ADELAIDEÂ
3.4 Â 8.7 Â 12.8 Â 12.12 (84)
GREATER WESTERN SYDNEY
1.4 Â 1.5 Â 5.7 Â 6.12 (48)
GOALS - Adelaide: Betts 3, Douglas 2, Walker, B. Crouch, Lynch, Smith, Seedsman, McGovern, Jenkins. GWS: Coniglio 2, Himmelberg, Ward, de Boer, Greene.
BEST - Adelaide: M. Crouch, Betts, B. Crouch, Atkins, Douglas, Laird. GWS: Kelly, Scully, Coniglio, Ward, DeBoer, Williams.
INJURIES - Adelaide: Smith (suspected ACL right knee). GWS: Cameron (hamstring).
UMPIRES Â J. Dalgleish, B. Rosebury, S. Ryan.
CROWD Â 52,805 at Adelaide Oval.
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The Adelaide Crows stunned Greater Western Sydney with their ferocity to storm into a preliminary final – again at Adelaide Oval.
But the decisive win in this first qualifying final came at a cruel price with key half-back Brodie Smith suffering a serious right knee injury – probably a ruptured ACL when he changed direction while running.
The Giants also suffered a setback with Jeremy Cameron suffering a recurrence of a hamstring strain and is unlikely to play against either Port Adelaide or  West Coast  in next week's elimination semi-final.
It was Adelaide at their typical best, but the Giants were far off their mark failing to make an impact on the scoreboard with three talls even before Cameron was hurt minutes before half-time, and key players including Brett Deledio and Toby Greene having little impact in a dismal first half.
Questions must also be asked about ruckman Shane Mumford, who had a lot of taps, but up to three-quarter-time did not have a kick or a mark to his credit. Another seasoned campaigner in Heath Shaw was also made to look average at times by Eddie Betts, who revelled in the finals excitement.
Down 44 points at half-time, the Giants were expected to respond to a  roasting from coach Leon Cameron, and when they kicked three magnificent, hard-earned goals including an incredible dribbler from Greene in the opening six minutes of the third term the silence was deafening among the home crowd.
But like so many times this season, Adelaide just stuck to their game plan undeterred. The killer for the Giants was when Adelaide's Richard Douglas stopped the run-on with an intercepting goal, and again Adelaide turned to their trait of kicking a burst of goals.
The Giants lacked composure under pressure. The inclusion of Matt DeBoer was a positive because he was one of the few Giants who worked incredibly hard throughout and made the Adelaide forwards far more accountable.
Just two minutes after kicking Adelaide's first goal at the nine-minute mark, Smith twisted his knee awkwardly and he was helped off the ground, obviously in great pain. At that stage the match was incredibly tight both on the scoreboard and statistically, and it was feared Smith's injury may play a huge part in the Crows' downfall.
Instead, they became inspired, and blitzed the Giants with a magnificent 5.3 to 0.1 second term. They were awesome during these 32 match-winning minutes – working the ball predominantly with 37 more kicks while GWS continued to press on with handballs which didn't seem conducive to the greasy conditions.
The Giants were terrific when they responded at the start of the third term – for a change they were first to the ball, and backed up each other better in defence. But as soon as Adelaide regained composure, the Giants fell to pieces again.
Adelaide's run was far from sustained, but by the last quarter enough damage had been done.
Shane Mumford won most of the hit-outs, but amazingly up to three-quarter-time when the Giants needed more from him he had not taken a mark or had a kick. In contrast, Sam Jacobs, playing with enormous emotion following the death of his brother a week earlier, battled gamely all over the ground.
The Crows missed Smith, but courageously they had numerous players who stood up to the challenge including Jake Kelly, Rory Atkins and Riley Knight.
However, it was the Crouch brothers, Matt and Brad, who caused the Giants so much stress, making a mockery of the widely held belief Adelaide did not have the enough talent midfield to test their more highly acclaimed opponents.
Statistically, little separated the sides, but Adelaide were much cleaner with their disposals.Â
Their efficiency and attack on the ball were real weapons, and Greater Western Sydney will need to lift in this area when under pressure to survive the challenging weeks ahead.