Adelaide Crows get the AFL win they needed after captain’s effort from Taylor Walker at the MCG
ADELAIDE banked the win it desperately needed with a hard-fought victory over Carlton at the MCG, with Taylor Walker standing up when needed, says Richard Earle.
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IT WAS the bare-knuckle scrap Adelaide and skipper Taylor Walker had to win.
Walker stood up when needed as Adelaide prevailed in a 12-point thriller against the Blues.
Carlton won’t play finals this season but has the ingredients Adelaide is still pursuing to be a heavyweight title contender — natural junkyard grunt and a game-changer in Bryce Gibbs.
Halfback Brodie Smith (30 touches, eight contested) was exceptional for the Crows all day — piercing the Blues when the going was tough.
Failing to find a way through Carlton’s ugly football would have sent shockwaves through Don Pyke’s match committee. This was four points Adelaide had to bank for a top-four berth.
Adelaide was staring at a damaging loss until Matt Crouch capped a dynamite final term with a 50m snap goal, which was followed by a Josh Jenkins (three goals) long bomb and Riley Knight sealer.
Brad Crouch’s 10 contested possessions, six clearances and five inside 50s would prove crucial and encouraging.
Adelaide ruckman Sam Jacobs was given a bath by Matthew Kreuzer, who won 42 hit-outs, but the quality of the man was evident with a vital, fourth-quarter opener.
However promising young Blue Charlie Curnow replied, then Matt Wright came back to haunt the Crows with a soccered goal.
Wright ranks second for scoreboard impact behind Gibbs since joining Carlton last season and struck at the worst time for Adelaide. The Blues hadn’t led all game but Dale Thomas put Carlton ahead 12 minutes into the final term, before Adelaide settled.
Hugh Greenwood had been quiet but put the brakes on Patrick Cripps in a manic final term while Rory Sloane broke away from Sam Kerridge.
It took one act of Adelaide leadership from Walker to snap Adelaide’s inertia ahead of the final break and earn an 11-point buffer.
“Tex” sold a dummy from a set shot around Sam Docherty to goal from 50m and put Adelaide ahead by nine points entering time-on of the third term.
The re-signed Adelaide skipper was a tower of strength in attack but needed more his soldiers capitalising.
Adelaide desperately missed Tom Lynch as the link between midfield and attack with Jono Beech ineffectual.
Adelaide looks a better side with Mitch McGovern roaming around half forward but he isn’t a prolific ball winner like Lynch.
Gibbs exploded into the contest in the second term. His fifth kick should have resulted in Carlton’s second goal. Cripps missed the set shot but reduced the margin to 12 points a minute later from 50m. Gibbs’ sixth kick resulted in an inspired 50m snap for Carlton’s sixth goal that punished an uncharacteristic Daniel Talia spill.
Critics said beating Adelaide was as simple as unleashing unerring physicality, slowing the game with relentless stoppages, negating Sloane and clogging its forward line.
That’s how the Blues rolled after quarter time.
The Crows were just lucky it took Carlton boss Brendon Bolton a quarter to finetune the “blueprint” and concede a four-goal headstart.
From the moment Eddie Betts goaled 15 minutes into the opening term until half time, Carlton scored five goals to two.
Bolton restationed loose men in defence from late in the first term.
All of a sudden Adelaide’s flow was stopped and David Cunningham pinched a goal to keep the Blues in the game.
The visitors wouldn’t score another for 33 minutes — struggling to find a route to goal.
CHRIS McDERMOTTS FIVE THINGS
1. The Crows dodged a bullet here, make no mistake. Carlton may well have lost it rather than the Crows winning it. Don Pyke’s expressions in the coaches’ box said it all. Frustration aplenty but the four points were important.
2. The victory came at a price for the Crows and it may be very costly. Kyle Hartigan tore his hamstring and it looked to be a bad one. A four-week absence at best! It could be longer. Andy Otten’s absence may prove to be a short one.
3. The Crows’ fast start proved to be the difference. Four goals before the Blues got their first proved to be a bridge too far for Carlton.
4. Mitch McGovern’s return is complete. It wasn’t a big game statistically but the Crows’ front six looked better. His hands were good but his fitness needs work — give him time, come September he will be at his best.
5. Brad Crouch. That’s what we’ve been waiting for. A great blend of offence and defence. Thirty possessions at 70 per cent disposal efficiency, six clearances and 10 tackles. The Crows’ best player when he was really needed.
SCOREBOARD
ADELAIDE 4.0 6.1 9.7 13.11 (89)
CARLTON 1.0 5.1 8.2 12.5 (77)
BEST — Adelaide: Smith, M Crouch, Walker, Douglas, Laird, Sloane, Lever, B Crouch, Jenkins. Carlton: Gibbs, Docherty, Cripps, Kreuzer, Jones, Curnow, Murphy.
GOALS — Adelaide: Jenkins 3, Betts 2, Knight 2, Smith, McGovern, Sloane, Walker, Jacobs, M. Crouch. Carlton: Gibbs 2, Casboult 2, Cuningham, Cripps, Silvagni, Kerridge, Sumner, Curnow, Wright, Thomas
INJURIES — Adelaide: Hartigan (hamstring). Carlton: Marchbank (right shoulder), Plowman (dislocated finger)
REPORTS: Nil
UMPIRES: Dalgleish, Harris, Pannell
CROWD: 33,433 at the MCG
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