Australian Football

Match Report

This match found us heading out of the metro and into the Riverland region, the Berri Oval playing host to the match between the Bloods and the Crows. Their last match was all the way back in Round 1, the Crows starting the year off with a crushing 74-point win at Richmond and beginning the year from hell for the reigning premiers. Then there's the last time the Bloods lobbed into Berri, it was 10 seasons ago when the Bulldogs hammered them by almost 15 goals. The Crows came into this one on the back of a seven-goal win against the Redlegs, a side the Bloods faced the week before and went down by 14 points, then sat out last weekend with their last bye round.

The Crows went into demolition mode from the get-go, ramming through 9.3 to the Bloods' three goals to take a 39-point lead at quarter-time. The goals weren't as plentiful in the second term, but the deficit would only get bigger as time wore on. The Crows added a further 5.4 to Westies' 2.1 to stretch the gap out to 10 goals by the half-time break. The AFL class was well and truly on show against a very much depleted Bloods team, this effort turning out to be probably one of the real low points of the season. The Bloods showed a little more fight in the second half, but the Crows would continue to extend their lead at every change, they scored 5.3 to 4.4 in the third quarter to lead by 65 points at three quarter-time. Adelaide would put their foot down in the final quarter, scoring 8.7 to 4.2 to take a 94-point win and sounding a more ominous warning ahead of the finals.

Mitch Grigg was named best for the Crows, the Bloods named Mason Middleton as their best.