A record haul of super goals proved the difference in Adelaide’s three-point win over Carlton at AAMI Stadium on Friday night.
The Blues hammered home two nine-pointers, but were overshadowed by Adelaide’s four super goals – the most in a single NAB Cup game this year. The combined match total of six super goals was also a record for the 2013 competition.
In the third quarter, neat-kicking onballer Bernie Vince joined Sam Jacobs and Taylor Walker (two super goals) in bagging $500 worth of Sherrin footballs for his junior football club, the CMS Crows.
“Sauce (Jacobs) got a supergoal for Ardrossan. Stansbury is only a bit further down on the Yorke Peninsula, so I thought I’d better get one for them so they didn’t miss out,” Vince said after the game.
“We evened it up there. Tex (Walker) also kicked a couple of good ones and in the end those goals were pretty important for us because we only won by a few points.”
Vince’s long-range bomb was particularly impressive given he started the game at half-back.
“I’ve just added a bit of versatility to my game this pre-season,” Vince said.
“I can play half-forward, through the midfield or across half-back now. I played a lot of my junior career across half-back and Sando just wanted to have a look at me back there.”
The Crows saved their best performance of the pre-season until last.
The home team rediscovered their trademark intensity and thirst for the contest, and held on for the win despite slowing down in the final quarter.
Vince said it was an important game for his side after a lacklustre display against Geelong.
“A lot of us had a pretty quiet week (against Geelong), so it was good to turn our form around in our last game before Round One,” he said.
“We went through a lot of video from the Geelong game where we were just slack in our transition. We touched on that at training and did some drills to help us out with that.
“Sando wanted us to work on our start, so we set ourselves for that all week. We thought we were just a bit off. Training during the week was good and our start was much better today.
“It was disappointing we dropped away a bit in the last quarter, but we were good early and we can work on that.”
Carlton ran out the game better than Adelaide in the hot and humid conditions. Vince said the Crows – the highest-rating side in the competition – felt the pinch of the interchange cap on trial in the NAB Cup.
“I’m stuffed,” Vince said.
“I hate the capping of the interchange … but I guess you just go with what you’re dealt. I think the standard of footy is going to drop off if they keep capping it, but it depends what the AFL wants I guess.”
