Adelaide’s superstar midfielder Andrew McLeod was reported tonight as the Crows were defeated by a rampant Essendon at Colonial Stadium.

The Crows came into tonight’s game unbeaten after three rounds and holding out hopes they may be back as a legitimate flag contender after three years since their 1998 premiership win.

But the Crows discovered just how far the top sides are ahead of the competition as the Bombers cruised to a 41-point win – 19.8 (122) to 11.15 (81) before more than 40,000 fans.

And now Adelaide faces the prospect of going into next week’s showdown against arch-rivals Port Adelaide without its best player after McLeod was reported for charging Essendon’s champion forward Matthew Lloyd early in the second quarter.

The report of McLeod will have a major impact on Brownlow Medal betting with the dual Norm Smith Medalist again one of the early favourites for this year’s award after finishing runner-up to Brisbane’s Jason Akermanis last year and third behind Melbourne’s Shane Woewodin the year before.

McLeod was reported tonight after leaping in the air to make contact with Lloyd in a marking contest as he was running the same way as the ball.

Lloyd, who was on the lead and had just marked the ball when contacted by McLeod, received a 50-metre penalty from the incident and as a result kicked one of his six goals for the night.

However Crows coach Gary Ayres defended his champion player’s actions after the game, hinting McLeod was only protecting himself after being caught in a vulnerable position.

“It’s difficult if you’ve got your eyes on the ball and you are a little bit unsure what is going on around you and someone is coming the other way,” Ayres said.

“There is a situation of trying to protect yourself if you are not sure there is going to be a collision because there are a lot of blindspots out there.”

The report of McLeod overshadowed another superb performance by Essendon in a match which yet again underlined the massive gap between Brisbane, the Bombers and the rest of the competition.

The tireless Jason Johnson and the classy Blake Caracella summed up the Bombers’ midfield by setting up numerous scoring opportunities and the Bombers’ finishing was lethal as even tagger Damien Peverill – who did a fine job blanketing McLeod early before moving forward – helped himself to three goals.

Essendon’s defence – despite being without both Sean Wellman and Dean Solomon – easily coped with Adelaide’s pop gun attack as the Crows’ new-look forward line failed to deliver in its first serious test for the year.

However several of the Crows’ youngsters did show they could handle the pressure of taking on the might of the Bombers with Michael Doughty performing well on a wing in only his ninth game while 19-year-old forward Graeme Johncock looked dangerous in the second half.

But what the match showed was how the Crows (and every other side except Brisbane) would love to have a forward like Lloyd in their side.

Lloyd was at his match-winning best tonight and while it might take forever for him to shoot for goal it is worth the wait as he booted six goals before two long range misses late in the final term to yet again show why he is the best kick for goal in the AFL.


Match Details:

ESSENDON: 7.2 11.4 17.5 19.8 (122)
ADELAIDE: 3.1 6.2 8.8 11.15 (81)

GOALS: Essendon: Lloyd 6, Peverill 3, Barnard, Caracella, Hille, Hird, J.Johnson, McGrath, McVeigh, Mercuri, Misiti, Ramanauskas
Adelaide: Doughty 2, Johncock 2, Welsh 2, Beinke, Burton, Fitzgerald, Goodwin, Ricciuto
BEST: Essendon: Peverill, Lloyd, J.Johnson, Misiti, Fletcher, Caracella, Mercuri, Hird
Adelaide: Johnson, Doughty, Welsh, Bickley, McLeod, Ricciuto
INJURIES: Essendon: Adelaide:
CHANGES: Nil
REPORTS: McLeod (Adel) for charging Lloyd during the second quarter, Biglands (Adel) for striking Mercuri during the second quarter
UMPIRES: Sheehan, Schmitt, McKenzie
CROWD: 40,322 at Colonial Stadium