Adelaide in the media: round seven 

The Australian
Demons hit back to maul Crows
Stephen Rielly

THE Demons mauled a young and quickly broken Adelaide side at the MCG in a manner not seen from a Melbourne team since the finest days of Neale Daniher’s time. Melbourne kicked 16 goals to three after half-time, to win by 96 points, which meant that as comforting as it was for the home team it was as harrowing for the Crows, who are finding how hard it is to replace Andrew McLeod, Tyson Edwards and Simon Goodwin all at once. “As good as we were last week (against St Kilda) it was as poor as we’ve been for a long time,” Craig conceded. “It will be our next challenge as a group, to regroup after that sort of performance.” The Crows might have some respite through an encounter with the Gold Coast at home next weekend, but could be without Patrick Dangerfield (concussion), Scott Thompson (cork calf), Matthew Wright (knee) and almost certainly a measure of confidence.

Herald Sun

Melbourne skipper Brad Green fires passion with jumper grab during win over Adelaide
By Mark Stevens

BRAD Green turned to the Melbourne faithful in the northern stand and grabbed the crest on his guernsey so hard he almost ripped it off. Adelaide was dead and buried by the time the third-quarter set shot sailed through, but the passionate celebration was more about the week than the moment. Green said coach Dean Bailey and the players made a pact to treat the Crows clash at the MCG as a fresh start, as if it was Round 1, and the performance was a galaxy away from the lame effort at Subiaco nine days earlier. Two late goals to Brent Reilly and Kurt Tippett had the Crows within 14 points at the long break even though the Demons led the inside 50 count 37 to 20. Finally, the scoreboard was indicative of general play and there was no coming back for the insipid and tame Crows.

The Age

Demons repay Stynes’ optimism with big win
By Martin Blake

MELBOURNE beat Adelaide by 96 points, a hammering the likes of which Neil Craig's team has not suffered since 2004. Not even the early loss of utility Jack Grimes, who damaged a foot and will require scans, curtailed Melbourne's march. A bombastic midfield performance by Brent Moloney, who was best afield, inspired the Demons, as did captain Brad Green, who grabbed a fistful of the red and blue jumper and shook it at the crowd. It was a black day for Adelaide. ''They [supporters] won't cop that and neither should they,'' Craig said.

Statistics fail to measure Demons' passion
By Greg Baum

FROM wall to wall, Melbourne was unrecognisable as itself. It had 39 shots to 13 yesterday, but that was the least measure of it. For the shell-shocked Crows, this was their worst defeat since Neil Craig's fourth game in charge, seven years ago, but it could have been worse. Best-on-ground Brent Moloney had an improbable 19 clearances, including 10 from centre bounces, fanning up a football hailstorm that would have collapsed a stronger defence than Adelaide's. Plainly, though cathartic, it was a gruelling one for Melbourne and Bailey, and not even a 16-goal win fully exorcised the pain. How gruelling, Adelaide is about to find out.

ABC News
Bailey, Craig push for consistent efforts
AAP

WHILE the vast gulf of a 96-point margin separated Bailey and Neil Craig, the Crows coach was in a similar frame of mind as he discussed their greatest losing margin since 2004. The Crows under Craig have rarely let themselves be opened up and torn apart like they were on Sunday. Only a week ago, they had beaten St Kilda in a riveting contest. "I saw a performance last week against a hardened AFL club ... that I liked very much," Craig said. "So I'm saying well, why not again, and again, and again, and again? - and that will be the standard. "In this game you're going to learn how to handle failure and adversity if you're going to be any good and we've got something to handle just at the moment in the short-term. "It's as bad as we've put on display for a long time in our footy club, so we need to regroup pretty quickly."

The Advertiser

Demons bounce back to smash Crows
By Michelangelo Rucci

NEIL Craig's third-generation Crows slumped to their worst result since July 24, 2004, with a record 96-point loss to Melbourne at the MCG yesterday. I'm impatient - and this group is impatient," said Craig last night after his so-called "perfect game" against a fired-up Demons unit turned into a nightmare. "We can wait for 12-18 months, we can put 20-25 games in these players - that all makes sense. But when I've seen last week (against St Kilda) a performance against a hardened AFL team that I liked very much, I ask why can't I see that again and again and again ... and again!" added Craig, raising his voice to underline his point. Adelaide's form line has risen from the high of an extremely competitive and almost totally consistent offering across four quarters against the Saints to the low of offering no resistance against Melbourne eight days later.