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Adelaide vs Western Bulldogs

Scoreboard | Match report | Match statistics

Round: 16   Venue: Adelaide Oval   Date: Fri, 07-07-2017 7:20 pm   Crowd: 41,948  
Adelaide 2.2.145.5.3512.5.7716.8.104 C:  Don Pyke
Western Bulldogs 2.4.164.8.324.11.355.15.45 C:  Luke Beveridge
  WBULL by 2ADEL by 3ADEL by 42ADEL by 59  
Weather
min temp  8.5°C      max temp  14.5°C
rainfall  5.4mm    humidity  85%    air pressure  1014.7mb
wind speed 20km/h      wind direction  WSW
Brownlow Medal 3 Taylor Walker (ADEL)2 Josh Jenkins (ADEL)1 Jake Lever (ADEL)

Match Report

Western Bulldogs' coach Luke Beveridge revealed after Friday night's game against Adelaide that the Dogs had set it as a 'line in the sand' match, after the club's less than impressive form in the previous month. And for the first half of the match, the Dogs very much played as if that was the case, taking it right up to the Crows, with only a poor conversion rate preventing them from leading. But after the Crows kicked a couple of early third-quarter majors, the Bulldogs fell way dramatically, to the point that the kicked only one second-half goal as Adelaide cantered to a 59-point win. 

It's difficult to tell what the result of one match in isolation can mean in the context of a full season, but Friday night's second half certainly seemed to indicate two things — firstly, the Adelaide Crows, after some slightly indifferent for in recent weeks, appear to be back to their best; and secondly, the Western Bulldogs are looking a mere shadow of the side that swept all before them last September. The Dogs appear to be devoid of system and confidence, and missing out on the finals has almost moved from the realm of possibility to probability for them.

The match began in driving rain and the Crows settled first in the wet, with skipper Taylor Walker taking a clean mark and kicking truly after just two minutes. The Bulldogs shored up their defence after that, and began to control the play but were plagued by poor kicking for goal, as they have been all year, with Liam Picken, Mitch Wallis and Marcus Bontempelli all missing shots before a long bomb from Matt Suckling gave them the lead. The Crows responded through Josh Jenkins but a diving mark and goal to Jack Redpath saw the Bulldogs ahead by two points at the first change.

Adelaide began the second quarter strongly, with goals to Jenkins and Eddie Betts seeing the Crows to a 10-point lead after just six minutes. When Rory Atkins made it three for the quarter eight minutes later, the margin was out to 15 and the Dogs were in danger of losing touch. But they turned things around in general play from there, and finally broke through with late goals to Bailey Dale and Jake Stringer, and the half-time margin was just three points.

The Crows started the third tern strongly as they had the second, with early majors to Walker and Matt Crouch taking their lead back out to 15, but there was a sense that the Dogs would be able to reset, readjust and stem the flow as they had done in the first half. Instead, the Bulldogs fell away dramatically from there, and Jenkins' third goal at the 10-minute mark appeared to break them. From there they barely gave a yelp, and further majors from Jenkins, Betts, Walker and Jenkins again capped off a seven-goal-to-nil quarter which saw Adelaide 42 points to the good at three-quarter time.

Their confidence seemingly shot, the Bulldogs couldn't buy a goal in the first half of the final term. The Crows went on their merry way, adding majors through Rory Sloane, Brad Crouch and Richard Douglas as the margin blew out to 61 points. A snap from Luke Dahlhaus at the 17-minute mark finally gave the Dogs their first goal of the second half, but Adelaide closed out the match with a major to Charlie Cameron, capping off a crushing win.

Twin towers Walker (18 touches, three goals) and Jenkins (11 marks, four goals) were outstanding for the winners, while Rory Laird (12 marks, 32 possessions) also played a fine game. For the Bulldogs, Toby McLean was one of the few shining lights, with a career-high 32 disposals and eight tackles. 

The win took the Crows back to the top of the ladder, but they will have a challenge holding that spot, with a match against Melbourne - who defeated them in round eight - to come on Saturday night. The Bulldogs now find themselves a game plus a hefty percentage outside of the eight, with a match against Carlton to come on Sunday. On paper the game looms as a win for the Dogs, but the Blues are playing much better than their 16th place on the ladder would indicate, and only a brave or foolhardy tipster would mark it down as a certain win for the red, white and blue.

GOALS
Adelaide: Jenkins 4; Walker 3; Betts 2; Knight, Sloane, Atkins, M.Crouch, B.Crouch, Douglas, Cameron
Western Bulldogs: Stringer, Redpath, Suckling, Dale, Dahlhaus

BEST - AFL.COM.AU
Adelaide: Walker, Jenkins, Sloane, Lever, Otten, Laird, M.Crouch
Western Bulldogs: McLean, Bontempelli, Hunter

BEST - ADELAIDE ADVERTISER
Adelaide: Jenkins, Walker, Lever, M. Crouch, Atkins, Sloane, Betts, Laird
Western Bulldogs: McLean, Macrae, Bontempelli, Stringer, Suckling

