Adelaide Crows vs St Kilda Saints: AFL match result, highlights

Match result:

Adelaide’s victory wasn’t all their own way, but they did enough in the end against an admirable St Kilda outfit, victorious by 22 points.

Rory Laird, the Crouch duo and, welcomely, Bryce Gibbs, led Adelaide’s disposal counts, while the skipper in Tex booted four goals and Eddie Betts had three in his return game.

The Saints were well served by Jack Billings, Jack Steele, Hunter Clark and Seb Ross – who all had 26 disposals – while Tim Membrey was comfortably their most potent forward.

Final score
Adelaide Crows 14.8.92
St Kilda Saints 9.10.70

Match preview:

Saturday night sees us travel to Adelaide, where a struggling Adelaide Crows host a revitalised St Kilda at Adelaide Oval. Join The Roar for live scores and commentary from 7:40pm (AEST).

Adelaide are, technically, a top eight side. But they are sure not playing like one. The Crows have lost four of their last five clashes; one of them a hefty Showdown loss, another being last week’s shock loss to Carlton.

Their only win in that poor stretch was a domination of the Gold Coast Suns, but, all due respect to the Suns, that’s not a fantastic indictment of where the Crows are at this season.

Naturally, that leaves today’s clash as a massively important game – if the Crows are any hope of continuing to stay in the top eight, winning this will help their cause.

St Kilda, for their part, are suddenly in finals contention. Alright, that might be a bit of a stretch. But they’ve installed Brent Ratten as their caretaker coach, and have won their past two clashes.

So, whilst they’re the underdogs in this one – they’ve got a terrible record at Adelaide Oval and against Adelaide generally – they’ll have the belief that they are a chance.

St Kilda’s past two weeks have instilled more confidence into a team that was beginning to struggle, and that has translated through into the game itself: they’ve kicked over 100 points in both weeks for the first time in a long while.

Trying not to sound too pessimistic, the Crows are lacking confidence. But they’re at home, and have included several previously dumped veterans back into the side, so should have a little more confidence headed into tonight’s clash.

Speaking of those veterans, their inclusion is one of four selection changes for the Crows. Eddie Betts, Richard Douglas, Bryce Gibbs and Darcy Fogarty are the four inclusions, while Josh Jenkins, Tyson Stengle, Patrick Wilson and Paul Seedsman.

The Saints have made just one switch after last weekend’s win over Melbourne. Blake Acres is out with an injury, with Josh Battle coming into the side.

Prediction
So, if we’re going by history, the Crows should win this one in a canter. But history says nil about the South Australian’s current rut, and certainly nothing about the Saints’ late-season rise.

Adelaide are certainly the favourites, but I’m going to be a little risky with my tip, and I’m going to back the Saints to sneak an upset win here.

St Kilda by 3 points


When: 7:40pm (AEST)

Where: MCG, Melbourne
TV:  Channel 7, Fox Footy

Betting: Adelaide Crows $1.36, St Kilda $3.15

Adelaide Crows
B Jake Kelly, Daniel Talia, Luke Brown
HB David Mackay, Kyle Hartigan, Rory Laird
C Rory Sloane, Brad Crouch, Rory Atkins
HF Richard Douglas, Tom Lynch, Riley Knight
F Lachlan Murphy, Taylor Walker, Eddie Betts
FOL Reilly O’Brien, Matt Crouch, Bryce Gibbs
I/C Andy Otten, Wayne Milera, Darcy Fogarty, Brodie Smith

St Kilda Saints
B Shane Savage, Nathan Brown, Daniel McKenzie
HB Callum Wilkie, Jake Carlisle, Hunter Clark
C Jack Billings, Sebastian Ross, Doulton Langlands
HF Nick Hind, Josh Bruce, Jack Steele
F Jack Lonie, Tim Membrey, Josh Battle
FOL Rowan Marshall, Luke Dunstan, Jade Gresham
I/C Nick Coffield, Matthew Parker, Ben Long, Jack Sinclair