Crows midfielder Hugh Greenwood says the fun factor hasn’t gone too far at Adelaide but he has no idea whether the axe will fall at selection this week

Crows midfielder Hugh Greenwood says the walls are not falling in at West Lakes but the fun factor hasn’t gone too far after inaugural captain Chris McDermott took aim at their mindset on the weekend. LISTEN TO THE LOWDOWN PODCAST HERE.

Lowdown Podcast art

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• Power pair’s on-field reunion 10 years in the making

Crows midfielder Hugh Greenwood says the walls are not falling in at West Lakes but the fun factor hasn’t gone too far after inaugural captain Chris McDermott took aim at their mindset on the weekend.

In his Sunday Mail column McDermott said he was sick of hearing the word “fun” coming out of Crows HQ and players needed to accept the game is “demanding, intimidating, challenging, confronting and exhausting”.

Crows coach Don Pyke will have to find a replacement for Paul Seedsman but will he make any unforced changes to play the Kangaroos? Ryan Pierse (Getty).

Speaking on The Advertiser’s new football podcast The Lowdown, Greenwood — who is yet to play an AFL game this season — said the mood wasn’t fun because they were losing but they also aren’t panicking.

Greenwood also said he had no idea whether coach Don Pyke would swing the axe at selection for Saturday’s clash with North Melbourne.

“The fun comes from working hard, so we had fun in the pre-season knowing we were working our butts off and striving towards a fresh start,” Greenwood said.

“And once the season rolls around you get your fun out of winning games of footy, and we’re not doing that at the moment so obviously it’s not going to be fun.

“But we just haven’t rewarded ourselves. Some of our key statistics have been OK but our inability to capitalise on stuff going forward has really hurt us. I think we’re 16, 17, 18 for scores inside 50, we’re kicking 15 behinds a game.

“We’ve had fun in the pre-season and we kept saying the fun word because we were working hard and getting a lot out of it.

“But now the fun’s going to come from winning games of footy.

“It’s not quite a word we’re using a lot at the moment because we’re losing but we trust the work that we’ve put in during the pre-season and if we can fix a couple of small things the rest will take care of itself.”

The Crows are copping it from all quarters after their 1-2 start to the season. Picture: Cameron Spencer (Getty)

Power co-captain Tom Jonas — who also headlines The Lowdown — added that it was important not to get too down after a loss.

“You don’t need to make a conscious effort to make the footy club a graveyard, you lose a game and the boys naturally come in a bit flat,” Jonas said.

“So there’s no harm in having a joke and trying to get the boys up and about because I think that’s more conducive to improvement and wanting to be there, and spending longer working on your game.

“Just because you’re not getting the results doesn’t mean it has to be the worse place to be around.”

ALSO IN EPISODE 4 OF THE LOWDOWN THIS WEEK:

TOM JONAS ON

— Travis Boak’s rejuvenation

— Charlie Dixon’s road trip to Horsham

— Ken Hinkley on the UltraG machine

— How Connor Rozee stays grounded

HUGH GREENWOOD ON

— In defence of Reilly O’Brien

— The Paul Seedsman miracle

— Sam Willoughby inspiration

— Don Pyke on the treadmill

Plus we discuss pic of the week — does Pyke speak about his playing days at West Coast?

A football card of Don Pyke from 1994.

Greenwood, Cameron Ellis-Yolmen, Tyson Stengle, Andy Otten and Darcy Fogarty are yet to play a senior game this season and may be considered at selection this week.

“It will be interesting but it’s a hard place for me to comment,” Greenwood said.

“History shows that Pykey is quite conservative and it’s good as a player when you’re in the side and he backs you in, he backs the group in and trusts that the guys he’s selected previously to get the job done.”

At Port Adelaide Ken Hinkley hasn’t been afraid to make tough calls already this season by leaving star defender Dougal Howard out of the Power’s Round 1 team and last week dropping emerging young forward Todd Marshall.

“There’s been a concerted effort from our coaching group to pick players who have been in form,” Jonas said.

“We saw on the weekend Toddy Marshall went out and Sam Gray who had 35 and kicked four the week before for the Maggies came in so there’s definitely been people getting rewarded for effort.

“I think Kenny in the past has been happy to give blokes who have runs on the board second and third chances but I think he wants to stand for something a little bit different this year and if you play good footy you get rewarded.”

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