Adelaide coach Don Pyke has opened up on Taylor Walker’s horror year as his side prepares to play its final AFL game of the season.

A year after being beaten grand finalists, Pyke says the Crows captain started the season “underdone” and his inability to perform at his usual level had led to some frustration.

“He has had a really difficult year Tex (Walker) and I certainly feel for him as captain of the footy club,” he told SEN on Friday.

“Unfortunately, from a performance viewpoint, he hasn’t been able to do the things that he wants to do.”

Walker’s season came to an early end after a two-game suspension – his second ban in a year that’s also seen him miss five games due to injury.

He also missed the entire pre-season because of a foot injury, impacting his ability to return to his previous form.

“The step up from where he was at to playing games and repeating games, week-in, week-out was just a reach too far,” Pyke said.

“He was pulling up sore, he developed some tendonitis is areas, so he started going backwards pretty quickly.

“So we backed him off and we gave him four weeks out to sort of build some fitness base … and since then he has probably still struggled with that lack of pre-season and conditioning.

“To his credit, he has soldiered on and he has put himself out there week-in and week- out.”