Former Crows skipper Taylor Walker celebrates his 250th game as Adelaide return to the Adelaide Oval to host the struggling West Coast Eagles.
The Crows (6-6, 105.2%) sit outside the top eight after last week’s disappointing loss to the Gold Coast in Darwin have lost important defender Tom Doedee to a season ending ACL injury with Josh Worrell coming back into the senior line-up.
The Eagles (1-11, 54.1%) continue to battle at the foot of the AFL ladder and continue to battle an injury crisis but get a much-needed boost with mid-season draftee Ryan Maric making his debut along with a host of experienced players, including captain Luke Shuey and Jack Darling returning from injury.
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The match gets underway at 4:35PM AEST from the Adelaide Oval.
Watch it live on Fox Footy (Channel 504) from 4:30PM
QUARTER BY QUARTER MATCH REPORT
West Coast was forced to make a late change, with Campbell Chesser replacing Jake Waterman, who was withdrawn due to illness. The starting subs were Ned McHenry (Crows) and Zane Trew (Eagles).
It was a dream start for the the milestone man as Taylor Walker marked and converted the first goal game just 45 seconds into the contest.
“His name sits well among the all time greats but he’s started brilliantly in game 250.” Fox Footy commentator Dwayne Russell said.
The fairytale start was reciprocated at the other end when mid – season draftee Ryan Maric kicked West Coasts opening goal of the game with his first kick of his career.
After a string of misses The Crows found their groove as livewire Izak Rankie kicked two consecutive goals to open up a buffer to reflect the Crows early dominance.
“He looks like he’s going to kick a bag today Izak” North Melbourne legend David King said. “He’s getting space everywhere”.
“He’s been involved in everything” Hawthorn legend Jason Dunstall added.
The Crows took advantage of the Eagles lack of height in the backline which was feeding into the milestone man Walker’s hands. As he went back to convert his third opening quarter goal.
“We might see a number today” Dunstall said, pointing too the big bag that could await the 33-year-old in his milestone match.
The Eagles hit back through Jack Petruccelle to kick the Eagles second goal as quarter time drew closer.
But the Crows hit back in the shadows of quarter time as Riley Thilthorpe took advantage of a mismatch in the forward line, matched up on Jayden Hunt to take a 34 point lead into the opening change. The Crows leading 7.5 (47) – 2.1 (13).
The Crows started the second quarter much like the first with the milestone man Walker again kicking the opening goal of the quarter. He completed his handful a minute later. As he eyes off a career best haul.
Adelaide continued to pile on the pain with five unanswered goals, blowing the margin out to an even ten goals not even halfway through the second quarter.
“They‘re on the hunt here, Adelaide. They can smell blood,” Russell said.
The goals continued to come for the Crows through Ben Keays and Lachie Murphy to continue to send the Adelaide Oval crowd into raptures.
Oscar Allen and Tim Kelly pulled back to back goals for the Eagles to break a run of seven goals in a row. Allen drifting forward after being sent to defence to add some height to curtail the influence of Walker and the other Crows talls while Kelly converted from on the run 50m out.
But Walker put the exclamation point on a dominant first half for himself and the home side, converting his career high seventh goal in the shadows of halftime to take a 66 point into halftime. The Crows leading 14.8 (92) – 4.2 (26).
“He‘s staring Simon Goodwin’s seven goals (against West Coast) and I think he’s got at least a 10 in him,” King told Fox Footy.
The Crows extended their lead at the as Lachie Sholl took advantage of another lax effort from the Eagles at stoppages to kick the first goal of the second half.
“That’s just lax. There’s players around him (Sholl) but no one is paying close attention,” Jason Dunstall said on Fox Footy.
“That’s just laziness. You have got to be a little bit more committed, a little bit more dedicated. Too many ball watching hoping the ball goes their way instead of actually being proactive” He added in a scathing assessment of West Coast’s endeavour.
Mid-season draftee Ryan Maric broke another run of four consecutive Crows goals when he got on the end of an intercepted ball from Tim Kelly to kick his second goal and West Coast’s fifth.
However the injury troubles continued for the Eagles as they were forced into using their sub when Luke Foley came off with a hamstring injury. Activating Zane Trew into the game.
But the celebrations continued for Taylor Walker and the Adelaide Crows as he strolled in for his career high eighth goal.
“The pressure has dropped off from West Coast, this is starting to get really ugly,” Jason Dunstall said.
“It’s an attitude and effort based trait that is unacceptable from a team that’s really struggling.
“You can be beaten for skill, beaten for class, be undermanned with injuries, but you’ve got to show commitment to effort.” he added as the Crows extended their lead to a whopping 97 points at the final change. 21.10 (136) – 6.3 (39).
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