Adelaide booted the biggest score in Club history on this day nine years ago.
In his second full season at the helm, coach Neil Craig had the Crows playing a disciplined but effective brand of football in Season 2006.
Adelaide was shaping as genuine premiership contender after a blistering start to the year. The Club won seven games from its first nine rounds, including big victories over the Western Bulldogs (77 points), Carlton (64) and North Melbourne (56) to sit second on the AFL ladder heading into the Friday night clash with the bottom-placed Bombers.
The Crows were on song from the outset and showed no mercy against the hapless Dons, demolishing Essendon by an incredible 138 points in front of a national television audience. It was the Club’s second largest win in history, just one-point shy of the 139-point thumping of Richmond in Round 16 of 1993.
Adelaide’s final score of 30.8 (188) remains the Crows’ biggest total of all time and is the only occasion where the Club has kicked 30 goals in a match. There have been just two other instances where Adelaide has reached the 180-point mark.
Geelong’s 37.17 (239) over the Brisbane Bears at Carrara in 1992 holds the AFL’s overall score record.
The thumping win in front of over 42,000 fans at Football Park was the perfect way to celebrate Andrew McLeod’s 250th game. ‘Bunji’ brought the crowd to its feet with a huge hanger in the opening term of his milestone match.
Trent Hentschel earned the three Brownlow Medal votes for a career-best eight-goal haul. Ken McGregor (21 possessions, 13 marks and four goals) and Mark Ricciuto (31 possessions, 13 marks and three goals) could consider themselves unlucky with dominant performances of their own.
Adelaide continued its fine form for much of the season, finishing second on the AFL ladder in 2006 and booking a home Preliminary Final following a comfortable victory over Fremantle.
But the Club fell agonisingly short of its third Grand Final appearance, with eventual premiers West Coast kicking the Crows out of the finals race for the second consecutive season.
June 2, 2006 – Round 10
ADELAIDE 6.1 13.4 20.7 30.8 (188)
ESSENDON 2.2 4.6 5.9 6.14 (50)
GOALS: Hentschel 8, Burton 4, McGregor 4, Ricciuto 3, Bode 2, Biglands, Doughty, Edwards, Goodwin, Johncock, Knights, Reilly, Shirley, Thompson
BEST: Hentschel, McGregor, Ricciuto, Goodwin, Bassett, Reilly, Burton
ATTENDANCE: 42,025 at Football Park
