ADELAIDE coach Don Pyke has moved to ease any pressure on injury-prone rising star Brad Crouch to replace Patrick Dangerfield next year, insisting the club champion is irreplaceable.
Crouch has displayed glimpses of incredible talent in his 25 games, but the 21-year-old has been consistently struck down by crippling injuries.
This season a stress fracture in his foot sidelined him for all but a handful of SANFL games, while in seasons past a broken leg and hamstring issues have also played havoc with his development.
His total absence last season means his return would go some way to filling the hole left by Dangerfield, who departed West Lakes in October to join Geelong.
But Pyke said he wanted to create an environment where no one man was depended upon.
"I haven't coached Brad but from what I understand he's a talented player who hasn't had a great run at it," Pyke told FIVEaa on Monday.
"Losing Patrick Dangerfield is not like you're going to replace him with one player … from a system view point I don't want to create a system that's relying on one player.
"Hopefully Brad can get himself fit and healthy and step in and play a role for us but he'll be part of a midfield that's going to rely not on one guy, it's going to rely on the whole group of them – maybe eight to 10."
Pyke's ambition to avoid reliance on stars will also help the side deal with inevitable injury concerns.
As a structure and strategy guru under West Coast coach Adam Simpson this year, Pyke saw the Eagles deal with incredible injury problems in defence to complete a brilliant season and win through to the Grand Final.
"The game doesn't allow you these days to dictate who's available and who's not," he said.
"You rely then upon a system or style of play that can cater for anyone to step in and play their role.
"From an education viewpoint and from a learning environment, we've got to make sure that we've got depth in each of those positions and we've got the capacity to fill players in.
"If we can't then we've go back to just relying on our stars and if our stars aren't fit or aren't playing well then where does that leave us?"
Pyke said he was looking forward to getting the playing group together and watching them train, starting next Monday when the first to fourth-year players return.
Having little true knowledge of his playing group, Pyke described the next few months as his "journey of discovery", meaning players could return to pre-season training with a clean slate.
He also tipped the Crows would adhere to a very structured game plan next season, although he specifically avoided the term "robotic" and said there would be room for individual freedom.
