History repeats as relentless Tigers outmuscle Adelaide by 47-points at the MCG
ADELAIDE’S return to play Richmond at the MCG for the first time since last year’s grand final loss again ends in misery for the Crows in a further dent to their slim finals hopes.
SOME things take longer than others to repair. Adelaide’s return to the MCG on Friday night for its second AFL grand final rematch against Richmond is a story of this year’s problems with the Crows - and not those of September 30 last year.
Adelaide again fell behind the count - now 7-8 - and on the edge of being counted out of the top-eight finals in September in the 47-point loss to the fast-finishing, league leading Tigers.
And the big question of 2018, regardless of what happened in the grand final last year, is why does Adelaide find it so difficult to score when the Crows were a goalkicking production line last season and the year before.
Adelaide’s 8.8 (56) is the club’s lowest score against Richmond, replacing the 9.4 (58) at the MCG in 1995.
For three quarters last week - before the manic finish against West Coast - Adelaide appeared so unconvincing and disjointed in its attacking movements. It was more of the worrying same last night, either in the way the ball was delivered to an attack not short of talent - or in how the forwards led by captain Taylor Walker presented to their suppliers.
This all has led to Adelaide now ranking 17th of 18 for marks inside-50 this season - and a dramatic fall in the team’s scoring average.
So what do the Crows get out of another fruitless venture to the MCG?
Reassuring for Adelaide - and all his free-agent suitors - is the sure way vice-captain and All-Australian midfielder Rory Sloane has returned after an 11-week stay on the Crows’ lengthy injury list with a foot injury. His second match in the comeback again showed Sloane is sound on his feet - and hungry to make up for lost games.
MATCH CENTRE: ALL THE STATS AND SUPERCOACH SCORES
Also not distracted by injury is club champion, All-Australian midfielder Matt Crouch, who carried a small fracture in a hand. The injury did not hinder his ability to get or handle the ball.
And there is the continued development of first-year defender Tom Doedee, who is the shining light in a season of many gloomy clouds.
Key forward Josh Jenkins, who was indeed tormented during and after grand final day, made sure there were no new demons to take from the MCG as he finished as Adelaide’s leading goalkicker of the night with three.
Adelaide lost control of this grand final rematch a little earlier than the big match unravelled on the Crows nine months earlier - by about 20 minutes. After being held to its lowest first-quarter score against Richmond, the Crows defence was put under a constant barrage of Richmond runs to the goalfront in the second term. There were 23 inside-50 sorties by the Tigers in these 30 minutes while the Crows managed just eight - and made the most of them to score three goals while appearing far from convincing in their ball movement.
Richmond led by 28 points late in that quarter - and 22 at half-time (compared to nine points in the grand final). As the Tigers’ eagerness to keep the ball in their attacking half allowed the Richmond defence to be as miserly as it was in the grand final.
In chalking up its 17th consecutive win at the MCG, Richmond felt so much at home against the Crows that at times it seemed the Tigers were just toying with the whole contest. Certainly captain Trent Cotchin and Dion Prestia handled and moved the ball as if they had time (and critical space) to burn.
Adelaide’s challenge of holding Richmond’s lone key forward, Jack Riewoldt, was made threatened by the injury scare to Daniel Talia late in the first term. The experienced Crows backman had stood up superbly in following and outmarking the far-leading Riewoldt, who became marked by Kyle Hartigan (without conceding a score) until Talia resumed 11 minutes into the second term.
By the second half, the Riewoldt-Hartigan match-up was back on as Riewoldt roamed outside 50 and Talia took on the firing Callum Moore at the goalfront.
SCOREBOARD
RICHMOND 2.3 7.8 9.10 15.13 (103)
ADELAIDE 1.3 4.4 7.6 8.8 (56)
BEST - Richmond: Cotchin, Martin, Grigg, Short, Astbury, Lambert. Adelaide: M. Crouch, Doedee, Sloane, Laird, Gibbs, Jenkins.
GOALS - Richmond: Caddy, Edwards, Martin, Moore, Riewoldt, Rioli 2, Butler, Prestia, Short. Adelaide: Jenkins 3, Fogarty, Gallucci, Greenwood, Seedsman, Walker.
INJURIES - Richmond: Graham (left shoulder).
UMPIRES: D. Margetts, N. Williamson, C. Fleer.
CROWD: 54,934 at the MCG.
FIVE THINGS WE LEARNED
1. SCORING remains a challenge for the Crows, who were the league’s highest-scoring team last season (averaging 108 points in 25 matches). Adelaide’s opening-term score of 1.3 is the first time the Crows have started with just one first-quarter goal against the Tigers in 38 AFL games since the clubs first met in June 1991. The Crows have rewritten their lowest score against Richmond with the 8.8 (56) replacing the 9.4 (58) in Round 7, 1995 at the MCG.
2. IF the Rising Star Award ignores the trend of so many other AFL trophies of finishing in the trophy cabinets of midfielders, first-year Crows defender Tom Doedee has to be in the conversation of the judges when deciding this year’s best rookie. Doedee’s intercept marking tells of a player with sound read of the play. And his towering mark over Richmond key forward Jack Riewoldt midway through the third term should get a fair run on the highlights packages this weekend.
3. CROWS full forward Josh Jenkins (who also has to double-up as a ruckman) continues to answer his grand final demons. After kicking five goals against All-Australian defender Alex Rance in the first grand final rematch at Adelaide Oval, Jenkins managed three goals against limited and poor supply last night.
4. RICHMOND is very much at home at the MCG. The Tigers now have 17 consecutive wins at the ground. They finish the home-and-away season with four of their last five games at the MCG, making the league-leading Tigers most likely to win the AFL minor premiership for the first time since 1982 (when it was a 12-team VFL competition).
5. ADELAIDE’S equation to reach its fourth consecutive top-eight finals in September continues to demand the Crows find at least another six wins. Adelaide’s run in the remaining seven home-and-away games is Geelong at Adelaide Oval on Thursday night, also-ran Brisbane (Gabba), top-eight side Melbourne (Adelaide Oval), top-four contender Port Adelaide in Showdown 44 at Adelaide Oval on Saturday August 4, Greater Western Sydney in Canberra, would-be finalist North Melbourne (Adelaide Oval) and Carlton (Etihad Stadium).