NOT MUCH TO CROW ABOUT AS DOCKERS ANNIHILATE ADELAIDE

IT might have been Valentine’s Day, but Adelaide had very little to love in their disappointing 30-point AFLW loss to Fremantle in perfect conditions at Norwood Oval.

Before the game, Dockers captain Kara Antonio had declared Adelaide the premiership favourites, but the Xfactor of Freo’s forward line (two goals to star Gemma Houghton), combined with their skilled midfield (23 touches to Kiara Bowers) and measly defence means, surely, they finish Round 3 sending a statement to their other rivals: “Come and get us”.

The pressured Fremantle held the Crows goalless for the game until the sixth minute of the final quarter, when star Erin Phillips marked after a good run out of full-forward and kicked truly.

While the Dockers were held scoreless in the first term, they piled on seven goals in the next three to run out easy victors. Coach Trent Cooper said the win silenced those who questioned whether his side could beat quality teams.

“We were really pleased we stood up today to the pressure they applied, kept applying our pressure and managed to score well,” he said.

Adelaide coach Matthew Clarke said his side had plenty to learn.

“There were probably four or five times we had the ball in our front half, we were in good shape, and they were able to take it the length of the ground,” he said.

“We’ll go to work on (our defensive structure) and make sure that we get it right.”

If you needed any proof that a low-scoring game can still be enthralling and tense, then this clash dished it up.

An incredible 41 tackles were made in the first term featuring some hardball gets.

Fremantle created a wall across their halfback line that the Crows found near impossible to penetrate early.