Australian Football

Match Report

Twenty years after playing in their first AFL Grand Final, the Adelaide Crows have advanced to their third with a comprehensive win over Geelong at the Adelaide Oval on Friday night. In front of a record crowd at the venue for an AFL match, the Crows got off to a flying start, with goals in the opening three minutes from small forwards Charlie Cameron and Eddie Betts sending the fans into raptures.

From there it was always going to be difficult for Geelong and, although Nakia Cockatoo put the Cats on the board with a goal at the seven-minute mark, Adelaide dominated the rest of the term to lead by 31 points at the first break. Throughout that first quarter, the vital '50-50' moments all seemed to break the Crows' way, and that was to be the case for the remainder of the night. To have any chance against the slick Crows, the Cats needed all such moments to go their way, and very few did.

Whenever the visitors threatened to get back in the match, the 'sliding doors' moments fell Adelaide's way. But whatever element was luck was involved in these instances, they fully deserved to go the way of the Crows, who were the far superior team on the night. Cameron followed up his opening goal with four more to be one of the stars for the winners, and, with Josh Jenkins, Betts, Taylor Walker and Tom Lynch also capable of kicking 'bags', Adelaide will head into the Grand Final with surely one of the most potent attacks in many years. 

As the visiting side at a 'cauldron' like the Adelaide Oval, Geelong would have been hoping to make an early mark on the scoreboard - or at the very least prevent the Crows from doing so - but those hopes were shattered when Eddie Betts got a handball out to Cameron, who snapped the first major of the match after only one minute. Betts bobbed up again less than two minutes later to kick a beautiful roving goal and the Crows and their fans were well and truly up and running.

Geelong managed to stem the Adelaide flow from there and then start to apply some scoreboard pressure of their own. Ex-Crow Patrick Dangerfield had the first chance to do so when he marked inside 50 at the five-minute mark but his set shot missed, to the delight of the Adelaide crowd. Cockatoo, returning from a hamstring injury, made no such mistake though, and his first goal at the seven-minute mark had the Cats within five points.

From there, though, the Crows seized back the momentum, dominating the next 15 minutes, with a goal to Sam Jacobs after a strong mark followed by two in a row to Lynch, and Adelaide was suddenly four goals clear early in time on. The Cats had a chance to make inroads into the deficit when Darcy Lang received a free kick, but his shot missed, and when Betts kicked a beautiful set-shot goal from outside the boundary, Adelaide wad 29 points ahead. Paul Seedsman and Brad Crouch added further behinds and the Crows took a commanding 31-point lead into quarter time.

A strong start to the second term was a must for Geelong but the Crows again scored within a minute as they had in the first quarter, this time through Jenkins after he marked on a lead. Dangerfield had a chance to make an impact a minute later but missed again, and then a cameo performance from Crow Paul Seedsman which saw him kick to goals in two minutes had Adelaide's lead out to 48 points. Any genuine hope for the Cats were virtually extinguished with Seedsman's second major, only six minutes into the second term.

The Cats tried to mount a challenge soon after, with Dangerfield and Mitch Duncan giving them consecutive goals for the first time in the match, but a long running goal to Cameron took the margin back out beyond 40 at the 12-minute mark. Geelong probably had its most dominant period of the match over next 12 minutes, but wasted chances at first, with Duncan, Rhys Stanley, Jake Kolodjashnij and Joel Selwood all missing.

Geelong finally found the target with two majors early in time on to Selwood and then Dangerfield, cutting the margin to 27 points, but the tide turned late in the term, with the Crows having the last four scoring shots, behinds to Richard Douglas, Brad Crouch and Rory Sloane followed by a goal to Andy Otten giving the home side a comfortable 35-point buffer at the long break.

The Crows almost made it three perfect starts in three quarters when Cameron marked within range in the first minute after half time but his shot went across the face and through for a minor score. Geelong would have hoped Cameron's miss was the change in fortune they needed, and when Darcy Lang marked and goaled three minutes later to cut the margin to 30 points, the Cats' hopes were indeed raised. 

