Analysis: Collingwood defied the cynics as Crows made uncharacteristic mistakes at home

COLLINGWOOD broke its Adelaide Oval hoodoo while revealing some disturbing cracks in the Adelaide Crows on Friday night.

• Match relived: How the Crows let the Pies break their Oval hoodoo

NEW Premier Steven Marshall would have felt sick in the minutes before last night’s Crows-Collingwood game as the floodlights seemed to fail at Adelaide Oval.

Not even under Labor was there a blackout to a night AFL game at the Oval.

That feeling Marshall found in his stomach — until it was explained the lights had been dimmed for the pre-game show — quickly moved to Crows coach Don Pyke’s gut.

And while Marshall was quickly put at ease, Pyke’s mission to find the “on” switch for his stalled Adelaide team was more problematic than any SA Power Networks has known during an electricity outage in the past three years.

Pyke had been here before, particularly against the Magpies. The 25-point deficit at quarter-time was half the margin the Crows faced before that remarkable fightback at the MCG — to draw — on July 30. And then came the rain, 11 minutes into the second term to put more doubt into the Crows’ chances.

It never happened for Adelaide, except for a three-goal rush late in the third term to make it a six-goal game.

Collingwood’s Jordan De Goey celebrates in Friday’s match against the Crows at Adelaide Oval. Photo: Daniel Kalisz/Getty Images

For Collingwood, the result was a total mockery of the cynical notes that deride the Magpies’ inability to score. They also defended.

The staggering note from the Crows’ brownout — and the supercharged challenge posed by the Magpies — was not the ever-telling tale about Adelaide falling behind on the scoreboard when it is losing the contested-ball count.

Rather, it was how Collingwood found chinks in Adelaide’s noted trademarks. The Magpies’ forwards — not those of the Taylor Walker band — put intense pressure on the Crows defence. Such repetitive defensive errors in Adelaide’s back half are very unusual.

No one has seen Adelaide defenders make basic handling errors — or misguided rebounds with so little good thought — for a long, long time.

When Crows fans start “cheering” for a pass from the defensive half that connects with a teammate forward of centre, it clearly has not been quality viewing.

There will be many Adelaide players who would prefer a power outage at West Lakes on Monday to avoid their mistakes being highlighted on the big screen at the team review.

Collingwood’s assertive attacking plays were what was expected of Adelaide. And the question of “where will the Pies get their goals?” was answered by an 18-year-old, first-round (No. 6) draftee, Jaidyn Stephenson, kicking his first AFL goals in his fourth game. His long-range strike from outside 50 in the third term was the best of the five from the “boy born to play football”.

Collingwood’s 33-point lead at halftime — on the back of fewer (28-31) inside-50s but crisper forward movement — was as surprising as the bewildering collapse and inefficiency of the Adelaide attack.

There was just one mark by a Crow in Adelaide’s forward-50 zone in the first half. This blackout has not been known since early 2015.

Finding that “on” switch in sport is sometimes more challenging than keeping the lights on in Adelaide.