Adelaide has shown it is primed to rebound in 2019 with a stunning end to its disappointing season
ADELAIDE has crushed Carlton at Etihad Stadium, delivering on stand-in skipper Tom Lynch’s demand for “unconditional football” in its final outing of season 2018.
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IT WAS so unconditional it hurt. Adelaide crushed Carlton at Etihad Stadium delivering on stand-in skipper Tom Lynch’s demand for “unconditional football” with aggressive Josh Jenkins slotting seven goals. Yes, the Crows faced the worst Blues unit fielded since Federation with two wins, but its 13-goal first half offered plenty of optimism for coach Don Pyke.
A rousing 104-point win to finish to the season — where style met substance — won’t mask the frustration of a 12-10 win-loss ratio.
Adelaide has proven a club with endless resilience since the Phil Walsh era and is positioned for a mammoth 2019 riposte. Adelaide, missing vice-captain Rory Sloane with a family matter, put Carlton away.
Adelaide’s fall in pressure applied and points for from first last year to 11th has been a barometer for its season. However, the Crows improved over the past six weeks in a telling, precursor to 2019.
Jenkins finished with 46 goals to cap a solid year and promise of more to come. He started with two in the first term and booted his seventh in Adelaide’s six-goal final quarter where Jordan Gallucci (4) struck.
Supreme Patrick Cripps (37 touches, 24 contested) stood up to the Crows with help from Dale Thomas and Marc Murphy but Carlton was overwhelmed. Jacob Weitering (concussion) and gun Charlie Curnow (leg) failed to finish the game.
Jenkins and Gallucci had booted three each in the first half while Riley Knight (2) showed how can hit the scoreboard when fit.
Harry McKay broke loose from Mitch McGovern for two goals in as many minutes to whip up Carlton’s only euphoria in the second term. McKay who added a third in the penultimate quarter, has size and spunk. However, McKay’s exploits were overshadowed by debutant Elliott Himmelberg who shook off Sam Rowe like a rag doll on the boundary line before unloading a checkside for his first AFL goal. This was what footy is about as Crows teammates ran the length of the ground to congratulate a 198cm, project with untold upside.
Premierships are so often won by the best defensive teams. Milera, Brodie Smith and Rory Laird interchanging across half back gives Adelaide premiership run surrounded by Tom Doedee Daniel Talia, Alex Keath and Luke Brown. Andy Otten may just be there too next year after excelling last night.
Milera is Adelaide’s next Andrew McLeod, emerging as an elite force off half-back as the dual Norm Smith Medal winner did 21 years ago. Milera sizzled in a nine-touch first term while his don’t argues rival Brownlow Medallist Dustin Martin for authority. Milera could improve forward supply with more midfield time.
Versatile McGovern was used in defence against the side he could join next season given Adelaide’s backline casualties.
Sing that sweet song, boys! #weflyasone pic.twitter.com/B5FMZQNkyx
— Adelaide Crows (@Adelaide_FC) August 25, 2018
Laird was allowed too much latitude, burning the Blues through clear corridor running and overlap prowess. The brilliant half back offloaded the handpass that found Gallucci for Adelaide’s third of the first term and that was just the start of a Laird landslide.
Former Blue Bryce Gibbs never envisaged watching on in September but will relish the midfield reinforcement of a fit Sloane, Brad and Matt Crouch Eddie Betts’s two second term goals including a fantastic pick pocket effort, followed two from Rory Atkins. Adelaide will again be a force if Betts (3) can again approach his trademark 50 goals a season.
SCOREBOARD
CARLTON 1.4 5.5 7.8 8.13
ADELAIDE 5.4 13.6 20.8 26.9 (165)
GOALS:
BLUES: McKay 3; Polson 2; Mullett, Kerridge, Simpson
CROWS: Jenkins 7; Gallucci 4; Atkins, Betts 3; Knight 2; Gibbs, Himmelberg, Laird, Lynch, Kelly, Seedsman, Milera
BEST
BLUES: Cripps, Thomas, Murphy, Weitering, Rowe, Simpson
CROWS: Jenkins, Laird, Milera, Gibbs, Gallucci, Otten, Keath Ellis-Yolmen
INJURIES
BLUES: Weitering (concussed), Curnow (leg)
CROWS: Sloane, withdrew for personal reasons.
UMPIRES
Fisher, Stephens, Hosking
CROWD
17,000 at Etihad Stadium
Originally published as Adelaide has shown it is primed to rebound in 2019 with a stunning end to its disappointing season