Adelaide skipper Jordan Dawson on Wednesday promised his Crows would “put on a show” for the footy world to open Gather Round.
They didn’t disappoint.
In fact Adelaide on Thursday night produced one of the emphatic opening quarters in the club’s history, annihilating a hapless Carlton in front a jam-packed Adelaide Oval.
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Matthew Nicks’ men slammed on 8.3 to 2.1 to lead the Blues by 38 points at the first change after a 38-minute opening quarter. For Adelaide fans, it was 38 minutes of breathtaking joy.
Adelaide’s first quarter.
It was Adelaide’s biggest ever opening term against Carlton, while it was just the ninth time in 737 games the Crows had kicked at least eight goals in an opening quarter.
“They’ve arrived. They’ve sent a message to the football world: ‘We’re not waiting,’” dual premiership Kangaroo David King told Fox Footy.
“Even though the coach said ‘we’re in a development phase’ in the pre-game, he lied to us!
“This was an awesome quarter of football and I love what the Adelaide Crows have shown us.”
At quarter-time, the Crows were +21 contested possessions, +51 uncontested possessions and +8 clearances. They’d kicked eight goals from 20 inside 50s, compared to Carlton’s eight majors from 20 entries — and Adelaide had eight individual goalkickers.
“It was as complete a quarter of football as you will see, considering the opposition they were coming up against, a team that hadn’t lost yet,” dual All-Australian Leigh Montagna told Fox Footy.
“Everything they did was almost perfect.”
King pointed out the Crows had “gone after” Carlton at clearance, applying terrific pressure on the fumbly Blues. Then once they won the ball, they quickly spread the ball to the outside where their “supreme” ball use was on display.
Rory Laird and Jordan Dawson set the tone at the coalface, racking up 16 and 13 disposals respectively for the first term. Laird kicked a goal, while Dawson set up two directly from pinpoint left-foot passes.
Hawthorn legend Jason Dunstall dubbed it “a complete and utter domination”.
“That was a scary quarter of football, they were that good,” Dunstall told Fox Footy.
“All the 50-50 balls went their way, the way they moved the football, they ran it quickly … I’m a little bit scared from what I saw.”
It began with two stunning goals via Izak Rankine — from the Eddie Betts pocket — and Ben Keays — a skilful snap while being tackled. Then after Corey Durdin responded for Carlton, Laird converted a set-shot after a 50m penalty before big forwards Taylor Walker and Darcy Fogarty and running defender Brodie Smith all nailed long-range attempts.
“There’s alarm bells everywhere for the Blues. This is what Adelaide can do to teams, they can rattle them,” Port Adelaide champion Kane Cornes told AFL Nation.
“This is as good as we’ve seen any team play this year.”
