New West Coast Eagles CEO Don Pyke talks about the club’s challenge to rise from the bottom of the AFL ladder

Acknowledging the club’s recent failings, premiership hero Don Pyke’s public introduction as West Coast Eagles CEO set the right tone, writes MARK DUFFIELD.

Don Pyke has been appointed CEO of the West Coast Eagles. Picture: West Coast Eagles.

Don Pyke, the man who will become West Coast’s fifth CEO on January 15 next year, was both as sharp and blunt as he needed to be at his first press conference on Thursday morning.

Sharp enough that when the first “live” question of his yet to commence tenure arrived 20 minutes into his first press conference he didn’t fumble the answer.

Dani Laidley, a former Eagles teammate of Pyke’s from 1988 to 1992 had confirmed interest in the vacant West Coast AFLW coaching position: Would she be considered?

“I can’t see any reason why not but I haven’t had a chance to talk to Trevor (Nisbett) or others about what we are doing with the AFLW coaching position yet. But it is certainly an option I would have thought.”

And he was blunt enough not to “gild the lily” on where the club was currently at after the second wooden spoon in its history, a third WAFL wooden spoon in a row and an AFLW team near the bottom of the ladder.

Don Pyke on his appointment at the club’s fifth CEO. pic.twitter.com/LzXLs4qqxU

— West Coast Eagles (@WestCoastEagles) November 2, 2023

“Clearly right now as we sit here the game has given us that feedback,” he said. “We are currently not at the level to be winning regularly which is what we aspire to do.”

“I look forward to working with Adam (senior coach Adam Simpson). We are not going to gild the lily here. We have got some challenges to confront to make sure we return to playing the sort of footy we know we are capable of playing.”

Pyke, a 132-game veteran at West Coast who shared a best and fairest with Glen Jakovich in 1993 before success as a businessman, assistant coach, senior coach and finally an assistant again at Sydney over the past three seasons, always shaped as the front runner for the Eagles CEO position.

When Trevor Nisbett declared he would not seek a contract extension beyond 2024, Pyke said his mind had turned quickly to what his next challenge in football was.

“What role did I see going forward,” he said. “Do I want to stay in the coaching side of things or do I want to use some of my other skills around the business side? The longer that process went the more comfortable I got that it was a great opportunity and a great challenge to lead the footy club.”

He considered the Eagles his football home.

After a 132-game playing career, Pyke considers West Coast his football home.

“I was reluctant to head to another footy club. I was looking for an opportunity to come back to somewhere that I felt an emotional connection to – that was part of my DNA,” he said.

Pyke, known to have a high football IQ and the most successful coach to take a club CEO role after guiding Adelaide to the 2017 grand final, saw no awkward lines of demarcation in his relationship with Simpson – who he had assisted on the way to the 2015 grand final.

“It was a bit of a leap of faith for Adam. I think I was in charge of stoppages or structures or something else and a bit of strategy. We developed a very strong relationship there. He supported me coming on board and supported me fully when I went to Adelaide as well.”

I look forward to working with him and supporting him to get the best outcome,” he said.

“Obviously I have close recent history on the football side of things but I will be stepping back because I am the CEO. I am not going to be running football.”

“If I have got some value to add which I think I will have, we will have those conversations on how we jointly get ourselves back to where we want to be.”

Pyke said his latest football challenge was “across the spectrum”.

“It is the men’s program. It is the women’s program, and it is the WAFL program. How do we get back to providing our members and our fans and our people with what they want, which is a highly competitive and successful football team.”

“I have got a very simple view. I have been a believer since day dot that if every player in the team gets better year in and year out then your team gets better. Our obligation is how are we getting better? How are we actually improving? If we keep improving, the results will take care of themselves.”

Pyke credits his time as assistant coach of the Sydney Swans with broadening his knowledge of building a successful club. Picture: Quinn Rooney/Getty Images

Nisbett will remain in the role until Pyke commences on January 15 and is expected to depart to take accrued leave after a short transition period of less than three months.

Pyke said his experience in Sydney had taught him that while the Swans were a very different club to the Eagles, the fundamentals of success remained similar.

“Sydney is a different club, a different environment to operate in. Having made 18 of the last 21 finals series they have got a successful model which functions and relies upon them to win games to win the hearts and minds of Sydneysiders. They have got to win games to put people in their stadium. West Coast is a different club. We have got a large supporter base, a high membership base but the fundamentals are still the same and I think that is what I learned at Sydney. It is the investment in people.”

“If we truly look after our people and we care for our people like Sydney do – it is a bit of a nebulous thing. It is almost this sense of belonging to an organisation that allows you to have a better life. That is the beauty of sport. We get an opportunity every week in front of our fans and our tribe to play a game which it is but it has such deeper meaning across the community.”

“I think that is what Sydney do very well. The way they induct people into their organisation. How they look after people in troubled times, which happens, how they support people when they make mistakes, which happens. It is life. All we have as a footy club is people. We don’t make products, we don’t produce anything else. All we are is a production of human endeavour.”

“Ultimately if we get that right it is great fun to be part of and that is what we all do it for and that is why we all love it and are passionate about it.”

The Eagles have missed finals in the past three seasons. The club has never missed finals for more than three seasons over its 27 years in the AFL.

Pyke would not put a time frame on a return to September but did say: “I think we have got enough talent in our current group to play clearly better than we have in the last couple of years.”

“I don’t know how long it is going to take. I am not going to sit here and make statements about where we are going to finish, how many games we are going to win.”

Decisions on the future of coach Adam Simpson will confront Pyke in his first season in charge. Picture: Paul Kane/Getty Images

He said there would be no issue with being confronted with tough decisions on familiar faces at the club.

“As much as I consider myself a part of West Coast, I have worked here for two years of the past 20 since I left the board in 2004 and joined Adelaide as an assistant coach. I can bring fresh eyes to the club from that perspective I believe.”

“We need to understand what has created the club. This club didn’t just arrive here. This club has been built off a whole range of people and efforts and energy and commitment from people who have played to people who have been benefactors of the club. That is the human capital that has been invested in building the club.”

He planned to embrace the Eagles massive profile in Perth and the fishbowl style attention that created.

“The days of pretending it is not real and trying to put yourself inside a cupboard – that is not going to work. We have to embrace it. There are times when we will be able to enjoy success. There are times when we have to face failure. That’s life. As long as we meet both of them with the same attitude we will be okay.”

He said his tenure in Adelaide, which unravelled after a calamitous pre-season camp, had taught him that mistakes were inevitable and the key was learning from them.

“You are going to make mistakes. In Adelaide we made a couple of mistakes. We learn from those. We apologise. That reflection time does allow you to go back and see things in a different way,” he said.