NewsBite

AFL Sunday: Adelaide Crows run rampant in huge showdown

THIS AFL team took no prisoners with its pre-game banner, but it blew up in their face after a disastrous result in a bitter derby.

Adam Santarossa and Alex Blair
7 min read
August 7, 2017 - 7:04AM
Ouch. Port Adelaide took no prisoners with this one.
Ouch. Port Adelaide took no prisoners with this one.

AFL Sunday

Welcome to AFL Sunday, our coverage of today’s matches:

St Kilda 15.13 (103) West Coast 14.11 (95)

Richmond 13.15 (93) Hawthorn 9.10 (64)

Adelaide 18.22 (130) Port Adelaide 7.4 (46)

ROUND 21 wraps up with St Kilda pulling off a thrilling victory to keep their finals hopes alive, retiring club veteran Nick Riewold still has an outside chance of ending his career in a grand final.

A Dustin Martin showcase helped Richmond along to a solid victory over Hawthorn, while the Crows utterly destroyed rivals Port Adelaide in a dreary home derby.

8pm

Port Adelaide’s banner backfires

The Power took no prisoners in the warm-up to their bitter Adelaide derby against the Crows.

Port Adelaide ran through one of the cheekiest banners seen this year before the first bounce at the Adelaide Oval. The banner was simple: a checklist for Crows fans as they arrived to the field for the anticipated clash.

Ouch. Port Adelaide took no prisoners with this one.
Ouch. Port Adelaide took no prisoners with this one.

But the feud didn’t end there.

The Crows qucikly edited the banner and tweeted their own version after dismantling the Power.

This version, posted by The First Reserve on Facebook, was even better.

The Power fought their way through bad dream at the Adelaide Oval, sinking to a damning loss in the rain against their Adelaide rivals.

Adelaide small forward Eddie Betts was at his usual best, kicking four maximums as Port crumbled under pressure.

Betts produced two party-trick goals in Adelaide’s domination of Port, who are now in a mid-table logjam, holding fifth spot by percentage and six points shy of fourth-placed Geelong.

Betts, on return after having his appendix removed a fortnight ago, threaded a goal from the scoreboard pocket, dubbed the Eddie Betts pocket, and later remarkably bounced another through from a different boundary line to highlight Adelaide’s 14th win of the season.

Adelaide monstered Port before 45,028 spectators.

In a lopsided opening half, the Crows had 43 inside 50 entries to Port’s 11. The Crows blew much of their dominance with inaccurate goalkicking — 1.9 in the first quarter, 5.15 at halftime.

But the wayward shooting mattered little, such was the command of a midfield headed by Rory Sloane (30 disposals, one goal), Matt Crouch (34 disposals), his brother Brad (29 touches, one goal) and Richard Douglas (24 possessions). Ruckman Sam Jacobs set the tone for the Crows, recording 42 hit outs and kicking two goals to shade Port’s Paddy Ryder.

Captain Taylor Walker (23 disposals, three goals), Jenkins and Betts created havoc in attack while Jake Lever and Rory Laird (28 possessions) were superb in defence; with Adelaide’s only downer a thigh injury to winger David Mackay. While Adelaide were ruthless, Port didn’t offer a yelp in their eighth loss of the season.

They couldn’t score a goal from the eight minute mark of the first term to eight minutes into the third.

The Power’s only clear winner was Robbie Gray, who collected 33 disposals and kicked a goal, while Charlie Dixon kicked two goals as Port slipped to a fifth consecutive loss to their hometown foes.

— with AAP

5:51pm

Crows turn it around, streaker invades MCG

The Crows have seriously turned it around after their shaky start, dominating over Port Adelaide with superior field coverage.

The Crows have made 93 more disposals, 29 more marks and 16 more scoring shots over their cross-town rivals going into halftime.

In Melbourne, Richmond’s match was briefly interrupted by a cheeky streaker invading the field in the final quarter. The plucky fan didn’t go the whole hog though, leaving his jeans and runners on as he jumped the fence and proceeded to dodge security.

6:46pm

Tigers blast Hawks

Richmond have dismantled Hawthorn by 29 points at the MCG to keep their top-four AFL ambitions on track.

The Tigers made short work of the in-form Hawks, winning 13.15 (93) to 9.10 (64) to end Hawthorn’s hopes of finals football.

But Damien Hardwick’s side can continue to dream after a relentless performance brought a fourth-straight win.

The Tigers jumped to third, outside the top two by percentage after their day out.

Dion Prestia put together one of his best showings for his new side, Alex Rance was unbeatable and David Astbury had a field day.

Josh Caddy kicked four goals and Dustin Martin finished strongly, but nowhere was the difference between the two sides more evident than inside 50. Richmond — without spearhead Jack Riewoldt once more — brought superb tackling intensity and found new routes to goal.

Caddy, Daniel Rioli, Trent Cotchin and Corey Ellis all kicked first-term goals to create a buffer that the Hawks couldn’t get close to all day. The hardworking Tigers seemed to inhabit every square inch of the ground, denying Hawthorn any run or clean usage.

Without suspended leader Luke Hodge, the Hawks struggled and played without cohesion.

The first-half display had Geelong premiership captain Cameron Ling excited about Richmond’s prospects in September.

“It’s so impressive the style they’re playing with. It’s finals style football. This’ll hold up,” he told radio station 3AW.

