Taylor Walker kicked six goals in his last home-and-away game as Adelaide beat Greater Western Sydney 24.13 (157) to 15.11 (101) at Adelaide Oval on Saturday night, and the 56 point win locked the Crows into the top six.
It was Walker's 318th game and his nineteenth season at the club. He announced on 10 August that he would retire at the end of the year. He captained Adelaide from 2015 to 2019, was an All Australian in 2023, and leaves as the club's all-time leading goalkicker with more than 700 goals. The crowd was 52,332.
Izak Rankine was the best player on the ground with 35 disposals, four goals, 12 clearances and 10 score involvements. Captain Jordan Dawson had 32 disposals. Riley Thilthorpe, Darcy Fogarty and Ben Keays kicked three each.
Jake Stringer played his 250th AFL game for the Giants and kicked six, taking him to 48 for the season and the club's leading goalkicker. Greater Western Sydney finish twelfth with 10 wins and 13 losses.
Adelaide lost small forward Zac Taylor to a hamstring injury during the game. Sam Taylor was ruled out for the Giants with concussion.
The result matters because of what the Crows have avoided. The Wildcard Round, played from 28 to 30 August, puts the teams finishing seventh to tenth into two knockout games, with the winners taking the last two finals seeds and the losers finished for the year. Sixth is the line, not eighth. Adelaide sits fifth overnight and can slip no further than sixth, and that depends on whether Hawthorn beats West Coast at Optus Stadium on Sunday night.
The other three Saturday games went to Carlton, the Western Bulldogs and Geelong. Carlton beat Fremantle 18.11 (119) to 12.10 (82) at Marvel Stadium, Francis Evans kicking five and Patrick Cripps the Blues' best. The Western Bulldogs beat Melbourne 16.12 (108) to 12.15 (87) at the MCG, Marcus Bontempelli finishing with 27 disposals and two goals. Geelong beat Richmond 20.13 (133) to 11.10 (76) at Kardinia Park with Bailey Smith collecting 40 disposals and kicking three, and Shannon Neale kicking four.
Three games close the home-and-away season on Sunday: Essendon and Port Adelaide at Marvel Stadium at 12.20pm, Sydney and North Melbourne at the SCG at 3.20pm, and West Coast and Hawthorn at Optus Stadium at 7.20pm. The wildcard fixtures are set when that last siren sounds.
