AFL Round 19: Sydney Swans v Adelaide Crows latest news, full stats and result

Adelaide paid the price for gifting Sydney its best start in 25 years, missing a golden opportunity to wrench itself out of the bottom-four.

Adelaide conceded nine first-quarter goals against the Swans.

They were challenged for three quarters by a spirited Adelaide Crows outfit but the Sydney Swans continued their quest for a top four spot with a third straight win in a 33-point triumph at the SCG.

The occasion was marked by another enormous Lance Franklin milestone with the legends’ three goals taking him past the great Gary Ablett senior and clear in fifth place on the VFL/AFL all-time goalkicking list with 1033 majors now to his name.

At quarter time it looked like Buddy would get the chance to add another big bag to his remarkable goalkicking haul as the Swans jumped out to a 42-point lead.

But inspired by a virtuoso performance by Rory Laird in midfield, Adelaide would respond strongly from that point to actually outscore Sydney over the final three quarters.

9.3.57 is Sydney's best first quarter against Adelaide and their best since R18, 1997 (10.5.65 v Melbourne) #AFLSwansCrows

— Ronny Lerner (@RonnyLerner) July 23, 2022

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Sam Reid enjoys a goal for the Swans.

Laird’s impressive season continued with a haul of 38 touches, eleven clearances and fourteen inside 50s while Sam Berry again showed his promise with 24 possessions, two goals and fourteen tackles.

Adelaide had a chance to peg the margin back to 15 points at one stage in the third quarter but a remarkable run and chase by Nick Blakey stopped a certain goal from straight in front and from that moment Sydney were able to arrest back control of the game.

Will Hayward would end up slotting three goals for the afternoon including the sealer while Isaac Heeney and Tom Papley both managed doubles in energetic displays.

Taylor Walker again showed all his experience and craft in attack to add three goals as the Crows stayed in the match for almost the entirety of it while Reilly O’Brien dominated the hit-outs in his battle with Tom Hickey.

Jake Soligo showed plenty of promise in the midfield with 20 touches and a wonderful goal from the pocket in another sign that Adelaide have found a beauty at pick 36 in last year’s draft.

The Crows were competitive after quarter-time but paid for their terrible start.

DUELLING WITH DAWSON

After 64 games with the Swans, Jordan Dawson took on his former side for the first and he came in for some rough treatment as a result before the bounce from his old teammates. There were plenty of boos for the former Sydney favourite from the home crowd but he would silence them with a big goal just before three quarter time that gave his side hope of a big upset. “I think Jordy knew (a tag) was coming. That’s the game we play, it’s a competitive game and they brought it. He handled that well,” Crows coach Matthew Nicks said.

Jordan Dawson came in for heavy attention against his old side.

Along with the performance of Laird and the super impressive Sam Berry, who enhanced his top three in the AFL tackle count with another fourteen along with two goals, Nicks was delighted with the showing of raw defender Nick Murray who battled away with Franklin all afternoon and kept him to three majors.

“We’re really pleased with ‘Muz’ and what he’s bringing. He’s a competitor. I thought he had a really strong game, he’s just played on one of the superstars of the game and he can hold his head high,” Nicks said.

The Crows are set to be without experienced midfielder Matt Crouch though who has battled to work his way into Adelaide’s 22 regularly and now looks set to be sidelined by a quad injury suffered at training.

“He’ll have a scan on Monday but it looks like there might be something there in the quad which is disappointing,” Nicks said.

Sam Berry played his best game for the Crows in the loss to Sydney.

BERRY’S A BEAUTY

In another gloomy season for the Crows, hard nosed midfielder Sam Berry has emerged as a player for Adelaide fans to get excited about. He came into the game sitting third in the competition for tackles and added another 14 to his count. Only 31 games into his career he helped get the Crows back into the contest momentarily with two lovely goals from range in the second term.

SYDNEY: 9.3, 11.7, 13.14, 17.16 (118)

ADELAIDE: 2.3, 6.5, 9.10, 12.13 (85)

GOALS

SYD: Hayward, Franklin 3, Papley, Heeney 2, Stephens, Reid, Clarke, Mills, Gulden, Warner, Amartey

ADEL: Walker 3, Berry 2, Laird, Fogarty, Dawson, Soligo, McHenry, Murphy, Milera

BEST:

Syd: Blakey, Parker, Papley, Heeney, Mills, Warner, Franklin

Adel: Laird, Berry, O’Brien, Soligo, Murray, Walker

Injuries:

Adel: McAdam (Ribs) Subbed out for Cook.

VOTES:

3 – Rory Laird (Adelaide)

2 – Nick Blakey (Sydney)

1 – Luke Parker (Sydney)