Australian Football

Match Report

It was a case of one team at its best and one team at its absolute worst at the Adelaide Oval on Saturday night, as Adelaide thrashed the Fremantle Dockers by exactly 100 points. In a match played in wet and slippery conditions, it quickly became clear when the game started that the home side had "come to play" while the Dockers appeared to have left their game-day mindset back in Perth. The Crows kicked 5.9 to 1.0 in the first term to lead by 33 points - a margin that could have been much greater - and powered through the match to win all four quarters and inflict a crushing defeat on Ross Lyon's team.

The one-way traffic in Adelaide's direction began to flow soon after the opening bounce, with Brad Crouch kicking a behind inside the game's first minute. Teammate Rory Sloane was more accurate three minutes later, and when Josh Jenkins kicked his first goal at the five-minute mark, the Crows were away and flying. The Dockers tried to defend, the next three scores rushed behinds to the home side, but the dam wall broke and Wayne Milera and Andy Otten scored further majors, the Crows ahead 31-0 early in time on. Cam McCarthy scored a goal against the tide at the 23-minute mark but Milera's second had Adelaide well clear at quarter time.

There was a brief lull in scoring at the start of the second term, the two sides trading in behinds only, but a kick off the ground for a goal by Charlie Cameron got the Crows going again, with Otten and Rory Sloane following up with further majors to put Adelaide 55 points clear. A turnover from the Crows saw Docker Lachie Weller mark and goal early in time on, but Adelaide attacked relentlessly, albeit again inaccurately, after that, adding a further 1.4 before the half-time siren to go to the long break 59 points ahead.

Any thoughts of the match taking a turn in the third term were dispelled within the blink of an eye, with Eddie Betts finding the goals within 32 seconds of the start, and again barely a minute later. Charlie Cameron added his second soon after, blowing the margin out to 77 before a lovely long kick from Fremantle skipper Nat Fyfe sailed through to temporarily halt the avalanche. The Crows almost inevitable responded immediately through their own captain Taylor Walker, and added another three goals to one to lead by a commanding 91 points at the final turn.

The last term was a mere formality, with the only real interest being in whether the Crows could extend the margin to three figures. Darcy Tucker tried to prevent such an occurrence by kicking the first goal for the Dockers, but Adelaide continued on its merry way after that, booting four goals to on over the last half hour of the match to take the final margin to that three-figure mark, winning by exactly 100 points.

Matt Crouch was a standout for the Crows, collecting 35 possessions and laying six tackles, while Lachie Weller (30 disposals, two goals) and Connor Blakely (29 touches, eight tackles) dd their best to hold up the Adelaide tide throughout the match.

The win keeps Adelaide at the head of the ladder, its 8-2 record the same as GWS, but its percentage a long way ahead of the Giants'. The Crows will face a much sterner test in round 11, a Thursday night encounter with Geelong at Kardinia Park. For Fremantle, the huge losing margin made an already poor percentage much worse, slipping from 90.6 to 81.5. The Dockers remain in the eight with a 6-4 record, and will host Collingwood (12th, 4-6) at Subiaco on Sunday.

GOALS
Adelaide: Otten 4; Jenkins, Milera, Betts, Cameron 3; Sloane 2; Walker, Jacobs
Fremantle: Tucker, Weller 2; McCarthy, Fyfe

BEST - AFL.COM.AU
Adelaide: M.Crouch, Sloane, Otten, Atkins, B.Crouch, Lever
Fremantle: Weller, Blakely, Hamling, Spurr

BEST - THE AGE
Adelaide: M Crouch, B Crouch, Jacobs, Lever, Sloane, Atkins
Fremantle: Weller, Blakely, Fyfe, Neale, Ibbotson, Spurr

INJURIES
Adelaide: Nil
Fremantle: Nil

UMPIRES: Foot, Hosking, McInerney

TELEVISION BROADCAST: Fox Footy

COMMENTATORS: Anthony Hudson, Mark Ricciuto, Matthew Pavlich