Adelaide’s season in tatters after Hawthorn inflict another heavy loss on injury-hit Crows
ADELAIDE failed to put up a fight against a dominant Hawthorn team that did as it pleased, particularly in the second half, to inflict another heavy loss on the Crows and leave last year’s Grand Finalists in a serious battle to make the eight.
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IF losing a Grand Final was bitter, bidding au revoir to designs on redemption cut its soul deep as Adelaide succumbed to Hawthorn at the MCG on Saturday night.
Only Hawthorn’s first-half (3.9) inaccuracy kept Adelaide in the contest as its finals dream evaporated at the venue that consumed it in the 2017 decider against Richmond.
Hawthorn celebrated Shaun Burgoyne’s 350th game by carving a path to September and sabotaging Adelaide’s run with a 56-point win.
ANALYSIS: ADELAIDE’S SEASON IS A COMPLETE MESS
AS IT HAPPENED: HAWKS’ THIRD QUARTER BURST SETS UP BIG WIN
MATCH CENTRE: SUPERCOACH SCORES FROM HAWKS v CROWS
Final term goals from ‘Silk’ Burgoyne and Jarryd Roughead iced a dead contest that saw Hawthorn dominate inside-50s 61-35.
A four-point halftime deficit blew out with brilliant James Sicily (three goals, 24 touches) and prolific Tom Mitchell (39 touches, 16 contested) leading the charge. Jaeger O’Meara (30) is justifying coach Alastair Clarkson’s faith.
Hawthorn’s unanswered 7.2 third term ensured the depleted Crows are two games out of the eight entering the bye.
Inaugural Crows coach Graham Cornes said the club was in crisis after falling to Fremantle, but a fourth-straight loss — their deepest trough in seven years — leaves its flag push in tatters.
Adelaide faces title contender West Coast, premier Richmond (away), Geelong, Brisbane (away), Melbourne, Port Adelaide, GWS (away), North Melbourne, then Carlton. Don Pykes’s men — with a 6-7 win-loss count — will be forced to win seven of nine games to make the eight.
FINALLY: GRESHAM THE HERO AS SAINTS PULL OFF GREAT ESCAPE
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Sicily slotted Hawthorn’s fourth goal — unloading from 50m — to start the third term and booted another two before the final change to crack Adelaide. Former Crow Jack Gunston, Jonathon Ceglar, Isaac Smith and Luke Breust followed with goals as the Hawks’ elite surfaced.
Mitchell had the ball on a string, but Bryce Gibbs went with the mercurial Hawk. A hamstring tweak to Sam Gibson meant Gibbs remained more negator than creator.
As poor as Adelaide has been, any side without Rory Laird, Tom Lynch, Mitch McGovern, Rory Sloane, Riley Knight, Brad Crouch and Brodie Smith will struggle. Adelaide’s issues are more about injury than division.
Smith and Rory Laird have always got Adelaide out of jail in defence but the escape routes were blocked on Saturday night.
Adelaide was ranked No.2 for ball movement from its defensive 50 to inside 50 across 2016-17 but that has slipped to No.12. Scoring from halfback has almost halved from No.2 in 2016 (20.3 per cent) to No.17 (10.9%).
Having blooded a fifth debutant this season, Patrick Wilson, the remnants of Adelaide’s frontline core attempted to stand up but there weren’t enough.
Sam Jacobs is revered as the ultimate team man and showed why with Adelaide’s opening goals. The ruckman is playing super sore with an old man’s back but keeps going and gave his side belief when it was facing a Hawks onslaught.
Jacobs’ contested possession work and goals kept Adelaide afloat in the first half, while Matt Crouch was stoic but overwhelmed.
Eddie Betts, who left the field late, marked from a substandard clearance, baulked Roughead and conjured a goal against the tide as only he can for Adelaide’s third in the second term. Blake Hardwick slotted the Hawks’ third but their poor kicking had thrown Adelaide a stay of execution.
Ultimately, the Crows were hesitant, undermined by poor ball use and smashed on turnovers. Jake Kelly, Daniel Talia and Andy Otten were valiant but faced a hopeless task with Hawthorn dominating contested ball (146-124) and uncontested ball (268-220).
HAWTHORN: 2.5 3.9 10.11 12.16
ADELAIDE: 1.2 3.5 3.5 4.8
GOALS: HAWKS: Sicily 3, Shiels, Puopolo, Hardwick, Gunston, Ceglar, Burgoyne, Roughead, Breust, Smith. CROWS: Jacobs 2, Betts, Jenkins.
BEST: HAWKS: Sicily, Mitchell, O’Meara, Howe, Burgoyne, Gunston, Smith. CROWS: Gibbs, Jacobs, Crouch, Betts, Kelly, Talia, Otten.
INJURIES: ADELAIDE: Gibson (hamstring). HAWKS: Nil.
UMPIRES: Stevic, O’Gorman, Stephens, Chamberlin.
CROWD: 26, 693 at the MCG.
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