Australian Football

Match Report

Adelaide has consolidated a place in the top eight with a hard fought win over a gallant Carlton side at Docklands Stadium on Saturday afternoon. The Blues played some final football in their second match under the charge of caretaker coach John Barker, but made some crucial errors at critical times, allowing the Crows, who showed the greater poise, to sneak home by nine points. The heartbreaking loss was made worse by the fact that champion Chris Judd suffered a serious knee injury in the first half. Scans later revealed that Judd has ruptured his ACL, and he announced his retirement several days later, drawing the curtain on a magnificent 279-game career.

The Blues got the match off to a flying start, with goals to Patrick Cripps, Dennis Armfield and Andrejs Everitt within the first 12 minutes giving them an 18-point lead. But Adelaide got right on top after that, kicking five consecutive majors - one each to Matthew Wright, Charlie Cameron, Patrick Dangerfield, Tom Lynch and Sam Jacobs - to take a 12-point lead. Each side kicked another goal each to close out the term, the Crows taking a 14-point buffer into the first break. 

Goals proved harder to come by in the second quarter, each side managing just two. The first went to Adelaide's captain Taylor Walker, putting the Crows 21 points clear but Carlton responded with the next two via Zach Tuohy and Lachie Henderson to cut the margin back to 10 points. Adelaide attacked heavily in the latter stages of the quarter but its efforts yielded just 1.3, the goal going to Josh Jenkins. At the long break, the Crows led by 19 points and looked to have control of the match.

Carlton came out strongly in the early stages of the second half, with goals to Troy Menzel and Matthew Kreuzer, playing his first game since round one 2014, reducing Adelaide's lead to just eight points. Nathan van Berlo responded for the Crows with a goal but the Blues kicked the next two via Kreuzer and Tom Bell to find themselves just two points in arrears. Each side added another goal before the three-quarter time siren sounded, with a couple of Crows behinds allowing them to take a four-point lead into 'orange time'.

The Blues looked like a team hell-bent on victory in the first 10 minutes of the last quarter, and after a couple of misses from Levi Casboult and Everitt, Casboult goaled to give Carlton a four-point lead. But the momentum shifted back towards Adelaide after that, and goals top Lynch and Eddie Betts put the Crows eight points clear at the 14-minute mark. Carlton came again and Armfield's second made the difference less than a goal once more, before Josh Jenkins kicked his third to restore a nine-point lead for Adelaide. Still the Blues came. Nick Graham kicked his first and as the quarter entered time-on, the Blues trailed by just three points. They attacked repeatedly but could not hit the scoreboard. Almost inevitably, at the 25-minute mark, the Crows took the ball to the other end of the ground and Jenkins kicked his fifth to seal a nine-point win for the Crows.

Best for the Crows included Patrick Dangerfield (26 disposals, seven tackles) and Josh Jenkins (five goals, eight marks), while Carlton was well served by skipper Marc Murphy (36 possessions, five tackles) and Patrick Cripps (25 touches and a goal).

Both sides will have a bye in round 11 before the Crows host Hawthorn at the Adelaide Oval on Thursday week and Carlton will play Port Adelaide two days later at the MCG.

GOALS
Carlton: Casboult 3; Kreuzer, Armfield 2; Menzel, Cripps, Everitt, Tuohy, Henderson, Bell, Graham
Adelaide: Jenkins 5; Lynch 2; Betts, Wright, Cameron, Dangerfield, Jacobs, Walker, van Berlo

BEST - THE SUNDAY AGE
Carlton: Murphy, Cripps, Simpson, Tuohy, Curnow, Casboult, Carrazzo|
Adelaide: Jenkins, Dangerfield, Thompson, Sloane, Jacobs, Laird, Lynch

BEST - AFL.COM.AU
Carlton: Murphy, Cripps, Tuohy, Curnow, Rowe, Simpson
Adelaide: Dangerfield, Jenkins, Lynch, Laird, Thompson, Jacobs

INJURIES
Carlton: Judd (knee), Cripps (hamstring)
Adelaide: Nil

SUBSTITUTES
Carlton: Chris Judd replaced by Jason Tutt in the first quarter
Adelaide: Cam Ellis-Yolmen replaced by Matt Crouch in the third quarter

UMPIRES: Farmer, Brown, Mitchell

TELEVISION BROADCAST: Fox Footy

COMMENTATORS: Eddie McGuire, Anthony Hudson, Alastair Lynch, Jonathan Brown, David King