The Adelaide Crows will be seeking revenge against the Melbourne Demons for humiliating them at Adelaide Oval in Round 8 when the two side’s met in the top end. Join The Roar for live scores from the match and a live blog of the game at TIO Stadium on Saturday night, starting from 7:40pm AEST.
Early in the season the media declared Adelaide ‘unbeatable’ and Melbourne was one of the sides to prove this wasn’t the case absolutely pulling their game plan apart.
Like most sides 2017 has offered moments of brilliance and moments of horror for both sides.
Adelaide will be buoyed last week after absolutely destroying the Western Bulldogs in the second half with Josh Jenkins and Taylor Walker combining to kick seven goals.
The Crows forward line will be bolstered this week by the return of Tom Lynch from a bout of meningitis.
Melbourne scraped over the line against Carlton last week but will have to face the Crows without co-captain Jack Viney who was integral in their defeat of Adelaide last time.
They also have the advantage of having played up in the North, something Adelaide are yet to experience.
Player to Watch
Greenwood is back in for Adelaide and has been very impressive in his first few games. It will be interesting to see how he goes after a week off.
Prediction
It should be a close one, but Adelaide by 12 points.
Join The Roar for live scores from the match and a live blog of the game at TIO Stadium on Saturday night, starting from 7:40pm AEST.
Caitlin Doyle
Roar Guru
It was a tighter contest than the scoreboard suggests, but tonight Adelaide comfortably reign supreme atop the AFL ladder after defeating Melbourne by 46 points at TIO Stadium,. For Adelaide it was a tale of two Crouches in the first half. The Brad had 31 disposals and Brad 28. They dominated the Adelaide defence and Melbourne, who were entering the forward 50, but were unable to convert to goalscoring. The rebound created by the pair lead to a huge amount of scoring opportunities which saw Adelaide up by a whopping 36 points at quarter time. In addition, Tom Lynch made an amazing return from meningitis kicking 3.1 and having 27 disposals. Adelaide moved the ball beautifully and with ease in the first quarter and dominated the contested ball. The fast paced ground at TIO Stadium suited the Adelaide game plan and they never really looked back after the first term. Melbourne were better than the scoreboard suggests after the first term. In the third quarter they had all the momentum and seemed to be managing the conditions and the state of the ball much better than Adelaide. A good ol' fashioned 65 metre torpedo from Jayden hunt at three quarter time had the Demons within reach, especially with Rory Sloane on the bench with concussion. In the final term, the Demons wasted the opportunities that they had and like all great sides, Adelaide managed to kick goals when it mattered. Both sides have some concerns going into next round. Bernie Vince has booked himself a date with the match review panel for striking while Hunt has a dislocated shoulder. For Adelaide, Sloane will be contested for concussion during the week after being left a little punch drunk and Jake Lever looks to have a hamstring twinge. As always, concerns for both sides, but at the moment the Crows are well on top in 2017.
Caitlin Doyle
Roar Guru
FULL TIME Tex Walker kicks a behind after the siren. Final Score Melbourne 10.10.70 Adelaide 17.14.116
Caitlin Doyle
Roar Guru
GOAL Goal number 4 for Tex Walker tonight. Shown great leadership tonight.
Caitlin Doyle
Roar Guru
A great performance from Tom Lynch tonight. If I had meningitis I'd be using it to get out of work for a year. All class.
Caitlin Doyle
Roar Guru
BEHIND And with that goes the Demons hopes of winning for the evening.
Caitlin Doyle
Roar Guru
GOAL Three goals for Tom Lynch and that should seal the deal for Adelaide this evening. Lead suddenly back out to 39 points.
Caitlin Doyle
Roar Guru
GOAL Betts and Walker combine as the Captain kicks the third of the night. The lead is out to 33 points now and you feel like they might be safe now with 9:19 left on the clock.
Caitlin Doyle
Roar Guru
GOAL Some Eddie Betts magic gives Adelaide some breathing space. Lever looks out for the match as well, so they are down two rotations on this hot Darwin night... Adelaide by 27 points.
Caitlin Doyle
Roar Guru
BEHIND Adelaide kick another behind. This kicking might come back to haunt them.
Caitlin Doyle
Roar Guru
GOAL McDonald kicks the goal from a gimme free there. Margin back to 22 points and Adelaide look in all sorts of trouble. Melbourne are handling the humidity that accumulated in the leather much better than Adelaide.
Caitlin Doyle
Roar Guru
Sweat on the ball is making it tricky for players to maintain the high skills we've seen for the first part of the match.
Caitlin Doyle
Roar Guru
GOAL Lynch kicks a goal for the Crows. Margin back out to 28, much needed as the momentum was all Melbourne.
Caitlin Doyle
Roar Guru
Game on here at TIO Stadium. Adelaide kicked 1.5 in that third term. They should have been able to put the game beyond doubt but bad kicking means the Demons are well and truly in it.
Mattician6x6
Guest
Got to love a perfectly executed torpy, great stuff.
Caitlin Doyle
Roar Guru
GOAL Goal of the year contender!! Melbourne are given a massive lift at three quarter time. The margin is just 22 points and everything to play for in this last quarter. Adelaide have lost Rory Sloane to concussion and it could be all Melbourne in the last quarter. Things finally get a little bit interesting.
Caitlin Doyle
Roar Guru
GOAL Another quick on to the Demons and suddenly it's inside 30 points. Adelaide will be ruing all those behinds in the middle period of this term.
Caitlin Doyle
Roar Guru
GOAL Max converts for the Demons and it could start something. Rory Sloane is pretty unlikely to get back on the ground tonight.
Caitlin Doyle
Roar Guru
Great contested mark from Gawn!
Caitlin Doyle
Roar Guru
Hogan gets another shot... this time out on the full.
Caitlin Doyle
Roar Guru
BEHIND Poor Jesse Hogan, missed that shot at goal. Reflective of his confidence tonight...