Adelaide Crows coach Don Pyke bereft of answers after grand final loss to Richmond

Adelaide coach Don Pyke could not explain why his team produced arguably its poorest performance of the season in its most important game of the year.

Pyke said his players were left “shattered” following their 48-point loss to Richmond in Saturday’s grand final. The Crows led by 13 points early in the second term, but conceded 11 of the next 12 goals as Richmond took complete control of the decider.

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After a rocky start Richmond took control of the second-half, romping to a 48 point win.

Pyke said the Crows would need to reflect on their showing. “I don’t know [why it happened],” Pyke said.

“We’ve got to look into that. All credit to Richmond. They played a fantastic game and obviously beat us quite convincingly.

“It was a disappointing day for us all round. So we’ll have a look, we’ll reflect on it, and we’ll learn. I think if you asked our players individually, there’d be some of them that felt like they produced one of their poorer performances on what is obviously a big day.”

The Crows were comfortably the highest-scoring team across the season, but kicked just 8.12 (60) on Saturday, their lowest score of the year.

Captain and key forward Taylor Walker kicked two goals, but was well down on his best, while star small forward Eddie Betts snuck an early major after a fumble from Tiger Nick Vlastuin but didn’t add to his tally after that. Fellow forwards Josh Jenkins and Andy Otten also had little impact.

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However Pyke said his team’s woes had stemmed from the Crows’ struggles in the contest, having lost the contested possession count by 27.

“Richmond outworked us at the contest. They won the contest. Extra numbers there, and no surprise the game got played in their half,” Pyke said.

“When the numbers are that far against you in the contest, it’s very hard.

“We tried to do some structural things, but you’re trying to put a patch on what’s a fair wound.

“One of the things that’s very hard from a coaching viewpoint is to provide effort. The players are responsible for effort.”

Pyke said ball movement was also an issue. “You’ve got to win your share and get some field position, and when we did win some ball, we weren’t able to maintain our field position,” he said.

“We weren’t prepared to be brave with our ball movement as we were earlier in the finals.”

It was the fifth successive season in which a non-Victorian team has lost the grand final to a Victorian side. In the last four of those games, the non-Victorian team finished above the Victorian team at the end of the home and away season, with Adelaide having been atop the ladder at the end of round 23.

However Pyke played down the role of the venue in his team’s performance.

“We know the grand final’s going to be played at the MCG. We get the opportunity to play here. We played here three times this year. I don’t think the ground played a role in that,” he said.

The situation is unlikely to change any time soon, with the MCG contracted to host the grand final until 2037.

It had been a monumental achievement for the Crows to even reach the grand final given the tragedy of then coach Phil Walsh’s death in mid-2015, as well as the loss of several key players in recent years, most notably superstar Patrick Dangerfield to Geelong at the end of that season.

Pyke said he remained upbeat about the club’s prospects going forward. “I sit here proud of my team, and what they’ve achieved. We had a bad day. We really did. All year I’ve been talking to you guys about our team and our even contribution, and today we didn’t get it. And that’s disappointing. Because when the big games are on, you’ve got to bring your best.

“Today we didn’t get it. We’ll dust off and we’ll get ready to go again.”

Adelaide had few winners on Saturday, although midfielder Matt Crouch finished his excellent season with another prolific game, ruckman Sam Jacobs more than held his own, and rebounding defender Rory Laird was lively, particularly in the first quarter. Midfielder Hugh Greenwood had a corked calf, while Jake Kelly (hamstring) and Luke Brown (knee) appeared to have minor injury concerns during the game, but Pyke said none were particularly significant.

Out-of-contract defender Jake Lever is expected to join Melbourne in the coming weeks, but Pyke wouldn’t expand on the timeline surrounding Lever’s contract.

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