Collingwood jumps into top four after embarrassing the Crows at Adelaide Oval

While Collingwood’s September campaign gathered more momentum, the Crows are floundering. And after a horror home outing Adelaide might be best off rebooting for next year.

A dejected Matt Crouch knows his side is struggling as the Pies found a new lease of life. Pic: SARAH REED

If by some miracle Adelaide does stumble into the finals then it will simply be making up the numbers after an insipid 66-point loss to Collingwood when it had everything to play for on Saturday.

The Crows might still be a mathematical chance of playing in September but fans left Adelaide Oval with the ‘Collingwoooood’ chant ringing in their ears and probably wishing the season would hurry up and end so they could hit re-boot and start again.

The alarming thing about that is they were thinking the exact same thing this time last year.

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It was a miserable night for the Crows. Pic: SARAH REED

Starting the round outside the top eight on percentage, Adelaide kicked just two goals in the first half and was smashed in the second as Collingwood booted six goals to one in the third quarter.

The damage was done in the first five minutes of that term when the Pies won the first five clearances and kicked the first three goals to put the game beyond Adelaide’s reach.

Turnovers, indecision, wasteful, stagnant, predictable and slow. You could use them all to describe the Crows who were unable to produce a fairytale for Sam Jacobs in his 200th game.

Collingwood by contrast hunted the footy in the midfield, had runners cruising past all game and looked dangerous with every forward 50 entry particularly when it went to Jamie Elliott and Travis Varcoe who kicked seven goals between them.

FORWARDS MISFIRING

The signs weren’t good from the start when Eddie Betts and Reilly O’Brien both had set shots from inside 50m but chose to handball to the running Brodie Smith and Paul Seedsman and neither kicked the goal.

It looks great when it comes off but horrible when it doesn’t and fans were crying out for the kicker to take responsibility.

At least Adelaide’s forward pressure was up in the first quarter. They laid 6-1 tackles inside 50m (after just five for the entire game against West Coast last week) and Tom Lynch, Eddie Betts, Bryce Gibbs, Taylor Walker and Richard Douglas all laid a tackle or smother to keep the footy alive.

But they couldn’t hit the scoreboard with 0.5 in the first quarter and only six goals for the entire game.

Jamie Elliott was back to his best with five goals. Pic: SARAH REED

ELLIOTT PUTS ON A CLINIC

Collingwood won the game in the midfield but small forward Jamie Elliott took maximum votes with a five-goal best-on-ground performance.

He was simply too good for Luke Brown although he was getting silver service from his midfielders who were strolling out of the middle of the ground under minimal pressure.

Taylor Adams, Adam Treloar and Scott Pendlebury were already well on top in the first half and went on with the job after that to dominate Rory Sloane and the Crouch brothers — who each had 24 disposals which was well down on their outputs against West Coast last week.

Levi Greenwood was another of Collingwood’s best for his job in limiting the damage of Adelaide’s most important player Tom Lynch who finished with just nine disposals and one goal.

TURNOVER CENTRAL

The Crows were killed on the turnover. The defence led by Daniel Talia and Kyle Hartigan did so much work but the footy kept coming back in and eventually the dam wall broke.

Chayce Jones laid a big tackle on Brayden Maynard but his short kick missed its mark, the Pies pounced and Maynard ran back through the middle of the ground and kicked Collingwood’s third goal of the game.

Then there was Josh Thomas who intercepted a Brodie Smith kick and put it through, and Hartigan’s kick out of defensive 50m fell short of Jacobs which allowed Taylor Adams room to kick another Collingwood goal.

Adelaide’s overall ball movement was just as bad. They chipped it sideways without gaining territory and for a team that constantly talks about field position they did themselves no favours.

The Crows even got some Bronx cheers when they chipped the ball from side to side across the oval only to eventually go long down the line and turn it over.

Eddie Betts gets a hug from young teammate Darcy Fogarty after he booted his 600th career goal. Pic: AAP

GET YOUR EDDIE POSTER

If there was any good news from the day for Crows fans it was Eddie Betts’ 600th goal which was pre-empted by a poster in The Advertiser on Saturday.

Betts had his best chance in the first few minutes when he took a mark 40m out directly in front but gave the handball off to Smith who was running past and he missed everything.

But Betts’ pressure around the footy was good, leading to a turnover and shot on goal to Darcy Fogarty, before he finally got his chance in the first minute of the third quarter when he kicked it off the ground from the goalsquare.

As the ground announcer informed the crowd of Betts’ milestone, the man himself showed no emotion as he walked back to the goalsquare in search of his next one.

Brodie Grundy outpointed Reilly O'Brien and Sam Jacobs. Pic: SARAH REED

TWO RUCKS BETTER THAN ONE?

Brodie Grundy didn’t have his usual impact by way of possessions but his tap-work and the fact that Collingwood’s collective midfield won the day meant Adelaide’s two ruckmen experiment may not last long.

Reilly O’Brien started on the bench and Sam Jacobs in the middle as the milestone man took two strong marks in the first 10 minutes in a statement of intent.

O’Brien had his moments when he came on including a goal-saving mark in defence but couldn’t convert a 25m set shot at the other end.

Grundy had two touches in the first term and only seven to half-time but went up a notch in the third by getting first hand to the ball in the ruck which allowed Collingwood’s midfield to go to work.

He finished with 35 hit-outs compared to Jacobs’ 15 and O’Brien’s 12 and neither Crow hit the scoreboard when they were stationed forward.

Taylor Walker went goalless. Pic: SARAH REED

THE FUTURE

Fresh from his five-goal haul against West Coast last week, Fogarty kicked two against Collingwood to back it up and suggest he will be in the team for good now.

He pushed up the ground to win possession even at half-back — whether that’s a good thing or not depends on the game plan — but he kicked his first goal before half-time and added another two in the final quarter to give Crows fans something to cling to.

Fellow first-round draftee Chayce Jones also got another opportunity, playing his first game since Round 10 as a late replacement for Riley Knight.

Jones played with the energy and spark you would expect from a first-year player, as well as the turnovers and mistakes, but at least he was energetic around the footy with 12 pressure acts in the first half.

Adelaide’s other great young hope Wayne Milera however has had a very quiet last month. He had 13 touches in the loss to Carlton, 20 against St Kilda, 14 against West Coast and 12 against Collingwood.

A shattered Sam Jacobs leaves Adelaide Oval with his daughter after his 200th game. Pic: SARAH REED

COLLINGWOOD 2.2 5.5 11.8 17.12 (114) def ADELAIDE 0.5 2.6 3.8 6.12 (48)

BEST: Collingwood: Elliott, Treloar, Pendlebury, Greenwood, Adams, Maynard, Grundy, Sidebottom

Adelaide: Talia, Smith, Seedsman, Laird, Hartigan, Fogarty

GOALS: Collingwood: Elliott 5, Thomas 3, Varcoe, Hoskin-Elliott, Phillips, Adams 2, Maynard

Adelaide: Fogarty 3, Douglas, Lynch, Betts

UMPIRES — J. Dalgleish, R. Chamberlain, S. Ryan.

CROWD — 48,175 at Adelaide Oval.

REECE HOMFRAY’S VOTES:

3 — Jamie Elliott (Collingwood)

2 — Adam Treloar (Collingwood)

1 — Scott Pendlebury (Collingwood)