Melbourne held off a determined Adelaide outfit to win by 29 points at Adelaide Oval on Saturday afternoon.

Adelaide threatened throughout the game, but couldn’t quite break past the reigning Premier in the 14.10 (94) to 10.5 (65) contest.

Melbourne's win didn’t come easy in the end as the Crows got within five points in the last quarter and were led well by Jordan Dawson (30 disposals with a game-high 649 metres gained) and Rory Laird (32 disposals).

This was despite the Dees looking set to race away with the game early, after booting three goals from seven inside 50s, before Adelaide had its first inside 50 entry.

But the hosts hit back with the next four majors including two from Taylor Walker before quarter-time.

The free-flowing scoring dried up in the second term with 22 goalless minutes before Riley Thilthorpe's major, which prompted a burst of three inside three minutes for either side.

Christian Petracca then booted his third of the game to put the Demons ahead by one point at the long break.

The visitors dominated the third quarter, punctuated by goals from small forwards Toby Bedford and Kysaiah Pickett but were wasteful, kicking 3.6.

Dawson's late goal narrowed the margin to 17 points at the final change.

Laird kicked truly within 20 seconds of the restart, offering hope for the Crows, who came from behind to win this fixture in an upset last year by one point.

Ben Keays' goal then led to Adelaide closing in within five points but the reigning Premier reasserted control with Calyton Oliver and Petracca at the helm before Bailey Fritsch, in his 100th game, kicked the sealer with four minutes to go.

ADELAIDE            4.0       6.2       7.4       10.5 (65)
MELBOURNE        5.1       6.3       9.9     14.10 (94)

GOALS 
Adelaide: Walker 2, Keays 2, Fogarty, Thilthorpe, Milera, Dawson, Laird, Rachele
Melbourne: Petracca 3, M.Brown 2, B.Brown 2, Harmes, Bedford, Pickett, Langdon, Viney, Sparrow, Fritsch

BEST 
Adelaide: Dawson, Laird, Keays, O'Brien, Walker, Berry
Melbourne: Petracca, Oliver, May, Langdon, Viney, Lever

INJURIES 
Adelaide: Fogarty (finger)
Melbourne: Nil

LATE CHANGES
Adelaide: Nil
Melbourne: Luke Jackson (knee) replaced in selected side by Mitch Brown

SUBSTITUTES 
Adelaide: Lachlan Sholl (unused)
Melbourne: Adam Tomlinson (unused)