Australian Football

Match Report

After suffering two losses in a row to the Western Bulldogs and Port Adelaide, the Adelaide Crows have returned to the winners list with a comfortable 41-point win over an understrength Gold Coast at Carrara on Saturday evening. The Crows took the lead at the seven-minute mark of the first quarter and were thereafter never headed, winning three of the matches four quarters. The win took Adelaide back up to fifth on the ladder. The Suns, already missing skipper Gary Ablett through injury, were also without Harley Bennell, Trent McKenzie and Brandon Matera, all three having been dropped by the club for disciplinary reasons.

Charlie Dixon got the Suns off to a good start with a goal at the two-minute mark of the match, but Adelaide clicked into gear after that, scoring the next five majors in a row via Patrick Dangerfield, Eddie Betts (two), Scott Thompson and Taylor Walker to take a 22-point lead. Gold Coast fought back late in the term with goals to Aaron Hall and Dixon and at the first change of ends, it was the Crows 11 points to the good.

The second quarter was dominated by Adelaide. The Crows added five consecutive goals in the first 25 minutes - one each to Walker, Tom Lynch, Dangerfield and Betts, while restricting the Suns to a single behind to lead by an even six goals and break the game open. A late goal to Tom Nicholls cut the margin to 30 points, giving Gold Coast fans a flicker of hope going into the long break.

The Suns had a chance to build on that hope in the early stages of the third quarter but Hall and Dion Prestia only converted those opportunities into behinds. The Crows then made them pay by scoring the next four majors, through Lynch, Betts (two) and Rory Sloane, to take a commanding 51-point lead at the 14-minute mark. Sean Lemons pulled one back for Gold Coast with a goal at the 15-minute mark, but Taylor Walker responded for Adelaide two minutes later. A last-minute goal to Dixon reduced the difference to 46 points at the final break.

A couple of early last-quarter goals to Gold Coast's Tom Lynch and Jarrod Harbrow sparked breath thoughts of a Suns comeback but these were soon extinguished with Adelaide adding 3.4 to 0.1 over the next 14 minutes to take the margin out to a game-high 55 points just before time-on before the Suns kicked three in a row to reduce the difference to 35 before a final goal to Crow Mitch Grigg saw Adelaide home by one point shy of seven goals.

Best for the Crows included Eddie Betts (five goals, 12 touches), Sam Jacobs (28 hitouts, 21 disposals) and Rory Laird (29 possessions), while the Suns were well served by Prestia (28 possessions, four tackles), Touk Miller (21 disposals and four tackles) and Dixon (three goals).

The Crows will host St Kilda at the Adelaide Oval next Saturday while Gold Coast will look for its second win when it takes on second-placed West Coast later that night.

GOALS
Gold Coast: Dixon 3; Hall, Lemmens, Nicholls, Lynch, Sexton, Miller, Harbrow, Shaw
Adelaide: Betts 5; Walker 4; Lynch, Dangerfield 2; Grigg, Cameron, Thompson, Sloane, Jacobs

BEST - AFL.COM.AU
Gold Coast: Prestia, Miller, Dixon, Saad, Raines, Sexton
Adelaide: Betts, Jacobs, Laird, Wright, Walker, Jaensch

BEST - BRISBANETIMES.COM.AU
Adelaide: Betts, Laird, Jacobs, Lynch, Walker
Gold Coast: Prestia, Miller, Dixon, Thompson, Raines.

INJURIES
Gold Coast: Nil
Adelaide: Nil

SUBSTITUTES
Gold Coast: Clay Cameron replaced Zac Smith in the third quarter
Adelaide: Matt Crouch replaced Rory Sloane in the third quarter

UMPIRES: O'Gorman, Armstrong, Pannell 

TELEVISION BROADCAST: Fox Footy

COMMENTATORS: Dwayne Russell, Mark Ricciuto, Alastair Lynch, Barry Hall