Field Marshal: How Geelong has dismantled Adelaide since Don Pyke started coaching the Crows
THERE is no dancing around it. Under Don Pyke, Adelaide has been absolutely smashed by Geelong. But how have the Cats crippled one of football’s strongest teams?
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DON Pyke might need to make a detour to an Officeworks near West Lakes on his way to training today.
It is ‘Back to School’ for Adelaide, and Pyke’s exam is scheduled for Friday night against Geelong.
Pyke’s Crows have failed their first three tests against the Cats, and the young coach has spoken about the “learnings” each time.
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After the Round 11 defeat at Simonds Stadium, Pyke said: “This isn’t the first time it’s happened against Geelong, so we’ve got some learning to take out of it. We play them again in six weeks”.
That night the margin was 22 points, flattering the Crows after they kicked five of the last six goals in junk time.
After six weeks of revision, it is time to cram. The Cats have dominated Adelaide for a decade, but the results under Pyke have been startling.
Pyke has impressively beaten 18 of the 19 coaches he has gone head-to-head with, assembling the AFL’s most devastating side.
But at 0-3 he is one of 19 winless coaches against Chris Scott, along with Luke Beveridge (0-4), Damien Hardwick (0-6), Justin Leppitsch (0-5) and Mick Malthouse (0-7).
The Cats’ system has totally disarmed the Adelaide machine, twice at Simonds Stadium and once at Adelaide Oval.
Geelong has managed to stifle the powerful rebound game of Rory Laird and Brodie Smith and grind Adelaide’s lethal offence to a halt.
Daniel Menzel kept Smith to just six possessions at Adelaide Oval last year and Nakia Cockatoo did the job later in the season.
In Round 11, a rotation of Cats restricted Smith and Laird to a combined 31 disposals when they average 54 in other games.
And it translated to the scoreboard. In the three Cats losses under Pyke, Adelaide’s scores from halfback have halved.
The Crows’ turnover game has been shut down, suffering a 50-point swing against Geelong.
Under Pyke, the Crows average a whopping 116.8 points and have been ranked No.1 in attack in both 2016 and 2017.
Against the Cats that tumbles to just 67 points with Taylor Walker (5.5), Eddie Betts, (4.3) and Josh Jenkins (7.1) all failing to kick a bag from three matches.
Geelong defender Jed Bews missed Round 11, but will play on Betts this week.
The Cats’ catalyst has been their midfield. While Patrick Dangerfield (foot) and Rory Sloane (concussion) are in doubt, the Cats appear to bat deeper.
“Contested possession numbers didn’t lie, and the uncontested didn’t either,” Pyke said after Round 11.
“We were down nearly 100 possessions and 35-odd contested possessions.”
In Round 11, Pyke was unhappy with his team’s pressure at the second possession in Geelong’s chains.
It was too easy for Dangerfield and Joel Selwood to win the ball and sweep it to a Zach Tuohy or Andrew Mackie in space.
Geelong’s contested ball dominance led to an Adelaide-like scoring blitz in Round 11, generating 9.10 in the first half.
“The efficiency in which they scored in the first half was very unlike us,” Pyke said.
“They had 25 inside 50s and 20 shots on goal — a few setbacks there, which was disappointing.”
After Saturday night’s win against Melbourne, Pyke knew he had homework to do.
“They’re (Geelong) a side that we haven’t previously performed well against,” he said in Darwin.
“It’s another test and we’ll see if we’ve made any progress in terms of what we’ve learnt from previous games against them.”
Let’s see what the Crows have learnt.
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