AFL Round 10 Western Bulldogs v Adelaide: All the news, action and fallout from Ballarat
The Crows put up their worst performance of the season in Ballarat, dismantled by the Dogs and exposing an alarming trend with their recent run of form.
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The statistics told part of the story of Adelaide’s worst performance of the season.
Against the Western Bulldogs in Ballarat on Saturday, the Crows finished with 101 fewer disposals, 13 less inside 50s, were trounced by 35 in contested possessions, made 16 more turnovers and had half as many scoring shots (30-15).
Adelaide knew it was lucky not to lose by much more.
What the Crows were unsure of was where their flat performance came from.
“They were certainly on, they played really good footy, and we were probably 5 per cent off … I don’t know why,” Adelaide veteran Brodie Smith told The Sunday Mail.
“We just didn’t bring it today.
“We wanted to come out and knew we’d need to be good early, but for whatever reason we couldn’t compete to their level.
“They just got the jump on us.
“If we come into games a little bit off against a quality side like the Bulldogs, they’re going to make you pay.
“Across four quarters, it’s a game we were never really in.
“Thankfully they kicked more points than they did goals.”
Although the midfield battle shaped as being important to the result, winning clearances was not an issue.
The Crows led that statistic 50-39, including centre clearances 14-6.
But they were not able to do anything with that ascendancy, nor match the Bulldogs around the ground.
“They had good method around the contest and took their opportunities going forward,” Smith said.
“We were a bit the opposite, we weren’t good enough in the contest.
“We had to try and match them in the contest and we didn’t, so I think that’ll be one of the main learnings out of it.”
Suddenly, Adelaide has dropped three of its past four games.
The Crows lost no fans in their one-point home loss to Collingwood in round 7 and gave a good showing against Geelong at GMBHA Stadium, before bouncing back with a 52-point thumping of St Kilda that took them into the top eight and made the competition take notice.
Adelaide was able to kick 19 goals against the Saints but just five on Saturday.
Clearly, the conditions and lack of inside 50s kept scoring down.
But the Crows also missed veteran spearhead Taylor Walker, whom they “managed”.
Lachlan Gollant, who replaced Walker, had his moments and finished with 1.2 from seven disposals.
Elliott Himmelberg, who came in for fellow forward/ruck Riley Thilthorpe (knee soreness), had five touches, two marks and zero scoring shots.
Darcy Fogarty (six disposals, four marks, 0.1) had minimal influence.
Adelaide had plenty of other problems on Saturday but putting up that sort of display in Walker’s absence was telling.
Over the past three seasons, the Crows have a 20 per cent win-loss record (2-8) when the 32-year-old has not played.
They have a 40.9 per cent ratio during the same period when Walker takes to the field.
Even though Fogarty and Thilthorpe have shown plenty of promise over the past 12 months, Adelaide is still quite reliant on its former captain.
You also wonder if his absence for a tough road trip had any psychological blow on a young team that fielded 11 players with 50 games experience or fewer.
“Obviously we missed him,” Smith said.
“He’s such a big figure for us and is playing some really good footy, but there’s a big picture there as well with the entire season, making sure he’s close to 100 per cent as possible when he plays.
“Fog competed hard all day and the guys that came in competed, we just didn’t give them the best opportunity.”
Walker is expected back for Sunday’s home match against premiership contender Brisbane, while Thilthorpe should also be in the mix.
But Adelaide will be without half-back/wingman Mitch Hinge due to concussion and goalsneak Izak Rankine faces scrutiny from the match review officer after being reported for forceful front-on contact.
That match should give a clearer picture of whether the Ballarat performance was a blip or a sign the Crows were still a fair way off being able to regularly match it with the top sides.
MATCH REPORT: STAR ON REPORT AS CROWS HANDED REALITY CHECK
— Courtney Walsh
The Western Bulldogs continued their surge towards the top four with a comprehensive 45-point victory over Adelaide in a match played in brisk conditions in Ballarat on Saturday.
With a midfield led by Bailey Smith running rampant in regional Victoria, the Bulldogs set the tone with a dominant opening term on the way to claiming their fifth win in succession.
Missing several key players including their former skipper Taylor Walker, the Crows kicked the first goal of the match but rarely looked threatening in attack thereafter.
