BRISBANE LIONS
3.6 4.11 5.12 7.18 (60)
ADELAIDE
3.3 10.5 17.9 21.14 (140)
GOALS - Brisbane Lions: Zorko 2, Barrett 2, McLuggage, Hammelman, Walker.
Adelaide: Cameron 4, Greenwood 3, Betts 3, Walker 3, Lynch 3, Otten 2, Milera, B Crouch, Galluci.
BEST - Brisbane Lions: Beams Zorko Rich Andrews.
Adelaide: Lynch Laird Cameron Atkins Sloane Betts.
INJURIES - Brisbane Lions: C Beams (hamstring).
Adelaide: Hampton (ankle).
UMPIRES Deboy Kamolins Harris.
CROWD 13,802 at the Gabba
In a season that no one seems to know quite what to make of anymore, it's easy to forget that the Adelaide Crows were close to outright favourites for the flag a fortnight ago. That was until they were given consecutive drubbings by North Melbourne and Melbourne, both of whom made a point of stopping Rory Sloane.
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Gulf in class as Adelaide thrash Brisbane
Adelaide put a poor few weeks behind them as they thrashed cellar dwellers Brisbane.
It would have been an optimistic punter to bet on the Brisbane Lions extending Adelaide's losing streak, though. The Lions started well, having the better of the first quarter, at least, and they might have rattled the Crows if they'd been able to convert. Two pieces of brilliance by the Crows stopped them in their tracks.
After a sluggish start, Tom Lynch opened the Crows' account with an amazing goal – hemmed hard against the boundary line from 45 metres, on his right foot and on the right side of the ground. It would have been at least close to the goal of any other week.
But that would be reckoning without Eddie Betts. "Amazing" doesn't begin to describe his effort to somehow poach the ball from under poor Darcy Gardiner's nose as the defender dropped the ball onto his boot. Betts then soccered the ball out in front of him, regathered and dribbled it through for his second goal.
Any remaining air whistled out of the Lions' tyres from there. But these two efforts aside, the truth is they weren't beaten so much by the Crows' brilliance as by their own ineptitude.
As against the Hawks in Launceston last week, their skills simply can't keep them in the contest long enough.
The Lions managed 3.6 in the first quarter, with Jake Barrett, Lewis Taylor, Michael Close and Dayne Zorko all missing very gettable shots. And with two seconds to go, Gardiner gave up a free kick to Betts, whose kick found first-gamer Hugh Greenwood, just ahead of the siren.
Greenwood finished with three goals in his first game, all in the first half, the third from a very clever tap by Andy Otten.
Greenwood is an interesting story: a 25-year-old rookie who has returned to AFL after a career on the US college basketball circuit; as recently as 2015–2016 he was playing with the Perth Wildcats.
Like his first goal, Greenwood's third came right on the siren; a gift courtesy of Tom Bell's failure to attack the football, which must have had Brisbane Lions coach Chris Fagan tearing his hair out. It extended the Crows lead to a comfortable five goals, after a seven-goal quarter in which the Lions added a further 1.5 by comparison.
Four more goals at the start of the third quarter, to make it nine in a row to the Crows, ensured the result.
That's another recurring theme for the Lions; they can't stop opposing teams once they're on a roll, or even individual players, with Charlie Cameron getting off the chain to kick four for the quarter himself.
With the Lions missing Mitch Robinson, Nick Robertson gamely took on the lock-down job on Sloane, but Sloane quickly got away from him and Robertson couldn't find the football himself. Even if he'd succeeded, the Crows had far too many other contributors: Rory Laird and Rory Atkins, Brad and Matt Crouch.
It was an awful, predictable blowout in the end, with the Crows slamming on 18 goals to four after quarter time to inflict the Lions' worst loss for the season to date. Eric Hipwood, the Lions' sole viable forward target, was shut down easily by Jake Lever (in the NEAFL, Josh Schache – who'd been dropped by the Lions – had just four touches).
The Crows, conversely, had a picnic: Greenwood, Betts, Taylor Walker and Tom Lynch all kicking three goals along with Cameron's four. They face Fremantle at home next week; the result might tell us more about both teams' bona fides.