COACH Don Pyke is backing Adelaide’s systems to overcome the loss of ruck stalwart Sam Jacobs for Thursday night’s AFL game against unbeaten Geelong.
Jacobs will miss the Adelaide Oval encounter because of a knee injury, with Pyke summoning Reilly O’Brien to lead the rucks.
O’Brien has played just two AFL games, both in 2016, but Pyke says the loss of mainstay Jacobs won’t trigger a change in tactics.
“We have got systems in place we want to think are not purely based on individuals,” Pyke told reporters on Wednesday.
“There’s some adjustments to make around that but systematically we want to play a similar style.
“It’s too hard otherwise … you can’t flip and flop all over the place so our structures will be similar with Reilly on board.”
Pyke had spent much of the week searching for chinks in Geelong’s armour – but admitted there weren’t many.
The Cats have beaten potential contenders Collingwood and Melbourne to open their season.
The Crows rebounded from an opening-round loss to down Sydney at the SCG last weekend, with Pyke believing the midfield duels would sway the result against Geelong.
“We can talk about a whole range of things but the reality is midfields are really influential in games of footy,” he said.
“We need to win our share and get enough pressure on Geelong to not allow them to either get the ball forward or impact the game.”
But Pyke was equally mindful of a revamped Geelong attack featuring Luke Dahlhaus and Gary Rohan, plus the stingy Cats defence.
“They have added a real different look to their forward line, clearly they have done a bit of a revamp,” he said.
“And we know the quality of their midfield.
“They have got strengths all over the place and the way they’re defending as well – they were able to defend 70-odd inside 50s from Melbourne last week.
“They have shown over the years they’re pretty strong defensively.
“I never go into a game thinking it’s going to be a shootout or it’s going to be an arm wrestle – we prepare for both.”
© AAP 2019