But with a deficit of that magnitude, Geelong needed a follow-up goal and it did not come. Instead, Cameron extended Adelaide's lead back out to six goals with his third major and when Matt Crouch kicked another three minutes later, the lead was back out to 43 points. The Cats were certainly more competitive by this stage, behinds to Jed Bews and Dan Menzel followed by a goal to Tom Hawkins - who had had little influence - cutting the margin to 35, but it was Cameron again who halted the run, taking a great mark and kicking truly at the 17-minute mark. Geelong came once more with a great goal from Steven Motlop, but the margin at the final change was 35 points, as it had been at the half.

With a place in the Grand Final on the line, Adelaide created a first-minute scoring opportunity for the fourth quarter in a row. This time Josh Jenkins did not miss and hen he added another goal four minutes later to eliminate any lingering doubt, the margin out to 47 points. Lachie Henderson goaled for Geelong at the seven-minute mark after receiving a free kick, but the Crows turned the next few minutes into 'party time' with Riley Knight and Walker kicking their first goals and Cameron his fifth as the Crows' lead ballooned out to 59 points. 

Geelong fought out the final few minutes but Adelaide closed out the match with the last two majors, to captain Walker and Jenkins, who snared his fourth. The final margin was 61 points, a very fair reflection of the difference between the two sides on the night.

The Crows unsurprisingly had winners all over the ground, with Rory Laird (15 marks, 32 disposals), Cameron (19 touches to go with his five goals) and Brad Crouch (10 tackles, 29 possessions) among the best of the best. For Geelong, there were few winners, but Joel Selwood (34 possessions, 10 tackles) and Duncan (25 touches, six tackles) could certainly hold their heads high. 

Adelaide will go into the Grand Final justifiably full of confidence, with their two finals wins against quality opponents (GWS and Geelong) both very impressive, and the Crows' losses in the final two rounds of the home-and-away season are now a distant memory. The Crows will also head into the match knowing that they had the measure of their opponents, Richmond, when they last met in round six. They blew the Tigers away after quarter time that day, to win by 76 points, but Richmond has barely put a foot wrong since that day and Adelaide will not be expecting such an easy win this time around.

For Geelong, some soul-searching is required. The Cats have only missed finals once since winning the flag in 2011, and they have made it to the Preliminary Final three times in that period, but they have not been able to take the next big step and compete in a Grand Final. Coach Chris Scott acknowledged that the club is a fair way off being a premiership side: "I hope that no one associated with Geelong falls into the trap of thinking that we were close again, and have just got to improve a little bit to go the next step, because the cold, hard reality is we have got to go back to the start again. And there are some really good football teams with a lot of talent who didn't make the eight this year who I suspect will get better...we have got so much work in front of us to even make the finals."

For now, Scott will have to bide his time and watch on enviously as Adelaide and Richmond fight it out for the premiership at the MCG next Saturday.

GOALS
Adelaide: Cameron 5; Jenkins 4; Walker, Betts, Lynch, Seedsman 2; Jacobs, Otten, M.Crouch, Knight
Geelong: Dangerfield 2; Cockatoo, Duncan, Selwood, Lang, Hawkins, Motlop, Henderson, Menegola

BEST - AFL.COM.AU
Adelaide: Laird, Cameron, M.Crouch, Seedsman, B. Crouch, Talia
Geelong: J. Selwood, Motlop, Taylor, Mackie, Dangerfield

BEST - THE SATURDAY AGE
Adelaide: Cameron, Sloane, B. Crouch, Laird, M. Crouch, Lynch
Geelong: Duncan, J. Selwood, Tuohy, Menegola, Dangerfield, Mackie

INJURIES
Adelaide: Nil
Geelong: S. Selwood (hamstring), Lonergan (corked quad), J.Selwood (groin)

UMPIRES: Rosebury, Stevic, Schmitt

TELEVISION BROADCAST: Seven Network

COMMENTATORS: Bruce McAvaney, Brian Taylor, Wayne Carey, Cameron Ling, Mark Soderstrom