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Crow cannonade drowns dismal Dockers for Lyon's first 100-point loss

Expert
27th May, 2017
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Adelaide remains the league's leading force. (AAP Image/Tracey Nearmy)
Expert
27th May, 2017
57
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The Adelaide Crows have taught the Fremantle Dockers a lesson in pain on Saturday night at Adelaide Oval, absolutely belting their opponents to the tune of 100 points.

In Ross Lyon’s 250th game as an AFL senior coach, it was the first time ever that he has lost by a triple-figure margin.

It was a wet one at Adelaide Oval, in fact, wet doesn’t begin to describe it. There was already rain when the game began, but it turned into a torrential downpour early in the first.

While the rain gradually faded as the night went on, the field and players were absolutely saturated by then, and it’s fair to say the weather heavily affected the game.

As is the case with wet weather footy, skills dropped across the board and it became much more a matter of which team could dominate the contest physically and will the ball forward.

The Crows did exactly that, and their dominance created a stats sheet that is almost comically lopsided, all things considered.

The Crows finished the match with +103 disposals, +32 inside 50s, +33 contested possessions, +84 uncontested possessions, +41 marks, +9 marks inside 50, +8 tackles, +19 intercepts, and +5 clearances.

Adelaide’s goals came from all around the side, with Eddie Betts, Charlie Cameron and Wayne Milera all hitting the scoreboard for three majors each in Indigenous Round.

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It was Andy Otten, however, who kicked the most of anyone on ground, his four goals putting an exclamation point on what has been a heartwarming comeback story in 2017.

Rory Sloane answered more than a few critics, best on ground with 30 disposals, 12 tackles (most on ground), 29 pressure acts (most for the Crows), 12 score involvements (most on ground), 17 contested possessions (most on ground), eight clearances (equal most for the Crows) and a pair of goals.

For the most part it was an insipid peformance across the board from Fremantle, with the most disappointing certainly being Nat Fyfe – a game-high 13 clangers from 25 disposals.

However talented youngster Lachie Weller was the shining light for them with 30 disposals and a pair of goals, Connor Blakely had 28 touches and 12 clearances, and Darcy Tucker also kicked two goals.

In the end it was a pretty solid reality check for the Dockers, who had won of six of their previous seven coming into the match, but without taking any real scalps.

To put it in perspective, Fremantle’s combined margin across those six wins was a total of 97 points, which is three points less than what they lost by in a single game tonight.

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Their percentage is at 81.5, the fourth-worst in the competition, despite them still boasting a 6-4 record and sitting in the top eight.

The Crows, on the other hand, are clearly back in business after returning to form last week against Brisbane.

It seems that their atrocious fortnight of back-to-back losses against North Melbourne and Melbourne was little more than a blip on the radar… for now.

Final score
Adelaide Crows 20.23.143
Fremantle Dockers 6.7.43

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