On Thursday night, Adelaide beat Greater Western Sydney to secure a home Preliminary Final for only the second time in the Club’s history. The first was in 2006.

Against the Giants, midfielder Matt Crouch set a new record for disposals in a season by a Crow. The newly-crowned All Australian collected 31 disposals in the win over GWS to improve his season tally to 757, surpassing retiring champion Scott Thompson’s mark of 737 disposals from 25 games in 2012.

It was the 16th time this season Crouch has amassed 30 or more possessions. The left-footer, who operated at 81 per cent efficiency, also won an equal-game high seven clearances, applied seven tackles and assisted in two goals.

Brad Crouch gained more metres (546) with his 27 possessions than any other Crow. He generated a career-high 11 inside 50ms, laid eight tackles and kicked a long, running goal in the third quarter.

In his first AFL final, Hugh Greenwood recorded a personal best and game-high 17 contested possessions – one shy of the record for a finals debutante. The inside midfielder also finished with a game-high eight hard-ball gets, seven clearances and applied seven tackles.

Forward Tom Lynch and defender Jake Kelly each took 10 marks – an equal-game high.

Lynch, who also chalked up 25 possessions and a goal, was the highest ranked forward according to Champion Data in the opening week of the 2017 AFL Finals Series.

Riley Knight laid 10 tackles – more than any other Crow.

Adelaide players applied eight rundown tackles against the Giants – more than double that of the next-best team in the first week of finals.

Adelaide had nine different goalkickers in its 36-point win over Greater Western Sydney.

Eddie Betts (three), Richard Douglas (two) and Giants midfielder Stephen Coniglio were the only multiple goalkickers. Prior to Thursday night, the in-form Douglas had kicked 2.9 in finals.

Betts has now kicked 531 career goals to move into the top 50 goalkickers in AFL/VFL history.

Lance Franklin, who is 10th with 860 goals, and the 49th ranked Jack Riewoldt (534 goals) are the only other current players ahead of Betts (50th). Riewoldt’s cousin Nick, who retired at the end of the season, is 21st overall.

Betts, who led the League for scoreboard impact in the first week of finals, also had two goal assists. The three-time All Australian has kicked 12 goals in his last three finals appearances.

Tom Lynch and Eddie Betts were in good touch against GWS

Douglas and teammate Rory Laird each covered a distance of 15.7 kilometres. Hard-running Giant Tom Scully led the way, notching up 17.3 kilometres at Adelaide Oval on Thursday night.

Forward Mitch McGovern reached a top speed of 33.1 km/h level with GWS defender Heath Shaw.

Adelaide defender Luke Brown generated seven rebound 50ms. Only Giants veteran Shaw (10) had more in the first week of finals.

Key Crows backmen Daniel Talia (13) and Kyle Hartigan (12) combined to effect 25 spoils.

The crowd of 52,805 at Adelaide Oval for the Qualifying Final was the second-biggest for a Crows ‘home’ game and fourth-highest attendance for an AFL game at the venue.

Match statistics
Disposals
Adelaide – 340
GWS – 354

Disposal efficiency
Adelaide – 69%
GWS – 69%

Kicks
Adelaide – 217
GWS – 194

Handballs
Adelaide – 123
GWS – 160

Clearances
Adelaide – 42
GWS – 42

Inside 50ms
Adelaide – 52
GWS – 52

Contested possessions
Adelaide – 159
GWS – 160

Uncontested possessions
Adelaide – 181
GWS – 199

Tackles
Adelaide – 88
GWS – 110

Hit-outs
Adelaide – 38
GWS – 45