The Adelaide Crows have had the perfect start to their finals campaign, downing the GWS Giants by six goals in wet conditions at the Adelaide Oval.
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The Crows were stronger, hungrier, cleaner and more composed than the visiting Giants over the entire night and made their fancied opponents look second rate at times.
While GWS started with intent, kicking the first goal, it was clear early that the home side were up for this one.
Adelaide’s decision making across the park was first rate on the slippery surface, playing consistent percentage footy, finding teammates or kicking to dangerous positions.
Especially influential were the prolific Crouch brothers, whose hard work and output more than made up for the absence of Rory Sloane.
Importantly, the Giants were repeatedly denied the opportunity to clear quickly from the backline, a major feature of their game when they’re playing well. Adelaide’s forwards provided plenty of physical pressure, a factor for the entire night.
The Giants fought hard early, and while second best were far from disgraced in the opening term, trailing by two goals at the first change.
But it was the second quarter where Adelaide’s relentless pressure truly told.
As Sam Jacobs began to give his midfield first use the GWS defenders started to really wilt under the unrelenting pressure, unable to clear the ball out of their own defensive area for long periods.
As Eddie Betts began to find space and Taylor Walker and Josh Jenkins remained strong presences, the Crows’ forwards too got well on top, reeling off eight consecutive goals from early in the first quarter to open up a 44-point lead at half time.
In heavy conditions, with hungry opposition and a ravenously parochial crowd, the Giants needed a fast start to the second half.
They got it, kicking three goals in five minutes, but it didn’t take long for Adelaide to wrest back control, once again forcing the Giants into errors through superior running, tackling and decision making.
By three-quarter time, the Crows had fully restored that seven-goal margin and the game appeared over.
It was largely shadow boxing in the final term, with the entire quarter yielding just one major, to the vanquished Giants.
The tangible outcome for Adelaide is that they get a week off and a home preliminary final.
But this feels more significant than that. They pretty much totally dominated a strong opponent, they played with substantially more class and confidence, and with Rory Sloane to return in two weeks time they appear very much like a team on the path to great things.
There’s been a lot of discussion about the impact of the two weeks off in quick succession under the current system. If the Crows do somehow contrive to lose a preliminary final after a performance of this quality then it will raise serious alarm bells about the value of the double chance.
Right now, they appear very hard to beat.
For the Giants, this result surely has the inverse effect.
Whether or not they get through next week’s semi-final, the reality is they look some way off a premiership on this kind of display.
While they’re sometimes accused of one way running, or not giving their all, the simple reality is they just don’t have the quality and organisation of a premiership team. Around the ground, they were beaten almost everywhere. It’s not like there was a strength to build a coherent gameplan around.
Should they somehow manage to get through to the grand final against the same opposition, it would take a real turnaround to produce a different result.
But tonight should be about Adelaide. If there was any doubt that they could produce their best footy in a pressure finals environment, that has been well and truly dismissed this evening. They look very much on track for their first flag in nineteen years.
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