The SANFL Crows dominated Norwood at Adelaide Oval on Sunday afternoon to earn their place in a preliminary final next weekend.

Adelaide set up the match in the first quarter by kicking six consecutive goals and always had the ascendency from there, going on to record a 62-point win.

A number of Crows stood out in the 21.13 (139) to 11.11 (77) victory:

Myles Poholke kicked two goals from the midfield, while also having 23 touches, 10 marks and seven inside 50s.

Alongside him, Patrick Wilson finished with 27 touches, 12 marks, six tackles and four clearances.

Development squad member James Mathews was electric during the match, using his pace to run, carry and boot four goals.

In defence, skipper Matthew Wright was strong with 19 disposals, six marks, four rebound 50s, while youngster Lachlan Sholl amassed 22 touches, three rebound 50s and four inside 50s.

Up forward, a number of young Crows excited inside 50.

Ned McHenry kicked four goals, including two snaps in the first minutes of the game to kickstart the Crows.

It took Shane McAdam until the end of the second term to kick his first goal, but before that he created opportunities for his teammates and went on to kick another two goals in the third.

State League coach Heath Younie said the first quarter positioned the team for the win.

“I’ve been around long enough to know that in any final, if you start well, you put pressure on them and unsettle them and how they want to play,” Younie said.

“To our guys credit, we started strongly around the ball, the competitiveness, contest and pressure, and when we went forward, we were clinical with our finish.”

With 2016 the only other time the SANFL side has made the preliminary final, Younie believes there is a different feeling among the group.

“We’ve got some belief,” Younie said.

‘We know to get into a grand final is going to take a lot of hard work and we took it one step further today.

“We’ll prepare the best we can and give ourselves the best chance.”

Midfielder Tom Hutchesson was a very late out to the side after suffering hamstring tightness in the warm-up and was replaced by fellow development squad member Jackson Press.

Adelaide advances to the second semi-final next Sunday at 3.15pm in a preliminary final where it will face the loser of Glenelg and Port Adelaide. 

ADELAIDE       6.2     11.5    16.9     21.13       (139)
NORWOOD     1.3      2.4      5.8       11.11       (77)

GOALS:
Adelaide: Mathews 4, McHenry 4, McAdam 3, Himmelberg 2, Poholke 2, Stengle 2, Gallucci, Strachan, Fogarty, Hunter
Norwood: Dawe 2, Wilson 2, Bampton 2, Panos 2, Hamilton 2, Barry

BEST: Poholke, Wilson, Mathews, Wright, Sholl, McHenry, McAdam