Adelaide wins five in a row

The Adelaide Crows won their fifth straight game against a struggling Sydney line up on Saturday.

The sun was out at AAMI Stadium and by contrast it was freezing in Sydney. It was perhaps a telling story of the two teams recent fortunes. Adelaide had won their last four and Sydney had lost their last three. So heading into the clash, I expected a win.

By looking at the way the Crows played in the first quarter, you’d probably think that they went in with the attitude that they expected to win as well. Unfortunately Sydney weren’t going to go down without a fight. After a hard fought first quarter, the Swans dominated the second and took a 3 goal lead into the main change.

While Sydney had dominated on the scoreboard, they hadn’t really asserted themselves in general play. The key difference between the two sides was that Sydney were lethal when delivering the ball inside 50 and the Crows were just wasteful. Having said that, Adelaide was getting their fair share of the football and would only need to improve their decision making going forward to get back into the contest.

Enter the second half. It was another one of those great quarters we’ve been seeing from the Crows in recent weeks. They kicked 6 goals to Sydney’s 2 and at three quarter time the Crows were in front. Nathan van Berlo was a workhorse and made a couple of great smothers to pile the pressure onto the Swans. Tippett and Porplyzia had got themselves going up forward. The Crows were looking mighty good at this stage with all the momentum on their side heading into the quarter.

The final quarter was largely a repeat of the third. The Crows won the quarter but probably should have pushed the final margin out a little further after kicking 3 goals and 6 behinds.

It was a great win and the fifth straight for the Crows who are looking good midway through the season. Bernie Vince was superb in midfield with 28 disposals and 6 inside 50s. Porplyzia was lethal up forward and ended up booting 4 goals. Nathan van Berlo was inspirational in the second half and looked a little like captain material to me.

Sydney’s best was clearly Barry Hall who kicked 4 goals, had 8 marks, 1 accidental elbow to Andy Otten’s head and 1 not-so-accidental punch to Ben Rutten’s jaw.

The only bad news to come from the game is the loss of Brad Moran. Moran will be out of action for the next 12 weeks due to a knee injury. It’s a bit of a shame considering Moran has been playing so well in recent times and his new hair colour saw him have arguably his best game of the season.

All in all, a great weekend for the Crows who are now looking forward to playing Richmond this coming Saturday night in the Gold Coast.  Can the Crows win 6 in a row? In the words of Barack Obama and Bob The Builder, “Yes we can!”