Australian Football

Match Report

At Richmond, City Mazda Stadium lit up as the Bloods took on the Crows. The Bloods' history goes all the way back to 1892, six years after the original Adelaide Football Club had won the 1886 SA premiership. But by the time the Bloods began their time in the Adelaide & Suburban Football Association, that Adelaide FC had hit the skids and would be dissolved four years before Westies finally entered the SAFA, which would later become the SANFL. So there is no actual match history, if there were any matches at all, between West and an Adelaide team until now.

Despite an early burst from the Bloods, where they would kick 6.1 to the Crows' two goals in the first term to lead by 25 points at the first change, this was not going to be a match where the video would be sought after for watching again and again, but more for the skill errors that were littered throughout the night's proceedings. The Bloods were then kept to just a single behind in the second term, reducing the gap to two goals by the long break after scoring 2.2 for themselves. The Crows main source of trouble in that term was their lack of options in attack, with the despised flooding tactic in full effect there was nothing to kick to when they got out of defence. The Bloods switched back on in the third term, after conceding the first and only Crows goal of the quarter, Westies would put through a further 5.2 to 1.1 to retake control of the game. At the final change, the Bloods held a 37-point lead. The Bloods seemed to switch off again in regards to attack in the final term, but the three quarter-time deficit would remain with both sides kicking 1.3 as West took their second win of the year.

Jonathon Beech would bag best on ground honours for the Bloods, while Jarryd Lyons would be voted best for Adelaide.