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The Adelaide Crows remain undefeated in the AFL season with a ruthless 27 point win over the Collingwood Magpies at Etihad Stadium today.
ADELAIDE 12 18 90
COLLINGWOOD 9 9 63
While the scoreboard looked close, between the two teams, the truth is the Crows could have won by more than ten goals.
Leading by 56 points at 3/4 time the Crows fell away in the last quarter as Collingwood kicked the last six goal of the match.
What also didn’t help the Crows was an injury to Brodie Smith, who was concussed in a contest, during the final quarter. He received a purely accidental kick to the head from Travis Varcoe with just under eleven minutes to go in the match.
The Crows doctors immediately attended to Smith and had to spend a few minutes getting the half back conscious and back to normal.
He was taken away in a stretcher and thank fully was talking and moving around at the end of the game.
Unfortunately for Adelaide, this killed the contest for them, as they focused on their fallen comrade and not on the game.
This allowed Collingwood to make the game a respectable one on the scoreboard.
Unfortunately for them the first three quarters were not.
The Crows started well in the first quarter by keeping the Magpies goal-less and kicking 3 goals themselves.
For the first ten minutes, it was tight, until the Crows kicked late goals to lead by 22 points at the first change.
They extended the margin in the second quarter as the Pies struggled to get the ball.
At one stage the margin was 40 points as the Crows kicked away. Two late goals to the Pies kept the margin at 37 points at half time.
Four more goals in the third quarter to Adelaide extended the margin to 56 points before the final change.
While the Pies came back into the contest in the final quarter, the game was over, and the Crows dominated in most areas.
They were +74 in disposals, +65 in marks, +82 in uncontested possessions, +14 in inside 50’s and +16 in clearances.
The Crows were led well by Smith who had 29 touches and one goal.
Unsigned duo, Dangerfield and Sloane, also played well with 30 and 29 disposals respectively.
The Pies were led by Oxley and Pendlebury who had 33 and 32 disposals respectively.
While the stats say they got smashed, you couldn’t fault their effort.
They were just beaten by a team who could surprise the competition in 2015.
The Crows now face Melbourne in Round 3 with the Pies facing St Kilda on Friday night.
The Collingwood Magpies host the Adelaide Crows from Etihad Stadium, with one team set to remain undefeated after Round 2. Join The Roar to find out which from 4:35pm (AEST).
In Round 1 Collingwood battled the humidity, and a big week off the field, to race to a 53-point lead against the Lions at the Gabba. Despite a late fight-back they were able to hold on and win by 10.
Adelaide on the other hand led from start to finish against North Melbourne and smashed the 2014 preliminary finalists by 77 points.
Their performance was one of the opening round’s best, and got coach Phil Walsh’ senior career off to the perfect start.
Adelaide won both of their matches against Collingwood in 2014, including their best performance of the year in Round 8. This was the first time since 2006 the Crows had completed the double against their Victorian rivals.
However, for the most part the Pies have had the wood over the Crows, with Collingwood leading the overall head-to-head 25 wins to 13. At Etihad Stadium the record is closer with three wins each in the six matches played since 2000. Today’s match is the first clash at the venue between the two teams since 2011.
Adelaide have made one change to the match against North, with Mitch Grigg coming into the team at the expense of Jarryd Lyons.
Collingwood have made two changes, with Tim Broomhead and Paul Seedsman coming into the team for Steele Sidebottom, who is out with a broken thumb, and Jordan De Goey.
The focus for the Magpies today will be stopping Taylor Walker. He kicked six goals and took 15 marks against the Kangaroos defenders last week. In the corresponding match last year, at the MCG, Walker kicked three goals and caused Jack Frost plenty of problems.
If Adelaide play like they did in Round 1 then they will be hard to beat. Collingwood need to match them in the middle and stretch their thin defence if they are any chance of winning.
Prediction
With Collingwood falling away in fitness against Brisbane, and Adelaide looking fitter in Round 1, expect them to run away with the contest in the second half.
Adelaide by 18 points.
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