The Crows were restricted to their lowest score since a 63-point loss against Essendon in Rd 17, 2021, with their hold on eighth spot reliant on other results later in the round.
Adding to a testing day for the Crows, forward Izak Rankine was reported for a bump on Bulldog Taylor Duryea in the third quarter of the clash.
The pair were going for the football when Rankine, who kicked a second term goal, barrelled into the Bulldog, making high contact with his right shoulder.
Bulldogs captain Marcus Bontempelli had his knee assessed by trainers in the third term but kicked a last term goal when finishing with 29 disposals.
Jason Johannisen, the 2016 Norm Smith Medallist, injured a hamstring in the third term and is unlikely to travel to Darwin to play against the Gold Coast Suns next week.
RANKINE REPORTED
Adelaide goalsneak Izak Rankine will be hoping to escape punishment after being reported for forceful front-on contact against the Western Bulldogs in Ballarat on Saturday.
Rankine was cited when he collided with Taylor Duryea at a loose ball during the third quarter.
Fox Footy’s Gerard Healy believed the former Gold Coast Sun had a pretty good case.
“Was he competing for the ball or in the act of bumping?” Healy said.
But colleague David King leaned the other way, saying the AFL needed to legislate aggressively to protect the head.
“I think he’s in trouble,” King said.
“If you choose to bump or brace, you cannot hit the head.”
King said Rankine’s alibi might be that he had his hands close to the ball.
Duryea remained on the field and kept playing.
CROWS PLUCKED AND FEATHERED
The absence of Walker, who proved the match-winner in a thriller between the two clubs in Ballarat in the corresponding match last year, was a significant blow for the Crows.
With the former captain and fellow tall Riley Thilthorpe injured, and defender Tom Doedee also missing, they were undermanned.
This was exacerbated when Mitch Hinge was substituted in the opening quarter with concussion sustained in a heavy collision when spoiling forward Aaron Naughton.
Critical to the Crows success in Ballarat a year ago was their ability to cramp the Bulldogs for room. This led to a dour struggle before a final term shootout.
But from the infancy of Saturday’s clash, it was clear the Crows would be chasing the Bulldogs all day, with the home side having twice as many handballs in the first term.
At every stoppage Smith appeared off the leash and was able to help himself to 15 disposals for the quarter, 12 of them claimed in uncontested fashion. He finished with 37 touches.
Crow Rory Laird also gathered 15 possessions in the first term, but the majority of his were earned in the contest, with the Bulldogs earning far more of the footy all day.
BULLDOGS BACKS WITH BITE
Liam Jones is proving one of the recruits of the season in his return to the Western Bulldogs.
Jones is less the Prodigal Son than a man who is enjoying a remarkable turn of fortunes after retiring from Carlton due to the Covid vaccination mandate imposed at the end of 2021.
After a season playing in south-east Queensland, the 32-year-old was lured back by the Bulldogs and has proven a key position pillar in one of the competition’s best defences.
The Crows personnel problems were a factor in their struggle to score, with Adelaide recording their lowest score to half-time for the year when restricted to just three goals.
But there is also the quality of the opposition to consider, with the Western Bulldogs defensive efforts again coming to the fore on an occasionally wet day at Mars Stadium.
Heading into the match, the Bulldogs had conceded just 678 points for the year at an average of 75.3 per match, which is the third most miserly behind St Kilda and Collingwood.
SCOREBOARD
Western Bulldogs 4.7 (31), 5.13 (43), 9.19 (73), 11.19 (85)
Adelaide 1.2 (8), 3.4 (22), 4.6 (30), 5.10 (40)
GOALS
Western Bulldogs Scott (2), Macrae (2), Weightman, Gardner, Naughton, Williams, Daniel, Lobb, Bontempelli
Adelaide Rachele (2), Gollant, Rankine, Dawson
BEST
Western Bulldogs Smith, Liberatore, Williams, Bontempelli, Macrae, Daniel, Jones, Duryea
Adelaide Laird, Dawson, O’Brien, Rachele
INJURIES
Western Bulldogs Johannisen (hamstring)
Adelaide Hinge (concussion)
VOTES
3. Smith
2. Liberatore
1. Jones
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