AT THE start of November last year, with his players in off-season mode, Adelaide coach Don Pyke travelled to the other side of the world looking for the next competitive edge in his coaching.
He arrived in London at the Leaders Sport Performance Summit, where representatives from the biggest leagues in the world had gathered to discuss the keys to success in their fields.
As well as presenting at the summit, Pyke sat through meetings with coaches, managers, recruiters and heads of performance, sharing candid ideas about what they each valued, what they were working on, and the challenges they faced.
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He heard from cycling legend Sir David Brailsford, Toronto Blue Jays president and CEO Mark Shapiro of Major League Baseball fame, and speakers from fields like the military and the performing arts.
Hawthorn elite performance manager Andrew Russell and Darren Burgess, who was head-hunted from Port Adelaide to join English Premier League club Arsenal last year, also presented together.
But rather than finding a progressive idea or advancement in technology that would give the Crows the one percent they were looking for, it was the importance of old-fashioned values that was reinforced for Pyke.
"Across all the sports that I spoke to, that was the one thing about building culture that really stood out," Pyke told AFL.com.au.
"They're things that we all grew up with – honesty, integrity, work ethic. Just the character of the people gives you a better chance to achieve.
"People with high quality character will commit to something bigger than themselves, and in our industry now, as scrutinised as it is, the reality is you want to be able to back in your people.
"Do they make mistakes? Of course they do, we all make mistakes. But if they do they're going to be accountable and responsible for them. They're not going to shy away from it."
The renewed focus on old-fashioned values is a lesson that is starting to take hold in coaching, with big data seen as a distraction from what really matters in sport – people and relationships.
As well as the Leaders summit, Pyke read widely over the off-season on culture and leadership, homing in on coaches who had been able to have long-term success.
He read about the career of US basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski, who has had great success with Duke University and the men's national basketball team over the past 37 years.
The 49-year-old also read former Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson's book, The Captain Class, which profiles the most successful teams in history and asks what they had in common.
"It's just challenging how you think," Pyke said.
"Some of them can reinforce some of your thoughts, others can present a different way of doing to things.
"But either way you're trying to progress and learn and find things you can adopt and bring to your program … you always learn something."
Damien Hardwick commiserates with Don Pyke after the Tigers' Grand Final win. Picture: AFL Photos
Part of Adelaide's pre-season has been around building relationships, and Pyke believes the disappointment of last year's Grand Final defeat will bring his players and coaches closer.
"Some of the experiences they've had and some of the sharings they've had since that time, we believe will add to that connection," he said.
"That's important, all successful teams have it."
Acknowledging what happened on Grand Final Day and not sweeping the team's worst performance of the year under the rug has also been important.
The first step for Pyke and his coaches was to review the match as a group, away from the players, and decide where it was won and lost.
There were some clear lessons in that review, with areas of strength through the season – like contested ball – becoming weaknesses on the day.
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"Contested ball numbers were significantly in the negative (-30) and if you look at any game across the season, it's very difficult to overcome that level of deficit," Pyke said.
"To save up that performance until the last one was probably the bitter pill to swallow. That being said, we had to reflect on the season as a total and not be wedded to purely one game."
The players weren't part of a Grand Final review until they returned from their off-season break, taking a lot of the emotion out of the process.
It allowed the group to look at the match from different perspectives, Pyke said, rather than focusing on the obvious and taking a "short-term view" straight after the game.
"The players are just looking for clarity and closure on what it was, and I felt like as a club we got that process pretty right," Pyke said.
"It was necessary for them to talk about it, see some vision and see exactly what it was that created it.
"So they came in on the Monday and, to be honest, since that Friday when we had the last meeting to close it off they've been fantastic.
"They have a clear picture of what they want to get better at individually and as a collective."
Pyke will coach his 50th game in round one, with a 69 per cent winning record since taking over in tragic circumstances from the late Phil Walsh at the end of 2015.
He is among the most low-key coaches in the game and is quick to change into t-shirt, jeans and sneakers once his duties in an Adelaide polo shirt are done.
It is away from the camera when his dry wit and passion for his job become obvious, with all his efforts this off-season directed to helping the Crows go one better in 2018.
"I don't have any trouble getting out of bed in the morning to coach these guys," he said.
"I'm lucky to work with a really good group of young men who are a pleasure to coach.
"I love doing it … but I don't think there'll be a banner for my 50th."
