Adelaide thrashed Gold Coast by 79 points in round 18 at Adelaide Oval on Saturday, winning 19.14 (128) to 7.7 (49) in front of 40,165 fans. It was the Suns' seventh straight loss, and coach Damien Hardwick did not try to dress it up afterwards.
The Crows led at every change and pulled away in stages rather than in one burst. Adelaide was up 3.2 to 2.3 at quarter time and 7.8 to 3.5 at half time, then broke the game open with a seven-goal third quarter to lead 13.12 to 4.6 at the last change. Gold Coast kicked three more in the final term, but there was no fightback to admire, just a margin that grew every quarter.
Taylor Walker kicked five goals to reach 699 for his AFL career, one shy of the 700 mark, and Josh Rachele added three. Jordan Dawson finished with 29 disposals and two goals, Izak Rankine had 31 disposals, seven clearances and a goal, and Sam Berry was everywhere, racking up 28 disposals, 10 clearances and 12 tackles. James Peatling was next best through the middle with 23 disposals and 10 clearances of his own.
Jed Walter kicked three of Gold Coast's seven goals, and Sam Collins had seven intercepts by half time trying to keep the margin down. Matt Rowell and Ned Moyle combined for 12 clearances between them, well short of the 17 that Berry and Rankine produced by themselves.
Hardwick said his side had been beaten in every part of the contest. "All in all, contest-wise, we just got absolutely blown off the park," he said. "That's the most disappointing thing, you can't get any phase of your game up and going if you get that badly beaten in contests."
With six weeks of the season left, Hardwick conceded there was no point pretending Gold Coast could still make finals. "End of the day, we've got six weeks, this year is effectively gone, what we've got to do is forge our way forward about what we want ourselves to look like for next year, from my point of view," he said. "The way we're playing, we don't deserve to make it."
Adelaide also had to manage a left ankle injury to Rory Laird, while Gold Coast's Will Graham did not return after dislocating his left shoulder. Hardwick said Graham was probably gone for the season, one more setback for a Suns list he is already coaching toward next year rather than the six weeks still left in this one.
