Adelaide’s finals hopes teetering after 27-point defeat by resurgent Carlton at the MCG
Adelaide’s hopes of making finals take another hit with shock loss to Carlton the latest in a post-bye form slump which has seen only one win in five games.
As the Crows ran onto the MCG on Saturday through their banner it read: “Battle it out, Hear us cheer, We’re here to play, We have no fear.”
But as they trudged off the hallowed turf three hours later, there had been a battle, but one they never seemed in it.
There had been little in terms of special play. Scant for their legion of travelling fans to cheer about. And now there is sure to be a hell of a lot of fear running through every corridor and inside every locker at West Lakes.
Because what this game — which six weeks ago would have been seen as unlosable — has done is leave the Crows’ season in tatters.
Looking back at six weeks ago one thing stands out: the bye round. The Crows have now won only one game since they came back from their week off and that was against Gold Coast.
The Crows were smashed by the Blues in the 27-point loss, who have now won five of their last seven.
Adelaide missed targets, lacked defensive pressure, seem to have lost instinct moving into their forward 50 and their midfield — their one revered midfield — was dominated all over.
Carlton’s ball-winners won the day for them, with Patrick Cripps (39 disposals), Kade Simpson and Marc Murphy (both 31) combining for 101 disposals.
In comparison, the Crows top disposal-getters — Brad Crouch (30), Rory Laird (27) and Rory Sloane (26) managed a combined 83.
The Crows lost the contested possession count 145 to 122), clearances by a massive 52 to 29 and they even lost the hit-outs (45 to 41) which has been rare since Reilly O’Brien’s been running around.
SECOND-HALVES
Where the criticism of Adelaide lately has been on their diminishing second halves, that wasn’t the problem yesterday.
For example, Carlton had reached 20 on the “inside 50 count” before the Crows had even hit double figures in that stat, but it had all evened up by the end of the game.
Adelaide went into half time 16 points down, and the only reason for that kind margin was because Carlton’s last three scoring shots were all behinds.
When Jenkins missed a set shot in the dying seconds of the first half and the crowd sent out a loud “boo” it impossible to tell whether that was Carlton or Crows fans making all that noise. Perhaps it was a combination of both.
But the Crows came out with more fight in the third and fourth quarters and Sloane, for one, showed his ticker winning nine disposals.
The team’s pressure seemed up. But when Blues’ Josh Deluca kicked Carlton’s 11th goal — and become the side’s ninth individual goal-kicker — in the first 20 seconds of the last quarter, it was all over, despite two unanswered goals to Brad Crouch and Josh Jenkins, Carlton kicked the last two of the game.
WALKER’S WAYS
If anyone was under greater pressure than perhaps the Crows coach this week, it was Walker. As whispers became shouts that perhaps the co-captain’s numbers deserved his being dropping, Pyke resolutely said that Walker was in the side for his leadership.
And you could see why. The big man kicked three goals (one gifted thanks to a double 50m penalty) and finished with 11 disposals.
Sure, his second half was on the quiet side and the coach might fault some of his missed targets, but no one could fault Walker on the importance of his on-field presence. If you watched him closely, he was also vocal around packs clapping, yelling and encouraging his teammates.
KEATH-LESS DEFENCE
A pillar in defence all season, Alex Keath sure was missed. “Managed” out of the side by his sore body, his strong overhead marking skills, his ability to sense and stick to his player and his ground ball work were all missed.
As the footy was able to bounce cleanly through Rory Laird’s legs, Andy Otten — playing his first game of AFL this season — had a tough old day too. At one point in the second term, he was simply pushed out of a marking contest by Harry McKay as if he were made of paper. He made up for that effort in the third quarter when he chased down McKay and laid a huge tackle on the Carlton forward and had him holding the ball.
Jake Kelly also showed lots of fight, particularly when he and Will Setterfield had a bit of push-and-shove, and it should be noted that the Crows won the tackle count 84 to 69.
GOING FORWARD
The question now is: where to for Adelaide? They face St Kilda at home on Saturday night and no longer is that game seen as a gimme either. Finals chances are slipping away and fans are left to plead: how has this team managed to slip so far from the lofty heights of their 2017 season?
SCOREBOARD
Carlton: 4.4 7.8 10.9 13.9 (87)
Adelaide: 4.0 5.4 7.5 9.6 (60)
Goals:
Carlton: Casboult 3, Cripps, Kennedy, Lang, Silvagni, McKay, Phillips, Simpson, Deluca, Gibbons
Adelaide: Walker 3, Stengle 2, Murphy, Seedsman, Crouch. B,
Best:
Carlton: Cripps, Simpson, Casboult, Murphy, Gibbons, Curnow
Adelaide: O’Brien, Sloane, Smith, Walker
Injuries:
Adelaide: Nil
Carlton: Nil
Umpires:
Rosebury, Harris, Glouftsis
Crowd:
38,639 at the MCG