Adelaide will ‘take the game on’ next season under Don Pyke’s coaching tenure.
The Crows targeted speed and skill during this year’s offseason trade and draft periods. Troy Menzel, Paul Seedsman, Curtly Hampton and Wayne Milera complement the likes of Riley Knight and Rory Atkins, who both added welcome pace to Adelaide’s game style last season.
The Club became one of the most dangerous teams offensively and ranked third for average points scored this year behind only Grand Finalists Hawthorn and West Coast.
Balance remains the key, but Pyke said he’d instruct his players to be bold with the ball ahead of his first season in charge.
“I want to encourage the players to take the game on,” Pyke said in afc.com.au’s Fans on One feature.
“I’m going to encourage the players to play to their strengths. I want to make sure we recognise the things that we’re good at (and) keep working on the things we’re not so good at.
“I want us to play with a clear mind and confidence to be able to play the style of footy that we’ll practice and we’ll train.
“If we can do that, I think we’ll give ourselves the best chance.”
Pyke is now almost two months into his new role as Adelaide’s Senior Coach and will round out his first week working with the entire squad on deck.
The former Eagles assistant said he’d already been impressed by the strong character of the players.
“They’re a tight group. They get on well,” he said.
“The guys dealt with a lot last (season). In difficult circumstances they really came together and were able to get a result at the end of the year when it would’ve been pretty easy just to stay ‘it’s all too hard’.
“But they didn’t.
“I think that puts us in good stead, because for me it’s important that we’re united in how we approach the season and how we play.”
Adelaide introduced four debutants last season and has 24 players on its list with between 10-100 games of AFL experience. A total of 17 Crows-listed players are currently 21-years-old or younger.
“We’ve still got a relatively young group,” Pyke said.
“Our leaders are quite young, we’ve got a nice group of guys in the games experience (bracket) whereby they’ve got enough history of playing and playing well.
“The exciting thing is whether we can take the next step and how much improvement we’ve got left in the group.“
