Australian Football

Match Report

The highly-anticipated 2017 finals series began with a fizz rather than a bang at the Adelaide Oval on Thursday night as the Crows made short work of a disappointing GWS Giants. As the ladder leaders and the home side, Adelaide were favourites to win the match but the vast majority of football pundits expected this to be a closely-fought affair. But the Giants were 'off their game' from the very beginning and, apart from a brief surge at the beginning of the second half, rarely looked anything like a premiership threat.

Adelaide, on the other hand, looked very much like a team that go go all the way. The Crows had come under scrutiny for a late home-and-away season lull, losing at narrowly at home to Sydney in round 22 and to West Coast at Subiaco in the final round, but they looked sharp on Friday night and very much demonstrated the potency that took them to the top of the ladder early in the year, a place they held for much of the season to claim the minor premiership.

There was much pre-match interest in selection, with Crow Rory Sloane battling to prove his fitness after having had his appendix removed some nine days earlier, and speculation rife that three-time Geelong premiership star Steve Johnson would be dropped from the Giants' line-up. In the end, neither Sloane nor Johnson took the field, and while many thought Sloane's absence would be more keenly felt than Johnson's, the game's script as it unfolded ultimately presented a case for the opposite being true.

While the Crows looked threatening in attack from the very beginning, it was actually GWS that claimed the match's first goal, with Harrison Himmelberg marking and kicking truly at the seven-minute mark. This was after repeat forward-50 entries from Adelaide, whose reward was behinds only to Taylor Walker and Josh Jenkins. The Crows had another miss after Himmelberg's goal, with Charlie Cameron bursting free from the centre but missing to the right, and the Giants led by three  points after eight minutes.

However the resultant GWS kick-in, ended in the hands of Brodie Smith, and his long, running goal from outside 50 got the home side going. After a miss from Giant Jonathon Patton, Paul Seedsman, playing only his third match of 2017, marked and kicked the Crows' second goal to give them an eight-point lead. GWS missed another opportunity when Jacob Hopper registered a minor score, and soon after a marking infringement against Eddie Betts saw the Adelaide goal-sneak kick his first to put the Crows 13 points clear after 16 minutes. That proved to be the last goal of the quarter, the Giants adding two behinds to one from there, and the home side went to the first break leading by an even two goals, 3.4 to 1.4.

The first 10 minutes of the second quarter were very much an arm-wrestle, two heavyweight teams trying to land a blow but both defending grimly. The Giants made several forays forward but Adelaide's backline was proving impenetrable. The Crows themselves had a couple of chances but Betts and Brad Crouch could garner only minor scores. The deadlock was finally broken at the 11-minute mark, with Betts snapping a typically brilliant goal. It opened up a 20-point break for Adelaide and at the same time appeared to crush GWS's resolve, at least for the first half.

GWS had one scoring chance from there, a long shot from Zac Williams missing left not long after Betts had kicked his goal, and the Crows took full charge after that. A great transition from defence resulted in an infringement on Mitch McGovern in front of goal, and he converted to put Adelaide 25 points clear midway through the term. Betts third goal extended the margin to 31 points, and further majors to Walker and Jenkins opened up a 44-point half-time lead for the home side, and GWS looked to be a spent force, their half-time score of 1.5 the lowest in a V/AFL final since Collingwood was 1.0 at the long break of the 1960 Grand Final against Melbourne.

The news wasn't all good for the Crows, however. Brodie Smith had limped off not long after kicking his goal in the first quarter, and scans would later confirm the worst fears of all - his ACL had been ruptured, and he would not only be missing the rest of Adelaide's 2017 premiership campaign, but likely the majority of next season as well. 

Those hoping that the Giants would show at least some fight in the second half got their wish. In fact, GWS produced its best football of the night in the opening minutes of the their term and at one point almost looked like making a game of it. Co-skipper Callan Ward got the Giants going with a mark and goal a minute into the quarter, and when Greene and Stephen Coniglio kicked follow-up goals over the next six minutes, the margin was back to 26 points and Adelaide fans were feeling just a little bit nervous.

