Adelaide coach Don Pyke admits he was forced to stop and remember football is “a people game” during the recent mid-season break.
Following a tough stretch that included four consecutive defeats, the break came at a perfect time for the entire Crows football department.
Pyke told Triple M Adelaide it was a good chance to sit back and reflect on what is truly important.
“It allowed you to take a step away, where there is no six-day break trying to find a way to win games of footy,” he said.
“I got to spend a couple of days with the wife and she could look at me and have a chat with me about what she is seeing.
“She knows me better than anyone in the world, and she’s going well, ‘how are you dealing with all of this and how are you going?’
“It allowed us to get a bit of
“It is an emotional game, a people game, and sometimes we lose sight of that in the industry, that it’s about people.
“I’m fortunate, I coach some great young men, we’ve had our challenges and some things that have caused frustration for us, but deep down they are ripping blokes and I will back them to the hilt.”
Going back to basics and remembering what’s important paid dividends for the team in their come-from-behind 10-point win over West Coast in Round 15.
Pyke revealed he generally struggles to have a full night sleep after games, and not even the win over the Eagles prevented him from having a restless night.
Luckily, the FIFA World Cup is on at a good time for Pyke, who stayed entertained in the early hours of the morning.
“I have this nasty habit after games of waking up at three, four o’clock in the morning, I don’t know why,” Pyke said.
“We won and I still woke up, so at least I had a smile on my face this week.
“When I’m awake, I’m awake, it’s not like I doze off, so I thought I’ll watch the last half of the soccer so I watched Uruguay and Portugal on Sunday morning, it was interesting.”
