Crows Win Toughest Test Yet

Adelaide have recorded a famous victory over the Giants at the Adelaide Oval, as they go four and two and into fifth on the AFL ladder.

It was a real eight point game for Adelaide, win and they were in the top four fight, lose and they were in danger off losing touch with the top eight. The pride of South Australia got the job done by three goals.

The Crows started the better of the two teams, and were able to overcome their own inaccuracy in a slow, scrappy, game of football.

Adelaide had Izak Rankine, (20 disposals and eight clearances) and Matt Crouch, (23 disposals and six clearances) as the midfield generals, while Tex Walker had two goals.

For the Giants, Tom Green was a standout, (35 disposals and seven clearances) as he kept GWS in the game in the opening term.

Adelaide ace Ben Keays started the scoring for the Crows just one minute into the contest.  GWS’s defensive set up struggled at the best of times in the first quarter, as Adelaide kicked three goals to none for the term. 

Despite Tom Green dominating, the Crows went from strength to strength as the quarter rolled on.  Jordan Dawson and Matt Crouch did as they liked in the middle, while both Josh Worrell and Rory Laird had plenty of the ball. 

The Adelaide pressure made it nearly impossible for the Giants to work the ball past halfway.   Meanwhile, the Crows, somewhat ironically, were able to transition the football from defensive 50 into attack with relative ease. 

Sid Draper received some treatment on his ankle later in the quarter, but did come back onto the field.

In the second quarter, the Giants fought back.  The Crows were still able to win the ball from the middle, but Giants were able to pressure the Crows as they turned the game into a slog.   Just one goal came in the quarter, with Josh Kelly punting an ugly floater through from 50 as the Giants cut the margin to 13 at half time. 

Like Draper in the first quarter, Dan Curtin came from the ground for the Crows. However after being assessed he would return the rest of the game.

The collective 33 points of both teams at the half had seen the game turn into a low scoring affair, while the umpiring had left some to desire more.  The men and women in green were using the score review system for checks that didn’t need to be done, while some of the on field decisions weren’t received well by those in the crowd.

In the third stanza, Adelaide were able to take advantage of the rain that had rolled through.  

The Crows had five scoring shots to six, but the Giants kicked just one goal.  The Crows were dancing the rain, however as their 13 point lead became 23.  

In a feel good story, Max Michalannely kicked his first ever goal when he went bang from outside 50 to begin the quarter.

The fourth quarter saw the Giants tighten the score when Harvey Thomas kicked a goal. For the Giants, it would only take one quarter of them kicking straight to beat the Crows.

But the game would settle back into the pattern of the first three quarters, the hard scrappy slog returning until Izak Rankine got involved. Rankine added his name to the score sheet at the 20 minute mark to close off any hope of a Giants return.

Crows: 3.2 3.5 6.7 7.10.52

Giants: 0.3 1.4 2.8 4.10.34

Goalkickers:

Crows:

Walker, (2), Keays, Michalanney, Neal-Bullen, Rankine, Thilthorpe

Giants:

Jones, Kelly, Stringer, Thomas

Best:

Crows:

M. Crouch, J. Dawson, I. Rankine

Giants:

F. Callaghan, T. Green, L. Whitfield

Crowd: 40 062