momentum had been with the Power, which had entered the match as the longest-odds underdog in Showdown history.

The effort also reinforced that the players had confidence in both the club’s way of playing and one another.

“Port Adelaide got a bit of a run-on towards the end there and I thought our guys showed a bit of maturity just to stick true to what we know can create winning (football) and found a way in the end,” Pyke said. “I think the other thing we’ve got is some confidence and belief in how we play.

“And I think the guys are starting to play a lot of footy together. We’ve been pretty consistent all year in terms of the players (used) and when you get the chance to play next to each other you build that trust.”

Pyke also recognised the effort of young midfielder Matt Crouch, who took out the Showdown Medal after collecting a game-high 33 disposals.

And Pyke said he would leave it up to the club’s doctors and medical staff whether to next week rest Brodie Smith, who came off on a stretcher with concussion.