Beaten by St Kilda, Adelaide Crows record 10th straight AFL defeat
Adelaide has suffered its 10th consecutive defeat, a new and unwanted record for the struggling club.
The Crows were brave but the club record no Adelaide fan wanted still arrived.
As the home side went down by 23 points to St Kilda at Adelaide Oval – albeit with their heads held high – the club suffered its 10th consecutive defeat, breaking the record for their worst-ever run of losses.
Adelaide hasn’t won a game since August 3, 2019 (ironically against the Saints), and St Kilda has beaten the Crows for the first time since 2011 and their first ever win at Adelaide Oval after prevailing 12.6 (78) to 8.7 (55).
The boot of Dan Butler had the Saints on the board with an impressive snap in the first minute of the game and from there, St Kilda never looked likely to lose, despite Taylor Walker’s third goal for the night kicking the Crows within nine point late in the game.
Saints midfielder Jack Steele was electric with 26 touches and an incredible 13 clearances, while Paddy Ryder returned to the side and had 22 hit outs, and Butler finished with a bag of three goals.
After the Saints’ soul-destroying, six-point loss to Fremantle last weekend, their coach Brett Ratten laid down the gauntlet to his players: “Who do we want to be?” he demanded to know from them.
If this performance is anything to go by, the answer is: gritty, pressured and fierce.
When Adelaide’s Walker kicked the home side within nine points and momentum looked in Adelaide’s favour, Tim Membrey, Dean Kent and Jack Lonie kicked three goals in four minutes to put the result beyond doubt.
Zak Jones (20 disposals) and Ben Paton (257 metres gained) really held their heads high.
Adelaide’s youngsters shone in the first term: from Will Hamill spending time on Saints gun Bradley Hill (and Hill was kept to four disposals in quarter one), to Andrew McPherson taking a strong contested mark on the wing creating a turnover that led to a Walker goal, and moments later Tyson Stengle chased down his opponent to earn himself a free kick.
But it was the youngest on the ground – 19-year-old Fischer McAsey (sent forward from the back lines in the past fortnight) who had the crowd of 18,173 on their feet when he flew in to a pack from the pocket and took an absolute screamer. It was just a shame he shanked his kick on goal.
There were a couple of celebrations for Adelaide: veteran Rory Laird celebrated his 150th, while 23-year-old Tom Doedee – playing only his 27th game of AFL – debuted as stand-in captain and both stood up to the Saints run and pressure.
Laird rotated through the wing and into the forward lines and finished with 15 disposals and his goal in the second term was the cherry on top.
Doedee did a job on Membrey early, who was held to only seven disposals (three for the entire first half and didn’t kick a goal until the final term), while he had 18 touches of his own as well as 10 marks and laid two tackles.
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