Unfortunately during that productive early phase of the term, the Giants' Jeremy Cameron limped off the ground with a hamstring injury, depriving the visitors of a focal point up forward. The Giants' then had their run halted with an intercept mark and goal to Crow Richard Douglas, and Adelaide stole back the initiative from there. Tom Lynch and Brad Crouch had added further goals by midway through the quarter, wiping out GWS's work, and the two teams added a goal each before the three-quarter time siren, the Giants' deficit at the final break 43 points, only one short of the half-time margin.

With the game well in hand, the Crows noticeably changed the tempo of the game in the final term, looking to protect both their lead and the fitness of their players. Nevertheless, GWS had a couple of early opportunities to make inroads into the margin, but set shots from Patton and Josh Kelly both missed. The Giants did manage to register the first goal of the quarter, via a free kick to Coniglio, but 10 minutes had already elapsed by then, and time was running out.

But the visitors could not find a follow-up major. In fact, Coniglio's goal proved to be the last of the match, with the Crows' defence holding up very well. The two sides produced occasional scoring opportunities, but neither side could find the target, Adelaide adding three behinds to the Giants' two over the final 20 minutes as the match came to a somewhat disappointingly tame end. The uneventful final stages did not damped the Crows' fans' enthusiasm, though, and they will look forward to converging on the Adelaide Oval once more in a fortnight when their team hosts either Geelong or Sydney in a preliminary final.

Adelaide's stand-out players included Matt Crouch (31 disposals. seven tackles), his brother Brad (27 touches, eight tackles), Tom Lynch (10 marks, 25 possessions) and Betts, who laid six tackles to go with his three goals, demonstrating his willingness to take on the defensive aspects of the game as well as creating scores. For the Giants, Kelly's fine home-and-away form translated into the finals, the star midfielder picking up 33 touches and laying seven tackles, while Coniglio (11 tackles, 27 disposals) was a consistent contributor in a disappointing team effort.

The Crows will now take a well-earned week off and freshen up to take on either Geelong or Sydney - again at the Adelaide Oval. If the Cats make it through Adelaide will undoubtedly start favourites. If the match is against the Swans, the odds of a Crows' win will not be as short, Sydney having won against the Crows at the Adelaide Oval only a few weeks ago. The loss was only a narrow one for Adelaide, through, and they will fancy their chances of reversing that result.

In contrast, GWS have a week to lick their wounds, alter their mindset and attempt to bounce back with a win over West Coast. While a similar to that against the Crows might make that seem unlikely, history is littered with sides rebounding to win after a poor effort in the first week of the finals. Nevertheless, the Giants will have to do it without Cameron, whose hamstring injury was later confirmed as season ending, as possibly big ruckman Shane Mumford, who is struggling with an ankle injury, and was on crutches after Thursday's loss.

GOALS
Adelaide: Betts 3; Douglas 2; Smith, Seedsman, McGovern, Walker, Jenkins, Lynch, B. Crouch
Greater Western Sydney: Coniglio 2; Himmelberg, Ward, Greene, de Boer

BEST - AFL.COM.AU
Adelaide: Betts, M.Crouch, Lynch, B.Crouch, Jacobs, Brown, Greenwood
Greater Western Sydney: Kelly, Coniglio, Scully, de Boer, Ward

BEST - THE AGE
Adelaide:  M.Crouch, Betts, B.Crouch, Atkins, Douglas, Laird
Greater Western Sydney: Kelly, Scully, Coniglio, Ward, de Boer, Williams

INJURIES
Adelaide: Smith (knee)
Greater Western Sydney: Cameron (hamstring)

UMPIRES: Dalgleish, Rosebury, Ryan

TELEVISION BROADCAST: Seven Network

COMMENTATORS: Bruce McAvaney, Brian Taylor, Leigh Matthews, Nick Riewoldt, Mark Soderstrom