Adelaide Crows midfielder Patrick Dangerfield's performance was one of the few highlights for the club in the NAB Cup match against Geelong at Simonds Stadium. Picture: Michael Klein. Source: Herald Sun
Geelong's Harry Taylor took Crows full-forward out of the match at Simonds Stadium. Picture: Scott Barbour. Source: Getty Images
FOR the Crows, thank heavens this was a practice match.
Yesterday's effort at Simonds Stadium was a screeching signal that it is time for them to ramp matters up in the few weeks leading up to the home-and-away season.
Smashings such as this 10-goal loss prompt an obvious question: was Geelong awesome or Adelaide awful?
The answer likes somewhere in between, but Adelaide looked flat yet hesitant, sloppy when under pressure and too reliant on too few.
As much as Geelong looked like millionaires, despite playing a young side, they were helped along by the Crows, who arrived as favourites with the bookmakers but were never even close to the Cats.
Adelaide's movement out of the backline is a major concern: full of one-step kicks, overuse of the ball and players getting in the way of one another. Geelong added to the woes by pressing forward, but this is one area that needs attention and fast.
Of the young ones, Brad Crouch and Sam Kerridge showed positives to take home - Crouch for body strength and composure in congested situations, Kerridge for looking more and more like he belongs at this level.
There was a fresh southerly gusting towards Corio Bay as the match began but it wasn't just the wind that made the Crows look pedestrian.
You could see that it assisted the Cats when Travis Varcoe, a former Central District player, elegantly glided past a contest, received, and nonchalantly kicked it from outside 50.
But the conditions could not account for the Crows being second to the ball as Geelong cranked up their well-known drill of sharing it around and running in numbers.
It didn't help the Crows that Taylor Walker was stood by Harry Taylor, one of the best-marking defenders in the competition, and was given a bath. Best on ground versus best to forget.
But it gave a clearer picture of what the Crows can expect as it embarks on the post-Tippett era.
Walker not only receiving the standout defender, but also having other backmen drop off to help out.
The Cats ran circles around them, and late in the first quarter Geelong had 20 inside-50s to Adelaide's two.
As Crows coach Brenton Sanderson had predicted, the Cats shape as a contender again. Varcoe, who only managed one game last year because of injuries, Steven Motlop and Billie Smedts added zip to go with the sturdy contributions of James Kelly and Jimmy Bartel.
Predictably, it befell Patrick Dangerfield to take matters in his own hands. When Geelong had 31 points on the scoreboard, Adelaide none, he wrested the ball out of a contest, avoided one tackle and broke another, took off on a sprint and kicked the Crows' first.
Close to 15 minutes had been played.
Gradually, the Crows worked themselves back into the match, much through the steady hands of Dangerfield, captain Nathan van Berlo, Scott Thompson, Sam Jacobs taking control in the ruck and Ben Rutten asserting himself down back.
But clearly, it was not all about the wind; the lead had grown from 42 points at half-time to 46 at the long break. It only got worse from there.
GEELONG v ADELAIDE
CATS 2.5.6 2.9.8 2.13.11 2.16.12 (126)
CROWS 0.2.0 0.5.4 0.6.4 1.8.6 (63)
BEST PLAYERS: GEELONG: Taylor, Kelly, Varcoe, Mackie, Bartel, Horlin-Smith, Enright. ADELAIDE: Dangerfield, van Berlo, Thompson, Rutten, Vince.
NINE-POINTERS: Geelong: Chapman, Varcoe. Adelaide: Kerridge.
GOALS: Geelong: Kersten 3, Smedts, Bartel, Murdoch Duncan 2, Mackie, Horlin-Smith, Kelly, Blicavs, Hunt. Adelaide: Dangerfield 3, Martin, Johncock, Porplyzia, van Berlo, Douglas.
INJURIES: Geelong: Chapman (sore quad). UMPIRES: Scott Jeffery, Nicholas Foot, Andrew Talbot.
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