Pyke’s pledge: We’ve learnt

ADELAIDE coach Don Pyke is adamant his AFL ladderleaders have learnt from harsh lessons dished out by Geelong.

Which is why even the understated Pyke openly admits to excitement about tonight’s latest bout between the heavyweights.

“We played them six or seven weeks ago and, as I said at the time, we needed some things to improve on and to learn from,” Pyke said yesterday. “And I think our recent form suggests we have.

“We’re playing some good footy, so for me it’s an exciting opportunity. We get to play against a really high-quality side in a big game where the stakes are high and that is what you play the game for, so I see it as a great opportunity for our playing group.”

Pyke has cleared star Rory Sloane of any lingering effects of concussion the midfielder suffered in last Saturday’s win against Melbourne.

And as Adelaide seeks to snap a five-game losing stretch against the second-placed Cats, Sloane will be joined in the Crows side by former cricketer Alex Keath.

The 25-year-old, who has played cricket for Victoria, will make his debut as a replace- ment for injured defender Jake Lever (hamstring).

“He has earned it,” Pyke said of Keath, who turned his back on cricket at the end of the 2015-16 summer. “[It’s] fantastic for Alex, for the work he has done and obviously the transition from cricket.”

Keath’s AFL entrance comes as Pyke shuts out any noise from pundits declaring the clash against Geelong as being Adelaide’s judgment day and a chance to end a hoodoo.

“I don’t really deal in the external, to be honest,” Pyke said. “There’s some key components in our game we need to continue to do better that we haven’t done well enough against Geelong in the past.

“There’s some things we can do differently and there’s some things we need to adapt to that perhaps they [Geelong] do that has caused us problems in the past.”