AFL legend rinses 'stupid, mediocre' Adelaide Crows after poor season
AFL legend and two-time Adelaide premiership coach Malcolm Blight says the powerhouse club is at its lowest ebb.
Blight's scathing attack comes days after the Crows were knocked out of finals contention with a heavy loss to the Western Bulldogs.
The Crows have drafted in a sports psychologist and a high-performance expert to be on a four-member external panel to review all club operations.
An internal review will also be held after the Crows finished outside of the top eight in consecutive years, having lost the 2017 grand final.
Blight, who coached the Crows to back-to-back flags in 1997-98, says he is staggered by the decision to outsource the post-mortem.
Blight wants the club to return to its glory days such as the 90s where they were back-to-back premiers Getty
"It is stupid, mediocrity at its best, it is a lack of leadership," Blight said on Wednesday.
"The players are all on holidays. So how are they going to judge the coaching fraternity, from Don Pyke down?
"I'm telling you now, it is one of the worst decisions I have ever seen, and I don't care who says what, because how can you judge a coach when the players aren't there to see what they do?"
Pyke is contracted until the end of the 2021 season but his position is nonetheless in jeopardy.
Adelaide's football director Mark Ricciuto on Tuesday said he would stand down if the review found he was the cause of the club's problems, suggesting that Pyke would do likewise.
Blight said it was "disturbing" that the Crows' performance had fluctuated dramatically over the course of the past decade.
Crows coach Don Pyke admitted that his side was in a 'funk' following the bye AAP
"This is a mediocre football club and until someone actually grabs it by the throat and changes it, it's going to continue," Blight told SEN radio.
"You can talk about coaching, you can talk about player recruitment, you can talk about list management.
"But to actually do this, to have an external review on what a lot of people are getting paid internally to actually make those decisions, I think this is the weakest I've seen the Adelaide football club."
Key forward Josh Jenkins appears unlikely to remain at West Lakes while Hugh Greenwood and Alex Keath are trade targets of rival clubs.
The Crows held exit meetings on Wednesday, with veteran goalsneak Eddie Betts tightlipped on whether he would be at the club next season.
