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Adelaide has farewelled AAMI Stadium as an AFL stadium in style by defeating Port Adelaide by 24 points in the NAB Challenge today.
ADELAIDE 3 13 12 117
PORT 0 13 15 93
After a tight first half between the two teams, Adelaide kicked seven goals in the third quarter – including two super goals – to consign Port Adelaide to their second consecutive loss in the NAB Challenge.
The match started well for Port Adelaide as they controlled the contest in the early stages.
An early goal to Robbie Gray gave the Power a seven point lead.
The Crows then got on the board with a super goal to Taylor Walker and a goal to Matt Wright.
By mid way through the term, the Crows led by 10 points.
The final stages of the first term would be dominated by Port and an unlikely player.
John Butcher, who has struggled for confidence and form in the last two years, would kick two goals as Port kicked the final three goals of the quarter to lead at the opening change.
Adelaide would respond in the second quarter with three straight goals of their own to Walker, Richard Douglas, and Tom Lynch to get the lead back.
With 6 minutes to go in the second quarter, scores would be level, as Port Adelaide responded with two goals.
From that point, until the end of the third quarter, the Crows would dominate the contest.
A late goal would give them a lead at half time.
In the third quarter, they would kick away, as Port kicked themselves in the foot.
While the Crows would add 7 goals, including 2 super goals, Port would kick 7 behinds for the quarter.
In the space of seventeen minutes, Adelaide would kick five goals, to virtually end the contest.
This included two supergoals to Rory Sloane who utilised centre clearances to create the goal opportunities.
The first chance came after a Richard Douglas goal in the 7th minute of the quarter. Twenty seconds later, the Crows would win the clearance, and Sloane would kick straight from just outside the 50 metre line.
When Sloane kicked his second super goal for the quarter, after a Josh Jenkins goal, the Crows would lead by 38 points.
Two more goals, to end the quarter, would give Adelaide a 49 point lead at the final charge.
It could have been different if Port took their chances.
In one period of the quarter, they kicked four straight behinds.
They learnt the hard way that taking your chances is vital in winning contests.
To Port’s credit, they came back in the final quarter, and reduced the margin to 24 points at full time.
John Butcher, who was one of Port’s best, kicked 5 goals including a contender for goal of the year from the boundary line.
He was joined by Travis Boak and Ollie Wines, who had 34 and 32 disposals each in the match.
Robbie Gray, who won the Best and Fairest award last year, had 29 disposals and 2 goals for the Power.
For the Crows, they were led by Richard Douglas, who had 22 disposals and 2 goals.
He was joined by Rory Sloane and Patrick Dangerfield, who had 22 and 21 touches respectively, with Sloane kicking two super goals.
Youngster, Cameron Ellis-Yolmen, who has only played 1 game for Adelaide, led the club in disposals with 26.
He would have 21 contested possessions during the match, which is the most in the NAB Challenge so far.
He should be in contention for Adelaide’s first 22 to play North Melbourne on Easter Sunday.
Both teams will now turn their attention to Round 1 with the Power playing Fremantle in Perth and Adelaide playing the Kangaroos at home.
The Adelaide Crows and Port Adelaide Power will be looking for one more solid hit-out before the season starts when they face each other at AAMI Stadium. Join The Roar for a live blog of the match from 4:10pm (AEDT).
Today will be the 11th trial showdown between the two teams in almost 18 years of rivalry.
In recent times the contest in the NAB Challenge has been dominated by the Crows. After winning four of the first six contests, the Power have lost the last four matches.
Since 2010 the contest has become a regular fixture in the pre-season competition. Last year the two teams met at Richmond Oval and the Adelaide Crows smashed an inexperienced Port team by 60 points.
This year’s contest is expected to be closer, with both teams naming strong squads.
After wins in Round 1, both teams suffered losses last week. An inexperienced Port team got comfortably beaten by Richmond in Albury, with Adelaide losing to a Mitch Clark-inspired Geelong at Simonds Stadium.
Port see this match as a big hit-out before Round 1. Adelaide, on the other hand, have one eye on their Round 1 clash with North Melbourne. Will the Crows turn up for a half? Or is this a bluff and they’ll come out with the aim of beating their cross-town rivals?
Port signalled their intentions for the match with their 27-man squad, with 11 changes to the squad that lost to Richmond. Some of the big inclusions include Travis Boak, Brad Ebert, Robbie Gray, Ollie Wines, Kane Cornes and Matt Lobbe.
The only players missing from their best team are Hamish Hartlett, Chad Wingard and Jackson Trengove, who are all injured.
The Crows have made three changes to the team which lost to Geelong last week. Keegan Ramsey, Matt Jaensch and Ricky Henderson are in for Charlie Cameron and Reilly O’Brien, who has impressed as a ruckman.
Only Sam Kerridge – who injured his hamstring on Thursday – Andy Otten, Brent Reilly and Scott Thompson are missing from their best team.
Prediction
Both teams will experiment, but both will also be keen on smashing their rivals before the season.
Port Adelaide by 10 points in a bruising encounter.
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