Roar Guru
The Adelaide Crows have reaffirmed their status as the AFL’s top dogs with a 65-point smashing of the Essendon Bombers on Saturday night.
Final score
Adelaide Crows 153
Essendon Bombers 88
The Essendon Bombers took a tough loss last weekend, but their task doesn’t get any easier over the Easter weekend as they travel west to face the Adelaide Crows. Join The Roar for live scores and commentary from 7:40pm (AEST).
While the Bombers may have taken a step back last weekend, the Crows are flying to begin 2017. They started with strong wins over the Giants and Hawks, before prevailing in a hard-fought showdown last weekend by 17 points.
Rory Sloane has been their star in the first three weeks and his current form has pundits speculating as to whether there may be a Brownlow in the future.
Adelaide will want to show they can back up from the showdown, but they have been forced into one change that will change the look of the forward line. Mitch McGovern went down with a nasty looking hamstring injury and with Josh Jenkins still not over the knock to the ribs he copped against the Hawks, Troy Menzel will reclaim his spot in the side.
This may force the Crows to play a little smaller in the forward half, as Tex Walker and Tom Lynch look to be the only consistent tall targets inside 50.
The Bombers started the season well, downing the Hawks and Lions, but the early season excitement may have caught up with them, as they dropped a shocker to the Blues.
Albeit in atrocious conditions, the Bombers only managed to generate 12 scoring shots against the Blues and that kind of output won’t get it done against the scoring power of the Crows.
Essendon have made two changes for this clash, with goal-sneak Josh Green added alongside Conor McKenna. Heath Hocking and Martin Gleeson are the men to be omitted, which would point towards the Bombers wanting a more attacking mindset.
Prediction
The question here is which Bombers outfit shows up. The Crows have shown over the first few weeks that they’re going to bring a fairly consistent performance, so it’s up to the Bombers to play to that level.
Having said that, Adelaide should get the points at home.
Adelaide by 42.
Join The Roar for live coverage from 7:40pm (AEST).