A week after kicking 21.4 to outshoot Essendon indoors, Adelaide consolidated a place in the AFL top eight with a hard-earned 44-point victory over North Melbourne in conditions that could not have been more different.

The Crows kept the Kangaroos at arm’s length for three slogging quarters at a sodden AAMI Stadium before a powerful last term saw them run away to win 9.14 (68) to 3.6 (24) in front of 30,173 hardy spectators.

Adelaide have won four games in a row entering the mid-season break and favourable results around the country placed them fifth – a game clear of the teams below and shaping up remarkably well for a team still in the throes of a comprehensive rebuild.

“I don’t think we’re an outstanding team yet, (but) we’ve certainly shown some improvement; I think our supporters would sit there and say the last four weeks in particular,” said Crows coach Neil Craig.

“Before that they saw us chugging along but without getting the sort of football they wanted to see, but I know with this group there’s a huge upside, whether it be this year or over the next two or three years.”

Centreman Scott Thompson maintained his rich vein of form with a consummate midfield display while Nathan Bock and Jason Porplyzia (three goals) also contributed strongly.

North Melbourne had plenty of triers on the night but were again hit hard by injury. AFL rising star favourite Jack Ziebell was taken to hospital for x-rays on a suspected fractured right leg, while Lindsay Thomas limped off late with a hamstring strain.

Fringe Crow Brent Reilly continued his up and down season by also suffering a hamstring complaint, which kept him out of action after halftime.

Both sides had numerous notable omissions before the bounce, Crows Simon Goodwin and Richard Douglas joined on the sidelines by Graham Johncock after he withdrew with a cold.

The Kangaroos were lacking Brent Harvey and Daniel Wells among a handful of others and their chances of beating an in-form Adelaide hinged on an ability to outwork the home side on an evening of cold and rain.

For much of the first they more than held their own at the contests, as players flew into numerous slippery packs, but the Crows possessed the little bit of poise needed to score.

They kicked two goals before the poorest weather arrived and a scattering of points pushed the margin to 16 as North were unable to mount a successful attacking foray.

Corey Jones broke the drought within a minute of the re-start but, though the visitors would have a little more of the play in the second, they would still go into halftime 16 points back after Chris Knights switched from finisher to architect with a beautifully weighted pass to Porplyzia.

Adelaide stretched their lead by another goal in the third, another slogging quarter in which conditions began to take a toll on the players.

Reilly and Ziebell fell foul of injury during the term and the Crows were grateful for Porplyzia’s goals, one an opportunist snap and the other a typically calm set shot after finding space.

Thomas notched the first goal of the last to give the Kangaroos the faintest glimmer, but Adelaide’s overall superiority was confirmed by a quartet of goals to Bock, Kurt Tippett, Taylor Walker and Bernie Vince.

“I thought our intensity and our fight was super, we turned over the ball at critical times and when we had some good space, and our forward line’s not functioning at all,” said ‘Roos coach Dean Laidley.

“It hasn’t functioned all year and something we’ve really got to look hard and long at over the break.”

© AAP 2012

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