All is well in Adelaide again after dismantling St Kilda in 57-point win

AFTER a disappointing performance against Geelong, Adelaide is well and truly back in form after completely outplaying St Kilda in a horror night for the Saints at Adelaide Oval.

Charlie Cameron jumps on debutant Jono Beech after he kicked his first ever AFL goal. Picture: Sarah Reed

ALL is well again in Adelaide. That “little road bump” from Geelong was smoothed over on Friday night with a 57-point walkover of a flat-footed St Kilda at Adelaide Oval.

No more crisis talk. No need for any more workshop lines about “bad nights” rather than bad signs with the Crows. All is good again as the club celebrated their 20th anniversary of its maiden premiership.

There is one exception to this dream script — the nightmare faced by Adelaide club champion Rory Sloane who was put under a heavy tag again with two Saints on rotation to be his constant minder.

MATCH CENTRE: ALL THE STATS AND SUPERCOACH SCORES FROM CROWS V SAINTS

The All-Australian vice-captain finished with 14 disposals — his second-lowest count this season.

But all else is well with Adelaide to put Don Pyke’s team at 9-3 at the mid-season break with a third consecutive appearance in the AFL top-eight final series in September a mere formality from here.

A top-four finish for the first time since 2012 is the clear objective for the 10-week run after the break.

Charlie Cameron jumps on debutant Jono Beech after he kicked his first ever AFL goal. Picture: Sarah Reed

Adelaide’s opening — with 5.6 and a 23-point lead — was just the ambush St Kilda coach Alan Richardson has pre-empted with his reading of the intense (and somewhat appropriate) criticism of the Crows after their 22-point fall to Geelong at Simonds Stadium seven days earlier.

But the Saints did make it easier for the Crows to find their confidence by making as many mistakes, either dropping marks or losing position in marking contests, as the Socceroos defence offered 24 hours earlier at Adelaide Oval with the World Cup qualifier.

Theories on how to beat Adelaide have three key triggers. And from the well-known blueprint being adopted against the Crows, Sloane has to deal with one chilling fact: He will be tagged again and again and again.

Even before the first bounce, his shadow was Koby Stevens with an aggressive and heavy minding assignment. The back-up for the Saints was Jack Steele to emphasise Sloane can expect his dream job to become very testing of his patience.

Rory Sloane was harassed all night and successfully tagged out of the game. Picture: Getty

Sloane was without a touch for 23 minutes in the second term and held to just five touches to half-time.

He sadly lacks support to beat the tags — and his own answer to this curse. But at least there were other midfielders prepared to pick up the work usually done by Sloane, in particular upgraded rookie and basketball convert Hugh Greenwood who led Adelaide’s clearance count at half-time with four.

On the second part of the well-travelled theory on Adelaide’s weak spots, the contested ball count again proved true.

The Crows won it early, 43-34 in the first term when Adelaide also set the agenda in its half with a 20-9 advantage on inside-50s. This trend continued quarter-by-quarter to again prove contested ball is a key indicator of Adelaide’s game and chances of winning.

And the third theme worked by others against Adelaide — stifling rebound from halfback — was not adequately tested by the Saints.

Matt Crouch picked up the slack as Rory Sloane was being tagged and was one of Adelaide’s best. Picture: Sarah Reed

As St Kilda struggled to find forwards to put a mark on this game, Crows defenders Rory Laird and Brodie Smith chalked up major possession counts. Smith even managed to get to Adelaide’s forward 50 again for his sixth goal of the season.

All that seemed broken last week by Geelong was hardly put to the test by St Kilda. But then this may not be the best indicator of what is to come in September.

Adelaide now rests with its mid-season bye after having a 6-0 start to the season when the Crows appeared unbeatable and a so-so 3-3 count in the next six games when there has been a vast gap between the team’s best and worst.

St Kilda is 5-6 and not quite the team many had expected when nominating the Saints in the pre-season as a bolter from also-ran to top-eight finalist.

ADELAIDE 5.6 8.9 11.11 16.15 (111)

ST KILDA 1.1 2.4 3.10 7.12 (54)

BEST: Adelaide: Douglas, Jacobs, Laird, M. Crouch, Lynch, Atkins, Lever, Smith.

St Kilda: Ross, J. Steven, Bruce, K. Stevens.

GOALS: Adelaide: Jenkins, Lynch, Walker 3, Bett 2, Beech, Milera, Otten, Sloane, Smith.

St Kilda: Bruce 4, Billings, McCartin, K. Stevens.

Umpires: B. Hosking, J. Mollison, B. Rosebury, J. Schmitt.

Crowd: 46,082 at the Adelaide Oval.

Originally published as All is well in Adelaide again after dismantling St Kilda in 57-point win