The Demons 14.14 (98) defeated the Crows 10.13 (73) in front of 12,210 in what amounted to an opportunity lost in round 12.
After leading at quarter-time by seven-points, the Crows were overhauled in the second term and trailed for the remainder of the game. Despite coming close on several occasions, they never quite managed to get their noses back in front.
The loss was Adelaide’s fourth for the year, but it was also soured by the fact that key midfielder Simon Goodwin was carried off on a stretcher early in the final term, after injuring his ankle. He took no further part in the game and his prognosis is yet to be determined.
Adelaide coach Gary Ayres was straight to the point in his post-match media conference and was adamant that the delivery into the forward line and the Crows’ shots at goal proved costly in the wash-up, aside from the fact that leading goalkicker Scott Welsh was missing through injury.
“No that’s bulls**t,” Ayres replied, when it was put to him that his forwardline had struggled without Welsh. You can pin-point the forwards, but what about the delivery? What about the movement in? What about the run from defence? There were ample opportunities for guys early to actually put more scoreboard pressure on them – and that’s Melbourne I’m talking about.”
“Brett Burton’s miss from 35 (metres), Mark Stevens…all of those. In an ideal world, when everyone was fit and healthy, you’d obviously like them to be in your side, but that’s not possible. So what we do is put out a side that we think is still capable of playing the way we want to play and we certainly didn’t do that today.”
But on a brighter note for the Crows, Mark Bickley notched up 26 touches, and continued his outstanding season, while Andrew McLeod was solid and Ben Hart was consistent as always down back.
Demons’ midfielder Adem Yze was best-on-ground with 32 disposals, while in-form teammate Nathan Brown also racked up over 23 possessions.
Skipper David Neitz and Brad Green were the leading goalkickers with three goals each.
Melbourne coach Neale Daniher was delighted with his side’s performance, especially after the Dees were thrashed by Collingwood prior to the mid-season break.
“I was proud of our blokes today. We’ve been down for a couple of weeks. The break came at the right time, there’s no doubt about that,” Daniher said.
“We had time to think about where we were at and the boys responded in the best possible way today against a very, very good side.”
“What I was happy with was the spirit and passion we brought to the contest. I thought we got a very even contribution across the board. We didn’t rely on anyone particularly.”
Daniher was also impressed with the way his defence covered the loss of injured bigman Alistair Nicholson, with Ellis, Daniel Ward, Cameron Bruce and Matthew Whelan the standouts.
“Our backline has been criticised heavily. We kept them to 10 goals and we knew that before the game Adelaide’s midfield were in the cream of the competition and I thought that we matched them in that area. And we kept our big blokes up forward and they were always a threat.”
“Two weeks ago against Collingwood, not too many areas worked all that well for us, but today I was proud of the way our club stood up.”
The opening term was a goal-for-goal affair which saw Adelaide post the first major of the match via Kris Massie, before teammate Bickley – who had 10 possessions during that period – added one just on quarter-time to give the Crows a seven-point lead.
But Melbourne, with the spark provided by Travis Johnstone in the midfield, picked up the tempo after the first change and booted five goals to two for the term, giving the ‘home’ side a 12-point lead at half-time.
Andrew Crowell, who was playing his first game for the Crows this season, had the opportunity to reduce the margin back to seven points just before the main break, but his kick was touched by Demon Troy Broadbridge right in front of goal.
The Crows added the first two goals after half-time through Matthew Bode and Brett Burton, to reduce the margin back to just two points, but the Demons scored five of the remaining seven kicked for the term, to lead by 18 points at three-quarter time.
Russell Robertson got the Demons off to a flyer in the final term, when he kicked truly in the opening minute, which was also the first time that either side had strung together three consecutive majors in the match.
Only three goals were kicked in the final hit-out and when Brad Green kicked his third mid-way through the term, the Demons led by 28 points and the result was never in doubt.
MELBOURNE: 2.3, 7.8, 12.11, 14.14 (98)
ADELAIDE: 3.4, 5.8, 9.11, 10.13 (73)
GOALS: Melbourne: Neitz, Green 3, Jolly, Leoncelli 2, Yze, Johnstone, Robertson, Brown. Adelaide: Massie, Bode 2, Stevens, McLeod, Burton, Bickley, Schell, Ricciuto.
BEST: Melbourne: Yze, Brown, Ellis, Whelan, Ward, White, Bruce, Johnstone.
Adelaide: Bickley, Hart, McLeod, Goodwin, Massie, Stenglein, Bode.
INJURIES: Melbourne: Jolly (corked thigh), Whelan (calf cramp). Adelaide: Goodwin (ankle), Biglands (corked buttock).
CHANGES: Nil.
REPORTS: Nil.
UMPIRES: Vozzo, Dore, Schmitt.
CROWD: 12,210 at Optus Oval.
