Australian Football

Match Report

Greater Western Sydney has further established itself as a genuine September contender with a hard-fought win over Adelaide at the Sydney Showground on Saturday afternoon. The Giants withstood challenges from the Crows in the second and last quarters to win by 24 points, their first win over Adelaide in six attempts. The Giants' average losing margins in those previous attempts had been 87 points.

The Giants got away to a flying start and had 5.4 on the board, with goals to Cam McCarthy, Josh Kelly, Dylan Shiel, James Stewart and Toby Greene, before the Crows even looked like scoring. Skipper Taylor Walker finally registered Adelaide's first goal at the 16-minute mark and the Crows began to work their way back into the game after that. Josh Jenkins and Eddie Betts followed up with majors to cut the margin to 14 points but a sixth Giant goal via Tomas Bugg enabled GWS to take a 21-point lead into the first quarter.

When the second term commenced it was Adelaide that seized the initiative. After registering a couple of behinds, the Crows added two goals with Walker kicking his second and third, cutting GWS's lead to just five points. The game became quite a dour affair after that and only two further goals were scored. Unfortunately for the Crows, they were kicked by Callan Ward and Jeremy Cameron of GWS and the Giants held sway by 20 points at half time.

The first half of the third term saw an even affair, with each side kicking three goals. The half-time margin of 21 was still intact at the 17-minute mark but when Josh Jenkins kicked his second a minute after that, the Crows were within 15 points. But rather than sparking an Adelaide onslaught, this triggered a wave of goals to the Giants. The slammed on the last five goals of the quarter, two to Greene and one each to McCarthy, Devon Smith and Matt Buntine, and the lead had blown out to 46 points at the final change.

Adelaide had its chances in the last quarter, as the GWS players tired. The Giants registered just two behinds for the entire last quarter and the Crows peppered the goals. But they were plagued by inaccuracy and their three goals - kicked by Patrick Dangerfield, Walker and Sam Jacobs - were offset by six behinds, many of those quite easy shots at goal. In the end, the fast-finishing Crows finished the match 24 points in arrears, the Giants holding on to record their sixth win from eight games in 2015.

Ryan Griffen (24 possessions) was brilliant for the Giants, as were Dylan Shiel (34 disposals, five marks) and Shane Mumford (47 hitouts, nine tackles), while the best for Adelaide included Dangerfield (27 touches and six marks), Walker (11 marks, four goals) and David Mackay (24 possessions).

The fourth-placed Giants will take on the Western Bulldogs at Docklands next Saturday while Adelaide (sixth with a 5-3 record) will host undefeated Fremantle at the Adelaide Oval later that night.

GOALS
GWS: McCarthy 4; Greene 3; Cameron 2; Ward, Stewart, Smith, Shiel, Kelly, Buntine, Bugg
Adelaide: Walker 4; Betts 3; Jenkins 2; Lynch, Dangerfield, Jacobs

BEST - SMH.COM.AU
GWS: Griffen, Scully, Mumford, Shiel, Treloar
Adelaide: Dangerfield, Walker, Crouch, Mackay, Betts

BEST - AFL.COM.AU
GWS: Shiel, Griffen, McCarthy, Treloar, Scully, Ward
Adelaide: Dangerfield, Mackay, Laird, Crouch, Walker, Betts

INJURIES
GWS: Nil
Adelaide: Kerridge (ankle), Laird (head), Henderson (back) replaced in the selected side by Kerridge

SUBSTITUTES
GWS: Zac Williams replaced Josh Kelly in the final quarter
Adelaide: Jarryd Lyons replaced Sam Kerridge in the third quarter

UMPIRES: Donlon, Ryan, Nicholls

TELEVISION BROADCAST: Fox Footy

COMMENTATORS: Dwayne Russell, Mark Ricciuto, Alastair Lynch, Cameron Mooney