A dominant opening term set Sydney up for a 33-point win over Adelaide at the SCG, the home side constantly responding when challenged to walk off deserving victors.
There ultimately won’t be much to come out of the contest for the average footy fan, but amidst plenty of speculation about his future, Lance Franklin took one more name in the all-time goal scorers list.
He booted his 1032nd goal in the third quarter of Saturday afternoon’s clash, surpassing Garry Ablett Snr. and moving into fifth all-time.
Franklin ended with three for the day, and he’s now just 24 majors behind Doug Wade in fourth.
1️⃣0️⃣3️⃣2️⃣
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Buddy passes Gary Ablett Snr to move to 5th on the all-time V/AFL goal kicking table 🙌#AFLSwansCrows pic.twitter.com/kAPoSOVjuu
It was grim scenes for Adelaide fans early on, who saw their side give up nine goals in the first quarter.
The Swans very nearly became the first side to kick ten goals in the opening quarter this year, running all over Adelaide’s midfield and backline to pump on 57 points before quarter time. ‘
It was a similar game plan that saw them triumph Fremantle last week, Sydney backing their kicks and finding the right targets inside 50 off the back of kick-mark footy.
Leaping Lizard 🦎#imlovinit | #AFLSwansCrows pic.twitter.com/Ns5vzF6rId
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On the flip side, Adelaide had taken just two marks with a couple of minutes remaining in the opening term. Matthew Nicks’ troops simply weren’t in the game, but the margin at the first break would be the biggest all game.
From that point, Adelaide would wrestle their way back on top, starting with the midfield. Rory Laird was reliable all day and racked up plenty of the footy to finish with 38 disposals (21 contested), 14 inside 50s and 11 clearances but Sam Berry was just as impressive with his attack on the footy.
The 20-year-old recorded 24 disposals, 20 of which were contested, and two goals to epitomise Adelaide’s fight back all day.
Sam Berry has the last two goals of the game and the Crows are playing MUCH better footy.
— Fox Footy (@FOXFOOTY) July 23, 2022
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MATCH CENTRE pic.twitter.com/0zXYxmS31U
However, the Crows simply didn’t have the class to get themselves over the line. They challenged Sydney multiple times in the second half to get the margin back within four goals, but Sydney would always respond.
A passage of play in the fourth term summed up their fight-back efforts, with Wayne Milera and Riley Thilthorpe both dropping uncontested marks inside 50 that would led to easy goals. But, instead, Sydney would go down the other end and respond to yet another challenge.
“They’ll never quite know how this afternoon would have panned out,” Gerard Whateley said in commentary for AFL Nation.
Sydney would have been eyeing off fourth spot at quarter time, but the 33-point win isn’t enough to make up the 5.2 percent that was between them and Brisbane pre-game.
However, with Richmond failing to get the job done once again, they’ve all but locked up their finals spot, one which admittedly was in little doubt.
Meanwhile, in Hobart, Hawthorn gave Leigh Adams a mini reality check in his second game in charge of North Melbourne, running out 46-point winners.
Like the Swans did to Adelaide, Sam Mitchell’s men crucified the Roos early in the contest with a remarkable eight goals to none.
Jack Gunston pays tribute to his late father Ray after slotting the first in Tassie 💛🤎#AFLNorthHawks pic.twitter.com/DC39uW1hxy
— AFL (@AFL) July 23, 2022
North Melbourne wouldn’t goal until nine minutes into the second term when Jason Horne-Francis got his side up and running.
Adams’ side showed glimpses for the rest of the match, including an entertaining final quarter which saw 12 goals kicked, but the contest is a stark reminder that their opponents won’t kick 11.22 every week, as Richmond did in Round 18.
Jack Gunston was the man for Hawthorn, booting five goals from nine shots to be the most influential player on the field.
Jack Gunston's fifth is an absolute beauty!#AFLNorthHawks pic.twitter.com/0L6aVM1GLM
— AFL (@AFL) July 23, 2022
Tom Mitchell and Jai Newcombe also combined for 62 disposals in a dominant midfield display.
For the Roos, Aaron Hall was a late in for Nick Larkey and will have earned his spot for next week with 30 disposals and seven marks, while Ben McKay (10 marks, 12 intercepts) was once again a rock down back.