Adelaide have shone in the spotlight, opening the AFL’s Gather Round with a stunning first term on the way to upsetting Carlton by 56 points.
The Crows’ start at Adelaide Oval on Thursday night was their best football since they blitzed Geelong at the same ground in the 2017 preliminary final – their most recent finals series.
The Blues steadied, but they had too much ground to recover and suffered their first loss of the season, 18.10 (118) to 9.8 (62).
It is the Crows’ third-straight win and their performance on such a big stage – especially how they mauled a likely finalist in the first term – gave them the look of a team that can snap their own five-year spell outside the top eight.
“Proud, impressed – proud more than anything … it came together on a big stage,” said Crows coach Matthew Nicks.
“There’s not much bigger than what we went up against, Carlton are a fantastic side, and Thursday night footy with every single football person in the state – there was a fair bit going on.
“Our group handled it so maturely.”
As impressive as the first term was, Nicks was even more pleased that Adelaide weathered Carlton’s inevitable counter-punch and then kicked clear at the end.
With all nine round-five games in and around Adelaide over these four days, the Crows kicked off Gather Round with a host’s sense of occasion.
Adelaide started on fire, kicking eight of the first nine goals for a 42-point lead at 26 minutes into the opening quarter.
The term went to 37 minutes as Adelaide bolted to a 32-point lead at the first change.
Carlton’s pressure was non-existent for much of the first quarter, highlighted by Adelaide star Rory Laird taking a mark on 50m.
It was obvious that he would hand off, but no Carlton players paid heed and Brodie Smith tore past to kick a booming goal on the run.
Laird racked up 16 possessions in the first term – nine Carlton players only managed 15 between them.
Laird then received the “Curnow Clamp” from Blues tagger Ed, but the Crows star had a game-high 37 possessions.
Darcy Fogarty kicked five goals, Crows captain Jordan Dawson impressed with 32 possessions and Ben Keays shut out Adam Saad, as well as kicking three goals.
Whatever Blues coach Michael Voss said at quarter-time – and it would have been worth eavesdropping on their huddle – the turnaround was emphatic.
They only trailled by 24 points early in the last term, but they simply had to come from too far back.
“When the whips are cracking, you’ve got to be there at the start. We just weren’t,” Voss said.
“We certainly knew what their (Adelaide’s) capacity was.
“We didn’t do the right thing tonight.”
Star Blues onballer Sam Walsh returned from a back injury for his first game of the season and impressed with a team-high 25 disposals.
Carlton suffered a blow in the warmup when Mitch McGovern suffered calf tightness and had to pull out of the game, with Lachie Plowman taking his place.
Saad finished the game with hamstring tightness and ruckman Marc Pittonet was forced out of the match in the second term with a lacerated eye.
© AAP 2023
