Adelaide Crows' biggest flaw laid bare by ruthless Bomber counter attacks
Essendon may have laid out the blueprint on how to defeat the Adelaide Crows after ruthlessly exposing the Crows' biggest flaw in its thrilling comeback win.
After falling behind by 30 points halfway through the second term, the Bombers outran Don Pyke's men with a remarkably efficient counter-attacking game style off its halfback line.
Led by the speedy Connor McKenna and Adam Saad, the Bombers constantly hit the Crows on the counter, kicking 13 of its 15 goals from its own defensive 50.
Speaking on Fox Footy, Brisbane Lions great Jonathan Brown put the blowtorch on the Crows' forwards for not applying enough defensive pressure.
"No contribution defensively from (Eddie) Betts, (Taylor) Walker, hardly any tackles between them," he said.
Adelaide captain Taylor Walker struggled to make an impact on the game after his elbow injury AAP
"Walker zero tackles, two to Betts, Lachie Murphy, what's he in the team for, one tackle, (Josh) Jenkins no tackles.
"So their forward line is just not tackling at all and they just can't lock the ball in.
"Can the forwards pressure up or are they just trying to kick goals?"
Essendon is considered to be one of the quickest sides in the AFL and the pace across the ground left the Crows midfielders looking decidedly slow.
Brown said that the worry is that Pyke has already made an adjustment for the lack of pace in the midfield by pushing defensive duo Wayne Millera and Brodie Smith into the middle.
"Question marks again on their midfield. Why can't they stop these back-half scores?" he said.
Pyke has shifted Milera (L) and Smith (R) into the midfield to add some much-needed pace around the ball AAP
"The ball leaves the contest and they just can't run. 13 goals from the back half which is just unheard of.
"It's concerning because they've put Milera and Smith in and around the centre square now purely for that reason, that when the ball leaves the contest, they can't get some run out to the outside."
Following the loss, Pyke noted the Bombers' proficiency counter-attacks and said it was unsustainable for his side to continue playing in the manner in which it did.
"It's been a bit of a trend lately hasn't it? A lot of their score came out of our front half," Pyke said in his press conference.
Adelaide coach Don Pyke said the coaching staff will review the team's play-style after it was ripped apart AAP
"They were able to get the ball through the corridor and their efficiency was really strong.
"I think in the second half they kicked seven or eight goals from our half which puts your backs under too much pressure.
"Our ability to execute some of the fundamentals was nowhere near the level (needed).
"We'll have a look at that and we'll review that and we'll see exactly what the breakdown is and what we need to do to rectify it because it's not sustainable to play that way and try and win games of footy."
The loss leaves Pyke's side sitting at eighth on the ladder with a match-up looming against a resurgent Carlton side in Round 19.