INJURIES
Adelaide: Nil
Western Bulldogs: Nil

UMPIRES: Chamberlain, Fleer, Meredith

TELEVISION BROADCAST: Seven Network

Source

Match Report by Andrew Gigacz

Match stats

Adelaide Match Stats Career
# Player K M H D G B HO T FF FA Age Games G
21 Atkins, Rory 15 7 8 23 1 0 0 3 2 0 22y 360d 47 25
18 Betts, Eddie 11 4 2 13 2 0 0 1 0 2 30y 223d 268 518
16 Brown, Luke 9 6 5 14 0 0 0 3 2 0 24y 288d 105 10
23 Cameron, Charlie 5 1 5 10 1 0 0 2 0 3 23y 2d 63 78
2 Crouch, Brad 15 4 9 24 1 0 0 7 2 0 23y 174d 52 16
44 Crouch, Matt 16 5 16 32 1 1 0 2 0 0 22y 77d 62 14
26 Douglas, Richard 13 3 1 14 1 0 0 3 2 1 30y 151d 210 140
24 Jacobs, Sam 6 2 5 11 0 0 36 3 1 2 29y 88d 164 41
4 Jenkins, Josh 12 11 3 15 4 1 5 2 1 1 28y 149d 104 209
8 Kelly, Jake 9 8 8 17 0 0 0 9 0 0 22y 167d 24 0
3 Knight, Riley 6 7 9 15 1 0 0 6 0 0 22y 102d 21 17
29 Laird, Rory 23 12 9 32 0 0 0 3 0 0 23y 190d 91 8
6 Lever, Jake 16 11 6 22 0 0 0 3 2 2 21y 124d 48 3
14 Mackay, David 13 3 7 20 0 1 0 5 2 0 28y 347d 175 51
41 McGovern, Mitch 10 6 8 18 0 0 0 3 2 1 22y 269d 28 36
30 Milera, Wayne 7 2 4 11 0 1 0 4 0 0 19y 296d 22 12
22 Otten, Andy 12 10 9 21 0 0 0 1 0 0 28y 53d 93 35
9 Sloane, Rory 12 4 12 24 1 0 0 8 1 2 27y 112d 156 99
33 Smith, Brodie 12 6 6 18 0 1 0 4 0 1 25y 174d 135 42
12 Talia, Daniel 10 7 4 14 0 0 0 3 0 1 25y 278d 137 6
5 Thompson, Scott 5 1 5 10 0 0 0 5 0 5 34y 115d 308 162
13 Walker, Taylor 11 7 7 18 3 1 0 4 1 2 27y 73d 144 340
  Rushed   2  
  Totals 248 127 148 396 16 8 41 84 18 23 25y 240d 2457 1862
Western Bulldogs Match Stats Career
# Player K M H D G B HO T FF FA Age Games G
4 Bontempelli, Marcus 15 1 9 24 0 2 0 6 0 0 21y 225d 78 72
5 Boyd, Matthew 14 3 9 23 0 0 0 4 1 1 34y 314d 291 85
12 Cordy, Zaine 10 6 6 16 0 0 0 2 2 1 20y 253d 23 8
6 Dahlhaus, Luke 8 5 10 18 1 0 0 5 0 0 24y 320d 130 102
31 Dale, Bailey 13 2 2 15 1 0 0 3 1 1 20y 350d 23 14
35 Daniel, Caleb 6 0 5 11 0 0 0 2 1 0 21y 0d 47 21
22 Honeychurch, Mitch 3 2 7 10 0 0 0 7 1 1 22y 127d 20 11
7 Hunter, Lachie 21 4 6 27 0 1 0 3 0 1 22y 206d 77 37
39 Johannisen, Jason 10 1 6 16 0 0 0 2 2 0 24y 241d 79 23
21 Liberatore, Tom 7 1 8 15 0 0 0 6 1 2 25y 52d 109 35
11 Macrae, Jack 11 4 16 27 0 0 0 7 1 1 22y 338d 92 21
16 McLean, Toby 15 4 17 32 0 0 0 8 4 0 21y 157d 31 24
38 Morris, Dale 1 0 10 11 0 0 0 2 3 1 34y 190d 237 3
42 Picken, Liam 9 1 5 14 0 1 0 2 1 1 30y 340d 191 74
43 Redpath, Jack 8 5 4 12 1 3 1 3 1 1 26y 206d 30 51
18 Roberts, Fletcher 4 2 5 9 0 0 0 1 1 2 24y 34d 47 0
23 Roughead, Jordan 12 3 4 16 0 0 22 2 0 1 26y 246d 119 26
14 Smith, Clay 5 3 3 8 0 1 0 3 0 2 24y 57d 54 42
9 Stringer, Jake 7 1 4 11 1 1 0 4 2 1 23y 73d 86 159
1 Suckling, Matt 17 4 6 23 1 2 0 1 0 1 28y 347d 134 65
3 Wallis, Mitch 6 3 12 18 0 1 0 2 1 0 24y 256d 100 46
10 Wood, Easton 8 5 2 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 27y 306d 122 18
  Rushed   3  
  Totals 210 60 156 366 5 15 23 75 23 18 25y 78d 2120 937

Match highlights

Mitch Wallis played his 100th V/AFL game: Western Bulldogs vs. Adelaide (AFL, Premiership Season, R16)
Scott Thompson played his last game for Adelaide (AFL, Premiership Season, R16)

Footnotes

* Behinds calculated from the 1965 season on.
+ Score at the end of extra time.