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Adelaide Crows – where to from here

      Pyke is absolutely safe…for the moment!

ADELAIDE CROWS – COACH PYKE UNDER PRESSURE

Don Pyke is absolutely safe…at the moment” – Mark Ricciuto

This quote from Crows Football Director Mark Ricciuto was fine up to the point that he said “at the moment”.  Adelaide Crows Coach Don Pyke surely cannot be thrilled by that comment.

In the AFL Betting Tips Saturday afternoon game, we had the Crows as a very solid play on the bounce off recent poor performances. They were really quite dismal and it was a poor performance. The Adelaide Crows are now 1-4 since the bye with only a win over AFL bottom team Gold Coast Suns. They were 8-5 at that point and are now in a precarious 9-9 position barely holding onto an AFL top 8 spot. AFL Finals are now really under threat for the Crows.

AFL Finals 2019…Beers and Pizzas anyone

The Crows do look shot and there appears no other way of putting it at the moment. Another AFL season looks set to pass them by. Adelaide are a shell of the side that 2017 and the questions have to be asked what the hell is going wrong as they struggle to stay in the AFL Betting Tips finals race. They look slow, lack confidence and there does appear to be a disconnect between Coach and players. The futile exercise of the coach calling beers and pizzas is a strategy that sounds good but is completely knee jerk.

$2 million of wages running around the SANFL

Between Betts, Jacobs, Douglas, Gibbs and Co we reckon that’s about $2 million per annum of wages playing in the SANFL. This stat is about as damning as anything. Well maybe not as damning as Carlton Captain Cripps getting 39 possesions and 19 clearances. But it is not great. We mean, if Eddie Betts was ever going to get a kick at AFL level, well it is either against the bottom side (he kicked 6 versus Suns 3 week ago) or against his old club Carlton. As it turns out he kicked 4 goals against Glenelg.

When you have a lot of key players well below expectations it normally signals a systemic club issue and a discontented playing group. There are big issues at Adelaide make no mistake and the rot looks set to stay.

Adelaide Crows – where to from here

Don Pyke did take this side to the AFL Grand Final in 2017 so it cannot be “baby out with bathwater” stuff. It is all very well to dismiss a coach but you have to replace him. So given that 3 other clubs have a head start on Adelaide in the coaching search, unless Paul Roos puts his hand up (which he won’t) we think they probably stay with Pyke.

However, the other question to pose is which Crows are the “aberration”, the side that got to the AFL Grand Final in 2017 or the one that has put back to back poor/inconsistent years together? Whatever the case Brenton Sanderson was sacked for missing back to back AFL Finals years after almost playing off in the big one. So does the same apply to Pyke?

We think they win this week in a home game against lowly St Kilda and that will provide breathing space but for how long?

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