Hawthorn eliminated their skill errors but were no more penetrative in the second term.

After a low-scoring second term, Richmond opened up a 45-point lead with three quick third-term goals.

The Tigers would have moved to second on the ladder if they maintained that pace.

Instead, a late Hawthorn rally means Richmond have to be content with third place with three matches left — starting with next Saturday’s blockbuster against fourth-placed Geelong.

In his 250th game, Jarryd Roughead was emblematic of Hawthorn’s kicking woes. The Hawks skipper twice kicked out on the full, but did slot a tough set shot from outside 50 metres in an otherwise forgettable milestone game.

— with AAP

3:44pm

Saints keep dream alive with thrilling win

The Saints were marching at full pace at Etihad.
The Saints were marching at full pace at Etihad.

St Kilda’s dream of September has been kept alive after taking a nailbiting victory over West Coast at Etihad Stadium.

A last-minute goal from Jack Billings sealed the deal after four quarters of neck-and-neck footy. St Kilda’s win also ended a horror streak against West Coast, registering their first victory over the Ealges in nine matches. West Coast also pulled in an embarrassing statistic, losing their sixth match by under two goals this season, the most in a season in the West Australian club’s history.

The stakes were high at Etihad Stadium on Sunday afternoon with the Eagles and Saints eighth and 11th respectively going into round 20.

With their finals hopes on the line, St Kilda trailed by 14 points early in the last quarter but held their nerve and rattled through three unanswered goals to hit the lead then hang on for a 15.13 (103) to 14.11 (95) win. There was just one point in it as the clock ticked down the dying minutes, but Jack Billings marked and kicked the sealer with less than 30 seconds left in a pulsating contest.

Jack Steele was outstanding for the home side with 26 possessions, 10 tackles and two goals, with Blake Acres (30 disposals) and Billings (25 touches, two goals) also important.

Josh Kennedy kicked five goals for the Eagles, with Sam Mitchell (23 possessions) and Andrew Gaff (30) also influential.

West Coast led the fast-paced game by three points at the first break and seized the momentum midway through the second term.

Kennedy kicked his 50th goal of the season and 500th of his career as the visitors piled on four goals in seven minutes to open up a game-high 22-point lead.

But the Saints hit back with the last three goals of the first half to reduce the Eagles’ lead to three points.

West Coast retained a three-point advantage at the end of a seesawing third quarter and had the momentum early in the final term.

But goals to Shane Savage, Billings and Steele proved decisive as St Kilda hung on for their 10th win of the season.

— with AAP

1pm

Legends slam KO debate

AFL legend Brendan Fevola has slammed critics of Brodie Grundy, following his tackle on North Melbourne’s Ben Brown.

Brown was knocked unconscious in the tackle and it has sparked calls for the Collingwood player to spend time on the sidelines.

But Fevola sees nothing wrong with the tackle, saying it was an example of how young footballers are taught to execute a tackle.

“I said in the meeting earlier, ‘that’s a perfect tackle’,” Fevola told Seven’s AFL Game Day.

“It used to be all right back in the day.

“Auskick kids are being taught to tackle like that, it’s a sad day when blokes are getting rubbed out for that.

Brodie Grundy of the Magpies (right) tackles Ben Brown of the Kangaroos (left).
Brodie Grundy of the Magpies (right) tackles Ben Brown of the Kangaroos (left).

Geelong star Patrick Dangerfield was handed a week on the sidelines for a similar tackle on Carlton’s Matthew Kreuzer. That incident also left the ruckman unconscious, and the AFL has now set a precedent in how it views such tackles.

But former Collingwood captain Nick Maxwell feels the AFL have got it wrong, saying they are too quick to penalise players as a result of injuries sustained.

“It has to come down to their intent,” Maxwell told Seven.

“Because that tackle will happen 20 times, and once someone will get knocked out. The other 19 times the same thing could happen and they don’t get knocked out.

“You can’t ask a player to make that decision in a half a second — he’s just trying to lay the tackle. If his intent is to pick him up and smash him into the ground, you can clearly see that.

“His intent their wasn’t to grab him and smash him into the ground. He’s wrestling a guy who is 110kg and he’s trying to stop him getting his hands free.”

But Fevola has an interesting solution to combat the head injuries being sustained by AFL players as a result of heavy tackling.

“I’ve got an easy solution — make everyone wear a helmet,” Fevola said.

“Juniors, all the way to senior.”

1pm

‘Time for AFL to make a statement’

Toby Greene of the Giants tangles with Alex Rance of the Tigers.
Toby Greene of the Giants tangles with Alex Rance of the Tigers.

Concussion isn’t the only issue currently facing the AFL, according the former star Kane Cornes.

Corner urged the AFL to respond to the growing number of incidents involving players ‘diving’ or simulating injury to win a freekick.

The former Port Adelaide player believes it has got out of hand and the league bosses must step in.

“Diving is an issue in the AFL,” Cornes said.

“It’s time the AFL actually warned someone about this diving.

“I’ll put it on the agenda that I did it myself during my career and it was a regret of mine.

“Players are getting away with it. It’s time for the AFL to make a statement. There needs to be a warning and the AFL needs to clamp down on it.”

More related stories

Original URL: https://www.news.com.au/sport/afl/afl-sunday-live-coverage-of-todays-games/news-story/4d5a76c126fec7492977943e93473fbf