Senior Coach Don Pyke says Crows fans will see several new faces as well as players in different roles throughout the course of the JLT Community Series.

Adelaide will start its pre-season campaign against Richmond at Etihad Stadium on Friday night.

Sixteen Crows are yet to play an AFL game for the Club: Harrison Wigg, Curtly Hampton, Troy Menzel, Dean Gore, Harry Dear and Tom Doedee, rookies Jono Beech, Hugh Greenwood, Alex Keath and Paul Hunter, and draftees Jordan Gallucci, Myles Poholke, Elliott Himmelberg, Matt Signorello, Ben Davis and Ben Jarman. 

Pyke expected a number of emerging players to feature across Adelaide’s pre-season matches.

“Jordan Gallucci and Myles Poholke were our highest draft picks and we’d be keen to have a look at them at some point through the JLT. Some of the other (draftees) are a bit more developmental and will take a little bit of time to come on,” Pyke said.

“There are also a number of second and third-year players, who haven’t had opportunities, and most of those guys we want to have a look at in the pre-season too.”

A focus of Adelaide’s pre-season has been developing more flexibility within the playing group.

Forward Charlie Cameron, who showed glimpses onball last season, has impressed on a wing over the summer and a few veterans have been trialled in defence.

The absence of Rory Sloane (fractured eye socket), Brad Crouch (hamstring) and Scott Thompson (shoulder) on Friday night will create genuine opportunities for the Club’s budding midfielders.

“We clearly don’t want to take guys away from their strength (in terms of) where they play … but we want to make sure we’ve got more strings to our bow this year and options through the middle,” Pyke said.

“We’ve spoken about Charlie Cameron pushing up and playing more as a wingman. He’s certainly trained (that role) and his conditioning now is at a really good level to be able to do that.

“Rory Laird, who played a lot of half-back last year, we’re trialling him in the midfield. We’re also looking at Dave Mackay and Richie Douglas down back.

“They’re some of the guys we’re playing around with as well as opportunities for some guys who didn’t play (AFL) last year like Harrison Wigg and Curtly Hampton, Cam Ellis-Yolmen, who didn’t play a lot last year, and Dean Gore … these guys who can come in and play through the midfield and through half-forward/half-back.”

Contested ball was also marked as an area for improvement over the pre-season.

“Our contest work, which was strong the year before, probably dropped off a little bit last year,” Pyke said.

“The reality of finals footy is that it comes down to winning your share (of the ball) around the contest. That’s both in the air and on the ground.

“We’ve done some work on that, so we’ll see what sort of response and improvement we get.”

After taking on the Tigers in Melbourne, Adelaide will play its remaining two pre-season games in South Australia – against Geelong at Richmond Oval and the Brisbane Lions at Noarlunga.

Pyke said the Club would adopt a holistic approach to the JLT Community Series.

“We want a combination of things,” he said.

“We want to make sure our senior players are ready to go come Round One. We also want to give opportunities to guys who have trained well throughout the pre-season … and who played really well in our SANFL team and didn’t get an (AFL) opportunity.

“The third thing is that we want to continue to work on our style of play and make sure that some of the areas we’ve worked on and focused on, that we start to see some of those. They are the three aims.”

Pyke has enjoyed a “different” pre-season entering his second year as coach.

After establishing relationships and introducing a new game plan last summer, the two-time West Coast premiership player and his coaching team have been able to focus on those specific areas of improvement.

Pyke said development across the board was required to better the Club’s Semi-Final finishes of the past two years.

“From a coaching viewpoint, our focus is to make every player on our list better every year,” he said.

“The pre-season is no different. We give guys targets whether it’s to improve the conditioning side of it, their strength, their skills or their game sense and knowledge. The guys have worked really hard on that and given themselves the best opportunity.

“Now, it’s up for some competition for spots and who really wants it through the JLT Series.”