Adelaide has scored an emphatic 72-point win over cross-town rival Port Adelaide in their opening-round NAB Cup clash at AAMI Stadium with the Crows shaking off a poor start to record the 2.16.13 (127) to 0.8.7 (55) victory.

The Crows trailed the Power after an error-ridden first term, but found the right gear in the second quarter and blitzed their cross-town rivals in the last three terms.

Both sides were guilty of overusing the ball early and plenty of handballs went astray in a scrappy opening term. There were still no goals on the board when Adam Kingsley left the ground with what appeared to be a dislocated shoulder in the ninth minute, but Trent Hentschel broke the deadlock when he grubbered through a goal as he stumbled across the goal line.

The Crows had the better of the early exchanges, but missed a couple of chances to establish a buffer, allowing Port to work into the contest and take the lead through goals to Peter Burgoyne and Daniel Motlop.

The Power's five-point first-quarter lead was quickly erased as the second quarter began when Hentshel capitalised on a Shaun Burgoyne error for his second. A strong mark and goal by Port skipper Warren Tredrea restored the margin two minutes later, but thereafter, it was all Adelaide.

The Crows were going longer and more direct by foot and slammed through five unanswered goals to jump out to a 23-point lead at the main break.

A Simon Goodwin nine-pointer kicked off the onslaught after Ian Perrie did well to shepherd and he followed that effort up with a goal of his own. Ken McGregor goaled after forcing a turnover, Hentschel booted his third and Brett Burton had the Power reeling when he scored almost directly from the restart.

Peter Burgoyne used his body well to stem the flow and score the last goal of the quarter, but the Crows picked up where they left off as the second half got underway.

Hentschel and Perrie continued to monster the undermanned Power defence with the former adding his fourth and the latter booting three goals in the third quarter.

Motlop goaled after marking at full strength in the goalsquare and Josh Mahoney added Port's sixth, but it wasn't enough as Adelaide skipped away to a 54-point three-quarter-time lead.

The sting was well and truly went out of the game in the final term, but the Crows still managed to outscore their opponents four goals to two with Burton and Hentschel both adding two.

Slick ball movement was a feature of the Crows' game after quarter-time and Adelaide coach Neil Craig was particularly impressed with that facet of his side's play.

"We were pleased with our capacity to go forward - our midfield to forward transition was good," Craig said.

"I know the players were really pleased with their attack on the ball and their tackling, and we were pleased that we were able to give five first and second year players a fair bit of footy today against really good opposition.

"We're pleased to get out of it without any injury and to play some reasonable footy."

Mark Williams wasn't too fazed by the size of the defeat and said the Power was now fully focused on its first home-and-away match.

"Obviously the result isn't what we were looking for, there was always going to be a few mistakes made today, (but) I thought there were too many and we certainly turned over the ball too much and overused the ball a bit with handball," he said.

"But we're trying to get something going here and this is the first outing of many."

The Crows now travel to Launceston next Saturday to take on Hawthorn in an NAB Cup quarter-final at Aurora Stadium.


ADELAIDE: 0.1.5, 1.6.7, 1.13.9, 2.16.13 (127)
PORT ADELAIDE: 0.2.4, 0.4.5, 0.6.6, 0.8.7 (55)

NINE-POINT GOALS: Adelaide: Goodwin, Burton
Port Adelaide: Nil
SIX-POINT GOALS: Adelaide: Hentschel 6, Perrie 4, Burton 4, Goodwin 2, Jericho, McGregor
Port Adelaide: P Burgoyne 2, Tredrea 2, Motlop 2, Cassisi, Mahoney
BEST: Adelaide: Goodwin, Knights, Hentschel, Burton, McLeod, Rutten, Porplyzia, Perrie
Port Adelaide: Salopek, Symes, Ebert, Cassisi, K Cornes
INJURIES: Adelaide: Reilly (knock to head)
Port Adelaide: Kingsley (dislocated shoulder)
REPORTS: Nil
UMPIRES: Meredith, Fraser, Avon, Vozzo
CROWD: 17,012 at AAMI Stadium