Injury-ravaged Elliott keen to stay with Pies

TUESDAY, JULY 30, 2019 themercury.com.au SUBSCRIPTIONS 1300 696 397 CROWS champion and current board member Mark Ricciuto has quashed reports Don Pyke has lost the Adelaide players.

Rumours have been surfacing over the weekend that Pyke had lost the full support of the playing group following their fourth loss in the past five weeks to Carlton in Melbourne on Saturday.

“That’s not what I believe,’’ Ricciuto said. “Don Pyke is absolutely safe at the moment, of course he’s under pressure but at the mid-season bye all the players were very happen with what’s going on.

“Unfortunately it’s backwards since the bye.

“They need to get on top of what’s causing it and change it really quickly. If it doesn’t change quickly then they have to change more personnel.

“We’ve got an ageing list, but when you’re in the eight, surely you’re picking a side to win and try and keep winning and make finals, the problem they’ve got is the kids they want to pick aren’t in great form,’’ he said.

Ricciuto said the issue the Crows were facing was evident to everyone and a solution had to be found quickly.

“On the weekend again the midfield was badly beaten. Absolutely smashed in clearances and contested possession. Whenever any side gets that you’re going to be behind the eight ball,’’ he said.

Ricciuto said Adelaide were clearly struggling to maintain the ball in their offensive half of the ground. gone JAMIE Elliott is determined to continue his career in black and white stripes despite injury concerns that Nathan Buckley concedes have him playing in “survival mode”.

Collingwood’s continued injury crisis will see the Pies play Gold Coast despite almost half of their players injured and unavailable.

Despite calls for a fullblown review the Pies insist there is no issues with their Holden Centre surface and have no plans for a formal investigation over and above end-of-year assessments.

Star midfielder Dayne Beams returned to the club yesterday after a mental health break, with the Pies not ruling out a VFL return in the coming weeks after hip surgery.

Elliott is one of the club’s most injury-prone players, available for only 34 games in the past four seasons.

As Collingwood plots a course forward to become a more resilient side, his free agency status means the Pies will have to make a decision on his future at year’s end.

He is determined to remain a Pie but ideally would have found the durability and form that saw the club’s list management team offering him a long-term deal with financial security.

If he cannot secure a satisfactory contract he could decide upon a fresh start, with his free agency status attractive. Instead Elliott, 26, has only one goal in the past four games after 12 goals in his first seven appearances.

In that time he missed Rounds 9-15 with a hamstring issue then was rested as a precaution after the flight back from Perth where the Pies took down West Coast.

In 10 games he is averaging career lows in disposals and the lowest goal average, score involvements and marks since his debut season.

Buckley said on Triple M on Saturday it was hard to judge Elliott’s performances given he was still trying to regain faith in his body after missing all of 2018 with injury.

“He has had a few little hiccups along the way but he’s played more football this year than we have seen in the previous couple.

“But judging him on his football at the moment and what he is and what he isn’t is pretty hard to do given he is probably still in survival mode quite a bit. I just think it’s not the time to be judging what Jamie is or isn’t,” he said.

“He hasn’t been able to play consistently enough.

“And any time we get him out on the park is a bonus for him at the moment to try to reestablish himself at the top level.”

The Pies have lost the most games to injury since 2013, and could have only 27 fit players to choose from against the Suns.

They continue to battle to find the line between resting players and fast-tracking them back from injury.

Elliott looks short of a gallop but Taylor Adams retore his groin when pushing hard on the training track to return ahead of time.