The SANFL Crows have suffered a 40-point loss to the Port Adelaide Magpies in their final pre-season hit-out on Friday afternoon.
Despite being only 10-points down at halftime, the Crows suffered a lapse in the third quarter, conceding six goals while only kicking two points.
They did bounce back in the last and win the quarter, but the damage was already done.
State League coach Ryan O’Keefe said that the team simply didn’t play out the full game.
“The third quarter really let us down, we lost it in the contest and weren’t able to hold it in our forward line, when it went forward we just let it get rebounded out too quickly,” O’Keefe said.
Regardless of the score, there were a number of positives that came out of the game, including the performance of Ben Davis.
“Benny Davis was playing his first game and was really good for his first hit-out,” O’Keefe said.
“He kept getting better as the game went on. Hopefully that continues into next week, he’s put a solid pre-season in, so he’s getting some rewards for the hard work.
“Jordan Gallucci also found a bit of form which is promising.
“I was really pleased with some of our top up players again, guys like James Loneragan and Will Rivers, who came in for his first game and was really good.”
Kyle Cheney, Michael McMahon and Damon Hill were the others in the best players.
O’Keefe was also pleased with how the back six is developing.
“Our backline was really good, they kept us in the game. They were under a bit of pressure there at one stage, but they stood up and all our defenders played a really solid game,” he said.
“We’ll keep trying to gel as a team and during the week we’ll go and look at some stuff and take out some good learning and hopefully bounce back next week.”
Adelaide will return to Alberton next week for their first proper season match, taking on the Magpies on Saturday, March 31.
Match details
Port Adelaide 1.6 4.10 10.11 11.15 (81)
Adelaide 2.0 4.0 4.2 6.5 (41)
BEST
Adelaide: Loneragan, Rivers, Davis, Gallucci, McMahon, Cheney, Hill
