Don Pyke


Donald Lachlan Pyke is a former Australian rules footballer and the former senior coach of the Adelaide Football Club in the Australian Football League. He played for the West Coast Eagles from 1989 to 1996.
Pyke was born in the United States where his father Frank was studying sports science. He grew up in his father's home town of Perth and later in Canberra, where he played representative football and cricket for the Australian Capital Territory. Pyke was recruited by for the 1987 WAFL season, playing in a premiership in his first season and winning the club's best and fairest award in his second season. This led to his recruitment by West Coast, who selected him prior to the 1988 National Draft. Pyke spent eight seasons at the club, playing in premiership sides in both 1992 and 1994, and sharing the Club Champion Award with Glen Jakovich in 1993. He finished his AFL career with 132 games and 97 goals.
After retiring from playing, Pyke was the senior coach of Claremont from 1999 to 2000. He also spent time as an assistant coach at AFL Adelaide in 2005/2006 and in administrative roles at West Coast, including a period on the board of directors 2001 to 2004. Pyke rejoined West Coast as a strategy coach at the end of the 2013 AFL season 2013 season, under Adam Simpson. He was appointed senior coach of Adelaide in October 2015, replacing the deceased Phil Walsh. He coached the team to the 2017 AFL Grand Final where it lost to Richmond.

Playing career

Pyke was born to Frank Pyke and his wife, Janet, on 5 December 1968, in Bloomington, Illinois. His father, who had previously played for in the WAFL, was teaching at Illinois State University, having moved to the United States in 1966 to attend Indiana University. Pyke's other brothers, Stephen and James Pyke, who later played cricket for South Australia, had been born in Australia. Pyke and his family returned to Western Australia in 1972, after his father accepted a role at the University of Western Australia. The family again moved in 1977, to Canberra, where his father had accepted a role as Head of the Centre for Sports Studies at the University of Canberra. Pyke excelled at junior level at both football and cricket, playing for the Belconnen Football Club and representing the ACT cricket team at under-16 and under-19 level.
Pyke was recruited by the Claremont Football Club for the 1987 season, and played in the club's premiership win over. He also represented the Western Australia under-19 cricket team in two matches at the 1987–88 Australian Under-19 Championships, playing alongside future Test cricketers Brendan Julian and Alan Mullally. After winning Claremont's best and fairest award in 1988, playing mainly as an attacking rover, Pyke was recruited by the West Coast Eagles with a pre-draft selection in the 1988 VFL Draft. He was one of five pre-draft selections, with the others including future premiership players Peter Sumich, Craig Turley, and Scott Watters.
Making his debut in round one of the 1989 season, against at the WACA Ground, Pyke played 16 consecutive games before being dropped after a nine-possession game in round 16 against. Due to injury and poor form, he only played four games in the 1990 season, under new coach Mick Malthouse. In the round two game against, Pyke kicked three goals, a career high. Pyke was later developed into a player more renowned for his defensive skills. He was a member of the Eagles' Grand Final-losing side and played in both the 1992 and 1994 premiership sides. Pyke was knocked out by Gary Ablett in the early stages of the 1992 grand final, but returned to play an important role in the win. Playing mainly as a tagger, he tied with Glen Jakovich for the 1993 Club Champion Award, also earning seven Brownlow Medal votes, and was runner-up in the best and fairest to Jakovich the next year. A shoulder injury forced his premature retirement from playing in 1996, although he returned to play in Claremont's 1996 premiership side.

Coaching career

In October 2015, Pyke was appointed as the head coach of the Adelaide Crows. The Crows made the semi-finals in his first season as coach but were defeated by the Sydney Swans. In 2017 Pyke coached the Crows to their second McClelland Trophy and brought them to their first AFL Grand Final since 1998 but fell short on Grand Final day by 48 points to the Richmond Tigers. On 12 September 2019, Pyke resigned as head coach of the Adelaide Crows.

Statistics

Playing statistics

! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1989
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1990
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1991
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1993
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1995
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1996
! colspan=3| Career
! 132
! 70
! 58
! 1730
! 620
! 2350
! 392
! 218
! 0.5
! 0.4
! 13.1
! 4.7
! 17.8
! 3.0
! 1.7
! 13

Coaching statistics

! scope="row" style="font-weight:normal"|2016
! scope="row" style="font-weight:normal"|2017
! scope="row" style="font-weight:normal"|2018
! scope="row" style="font-weight:normal"|2019
! colspan=2| Career totals
! 93
! 56
! 36
! 1
! 60.21%
! colspan=2|

Post-playing career

After his retirement, Pyke continued his involvement with the Eagles, serving as team runner in 1997 and 1998. In 1999, Pyke became the senior coach of the Claremont until his resignation in 2000. He then became a director at West Coast for four years from 2001. In 2003, Pyke was rewarded for his contribution to the West Coast Eagles with life membership. In late 2004, Pyke resigned from the Eagles' board of directors to become an assistant coach to Neil Craig at, whom he had previously interviewed for the Eagles' job. In late 2006, Pyke resigned as Adelaide's assistant coach after two seasons to return to Western Australia, and concentrate on his business. He has two daughters with his wife, Jodie. Pyke was named in West Coast's Team of the Decade, in 1996, and Team 20, in 2006. In October 2013, he was made an assistant coach at West Coast under the new senior coach Adam Simpson, specialising in "strategy, stoppages, and structure".
On 9 October 2015, Pyke was appointed as the head coach of the Adelaide Football Club, succeeding the late Phil Walsh who was murdered midway through the 2015 AFL season.