‘We expected to go the other way up the ladder’: Don Pyke disappointed with Adelaide Crows early end to the season
Adelaide coach Don Pyke says missing the finals this year is even more disappointing than last season after having the same lofty expectations for the Crows as their fanbase.
- Analysis: Dogs onslaught shows why Crows need change
- Match report: Crows finish season with a whimper
- Live ladder: All to play for on Super Sunday
- Will Sunday be goodbye for these players?
Adelaide coach Don Pyke says missing the finals this year is more frustrating than the club’s fall from grand finalist to 12th in 2018 and he takes responsibility for treading water.
The Crows ended the campaign with a 10-12 record — two wins fewer than last season — after Sunday’s 34-point defeat to the finals-bound Western Bulldogs in Ballarat.
The loss came 12 months after Adelaide’s season ended with a 104-point smashing of Carlton on a night when Pyke spoke optimistically about what 2019 could offer.
On Sunday, the fourth-year coach conceded he’d had some uncertainty this season about where the club was headed but it would now look into exactly what went wrong.
“Clearly at the end of last year we were disappointed at missing out and we’re probably more disappointed, to be honest,” Pyke said.
“We expected to go the other way up the ladder and we’ve probably just treaded water.
“Ultimately, that’s the responsibility of me and our coaching group and our playing group to go ‘what’s caused that? What do we need to change?’
“And that’s what we’ll undertake through the review process to get a feel for what is it we can actually do to get better and continually work on to give ourselves a chance to play finals footy, which is where we want to be.
“I know where our fans and our members want to be, and they’re frustrated and they’re disappointed as well — and I understand that because their expectations were probably matched by ours.”
Pyke has faced increased scrutiny in recent weeks as the Crows have slumped from fifth spot with an 8-5 record to seven defeats from its past nine matches, including three in a row.
He accepted that as part of footy but said he had faith in the club’s “high quality people” to turn things around.
“We’re not sitting at a footy club where I question the people we have,” he said.
Adelaide knew its finals chances were dashed on Sunday due to Hawthorn’s upset win over West Coast in Perth the previous night, ensuring the Hawks leapfrogged the Crows on percentage.
Departing duo Richard Douglas and Andy Otten spoke to the group leading into the game about what their time at the club meant to them but the Crows were shell-shocked early as they conceded the game’s first six goals.
“Obviously we came out with not a lot to play for and got jumped early against the breeze,” Pyke said.
“From then on it was pretty much even for the rest of the game but we never looked like winning it.
“But to our guys’ credit, they fought it out really well.”
With speculation surrounding the futures of experienced players such as Sam Jacobs, Eddie Betts, as well as Hugh Greenwood and Alex Keath, Pyke said more list management decisions would soon be made.
But he did not subscribe to thinking that the club needed to go backwards to go forwards, pointing to the promise of Darcy Fogarty and Chayce Jones over the past few weeks as young talent that could help Adelaide bounce back next year.
“I’ve never been a real believer in windows,” he said.
“We’ve got some talent on our list, it’s now about getting the right blend and balance around our senior players.”
Pyke said kicking better and sustaining pressure on the ball were two basic fundamentals the team needed to improve.
“The reality is we finished earlier than we wanted to … and we’ve got some work to do.”