The Crows met little resistance and all but guaranteed the triumph in the opening half of the match after they blazed to a 62-point lead by the major break.
The heavy loss ended a dismal month of football for Danny Frawley’s side, whose win over last year’s grand finalist, Collingwood in round one seems light years away.
The Richmond players and coach were booed by a section of the crowd as they entered the race at half time, after having nine goals scored against their one in a disastrous second term.
Adelaide, who in the past three weeks was far from disgraced in losing to St Kilda, Fremantle and the Lions, simply dominated all over the ground in the 21.8 (134) to 9.5 (59) win.
The Crows midfield slaughtered their Richmond rivals, with Mark Ricciuto, Tyson Stenglein, Michael Doughty and Andrew McLeod gathering a total of 83 possessions between them compared to Kane Johnson, Mark Coughlan, Greg Tivendale and Wayne Campbell’s cumulative total of 64.
Ken McGregor kicked five goals and led a list of nine goal scorers for his side, while the diligent Andrew Krakouer was the Tigers only multiple goal kicker.
Former Kangaroos champion Wayne Carey enjoyed his best match for the season after kicking three goals.
McGregor was initially manned by All Australian defender Darren Gaspar, who has been distinctly out of sorts since returning this season after having a knee reconstruction.
But the Crow had three opponents by the night’s end after he repeatedly out marked Gaspar, and later Ray Hall.
Coughlan, the 22 year-old winner of the club’s best-and-fairest last year, began the third term on the bench after starting the match in a forward pocket.
Seemingly carrying an injury, he had a single touch to half time after spending minimal time on the ball and finished with 12 disposals.
Richmond, without the injured Matthew Richardson and suspended Greg Stafford, did not score consecutive goals until Bowden and Krakouer notched successive majors in a brief burst during the third term.
The Tigers won that quarter, kicking three goals to the Crows’ two, but save for a couple of flurries in the final quarter could not find any rhythm or purpose.
Adelaide coach Gary Ayres said he was pleased with his team’s persistence after close losses to top-five teams Fremantle and St Kilda.
“I think the win that we got tonight was a reward of those previous two matches that we played,” Ayres said in his post-match media conference.
“We made Fremantle work for their win and we made St Kilda work for their win last week, so the type of footy that we played was going to give us a win – no doubt about that.”
“We kicked nine goals in the second quarter, so that in itself gives the guys a genuine visual reward that if they keep playing that sort of football, they’re going to get some sort of result.”
Richmond coach Danny Frawley conceded after the match that it was the lowest point he had reached in his coaching career.
“Yeah, look, it is. There’s no doubting that. It’s frustrating.”
“We’re not at a loss as to where the answers are, it’s just about getting back to the basics and wanting to compete for each other and not allowing this to happen. It’s been four weeks now.”
“Our best is far good enough to win games of football, but what we’re producing at the moment is very disappointing.”
Richmond: 2.0 3.2 6.4 9.5 (59)
Adelaide: 4.2 13.4 15.5 21.8 (134)
Goals: Richmond: Krakouer 2, Ottens, Hall, Hartigan, Brown, Bowden, Roach, Morrison 1
Adelaide: McGregor 5, Carey, Stevens 3, Bock, Burton, Clarke, Ricciuto 2, Bode, Johncock 1
Best: Richmond: Brown, Ottens, Hartigan, Krakouer, Fleming Adelaide: Perrie, McGregor, Ricciuto, McLeod, Stenglein, Doughty, Clarke, Burton
Injuries: Richmond: None
Adelaide: None
Changes: Richmond Rodan (ankle) replaced in the selected side by Fleming
Reports: None
Umpires: Nicholls, Ellis, McInerney
Crowd: 25,267 at Telstra Dome
