Four goals to Eddie Betts, including three after half-time, has helped Adelaide down a wasteful Fremantle by 33 points in front of over 47,000 fans at Adelaide Oval on Saturday afternoon.

The result improved Adelaide’s record to 4-2 after six rounds, while Saturday’s loss was the Dockers' sixth straight defeat to start 2016. No club in VFL/AFL history has won a minor premiership and then started the following season as poorly as Fremantle.

Crows star Rory Sloane (31 possessions, one goal) was the pick of the midfielders on Saturday, while Tom Lynch recovered from a disastrous miss early in the game to boot two majors and Eddie Betts continued his stellar run with another four.

Michael Walters was great for the Dockers (29 disposals, three goals), as was Stephen Hill (25 possessions) and Michael Barlow (33 possessions, seven tackles), while Alex Pearce did a great job on Adelaide skipper Taylor Walker (goalless).

The Five: Round Six

In a game marred by poor skills from both sides it was the Crows who made more of their opportunities, particularly through the second and third quarters.

From midway through the second when Fremantle held a two-point lead to early in the third term, both sides had six shots on goal – Adelaide kicked five goals and the Dockers missed all six.

It was the point when Fremantle coach Ross Lyon felt the game slip away.

“The scoreboard didn’t reflect, really, how well we were going in the game to be truthful,” Lyon said.

“But then we lost some composure in the third quarter, didn’t use the ball well…they counter punch you pretty quickly.”

It was the Dockers who controlled the bulk of early possession and had taken six marks inside 50 to zero inside 10 minutes, but that ascendancy resulted in just a single goal.

The momentum swung to the Crows but the home side was unable to make the most of the play.

Had it not been for their abysmal kicking in front of goal the Dockers would have taken a handy lead into the main break, but their 1.7 from set shots to half-time allowed Adelaide a 12-point lead.

And they were quickly forced to rue those missed opportunities.

Jarryd Lyons slammed home from point-blank range before Betts nailed a classy left-footer from hard up against the boundaryand then Brodie Smith finished from long range to extend Adelaide's lead to 29 points.

The Crows improved their efficiency in the final term and it paid dividends on the scoreboard as Josh Jenkins, Betts and then Sloane sealed the win. 

Crows coach Don Pyke was happy with his side’s response after a half-time review.

“I just thought at half time we looked at some areas we wanted to work on in terms of the way we were moving the ball, our work around the contest,” Pyke said.

“In the third quarter we were able to find a way which was really pleasing.”

 

 

 

 

ADELAIDE        2.4    5.5    9.10   14.13 (97)
FREMANTLE    1.3    2.11   3.14    8.16 (64)

GOALS
Adelaide: Betts 4, Lynch 2, Jenkins 2, Douglas, Atkins, Lyons, Smith, Sloane, McGovern
Fremantle: Walters 3, Taberner, Crozier, Pavlich, Mayne, Griffin

BEST
Adelaide: Sloane, Lynch, Laird, Jacobs, Betts, Hartigan
Fremantle: Hill, Walters, A. Pearce, Neale

INJURIES
Adelaide: Laird (foot)
Fremantle: Nil

Reports: Nil

Umpires: Farmer, Hosking, Ryan

Official crowd: 47,423 at Adelaide Oval