The Crows booted eight goals to two in the opening half and led by 38 points, before cruising home and raising hopes of a finals series involving both South Australian clubs for the first time. The Crows won 16.10 (106) to 8.5 (53).
Adelaide’s midfield set up the win, with the maestro – Andrew McLeod – the best afield and Simon Goodwin and Mark Bickley also in excellent touch.
McLeod handed a rare hiding to Carlton skipper Craig Bradley, who conceded McLeod three goals in the first quarter and a half before being moved off him. Anthony Franchina and Scott Freeborn were similarly ineffective when playing on McLeod.
The other star was Darren Jarman, who booted four goals at full-forward on Stephen Silvagni. Mark Stevens booted three for the Crows.
The Crows will remain in the eight at the end of the round if the Western Bulldogs beat Collingwood tomorrow.
The Blues, meanwhile, will lament again having lost to Adelaide after having beaten Essendon the week before.
Adelaide coach Gary Ayres praised what he said was his tam's most even performance of the year. ``I didn't think there were any passengers tonight, our contributions from a team aspect were certainly as good as we've played,'' he said.
``When you play that sort of footy the scoreboard takes care of itself, we just didn't take our foot off, we were able to generate a lot of pressure around the one-on-one contests,'' he said.
Carlton coach Wayne Brittain said his team seemed tired after difficult games against Hawthorn and Essendon in the past two weeks.
``We probably only had one or two players that halved the result (against their direct opponents) on the night,'' he said. ``All I can say is the performance is uncharacteristic of what the group has given us over the course of the season.''
Scoreboard:
ADELAIDE:4.1 8.5 11.10 16.10(106)
CARLTON: 2.2 2.3 6.4 8.5(53)
Goals: Adelaide: D Jarman 4 M Stevens 3 A McLeod 3 M Ricciuto 2 I Perrie K Johnson B Hart J Byrne. Carlton: M Lappin 2 L Whitnall M Porter C Bradley I Prendergast A Pickering S Fletcher.
Best: Adelaide: A McLeod R Biglands M Bickley B Hart N Smart S Goodwin. Carlton: A McKay R Houlihan M Lappin S Fletcher B Ratten A Hickmott.
Injuries: Adelaide: T Stenglein (concussion) Carlton: Nil.
Reports: Nil
Umpires: C Mitchell R Kelsey S Jeffery.
Crowd: 44,542 at Football Park, Adelaide.
