Adelaide pair Brett Burton and Patrick Dangerfield celebrate a goal in their big win over Carlton on Saturday

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ADELAIDE has moved into September in ominous form, booking a home elimination final against Essendon after destroying Carlton by 72 points at Etihad Stadium on Saturday.

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The Blues were switched to start and led by 22 points in the first term, but Adelaide took its game to another level and ran in numbers on the way to kicking the season's biggest score – 27.14 (176) to 16.8 (104).

After being beaten to the ball early in the game, Bernie Vince (34 possessions and three goals), Andrew McLeod (31), Tyson Edwards (24) and Scott Thompson (28) got busy in the engine room to send the ball into attack time and again.

Chris Knights, Jason Porplyzia and Kurt Tippett finished their teammates' hard work up forward to each kick four goals.

Brett Burton didn't see a lot of action, but he took a towering pack mark in the third quarter that will surely go close to securing him mark of the year honours.

When Carlton did manage to venture forward Graham Johncock (27 touches) was near impassable at times and received excellent support from Brad Symes (26) and Simon Goodwin (25).

The thrashing was made all the more impressive considering Nathan van Berlo sat out almost three quarters with a back strain.

Brendan Fevola played a lone hand up forward for Carlton with five goals while Bryce Gibbs was prominent around the stoppages with 37 touches.

Adelaide opted for a 'committee' approach to minding Blues dangerman Chris Judd, who had Michael Doughty and several other opponents thrown at him. It proved effective, limiting the skipper to 23 possessions.

Knights slotted the Crows' first after they spurned two opportunities to start the game, but Carlton was able to wrest the advantage around the stoppages and got off to a flyer thanks to its superior pressure.

Setanta O'hAilpin's point-blank effort sparked a four-goal run that saw the Blues bound away to the 22-point lead before Adelaide settled.

Carlton was intent on going one-on-one around the ground which unsettled the visitors initially, but when Vince managed to spot up Burton inside 50 and McLeod intercepted an errant handball to stroll inside and convert, the Crows were back in the hunt.

Vince's quick snap in traffic sliced the Blues' lead to five points at quarter time and despite Kade Simpson's opening goal, the second term belonged to Adelaide.

McLeod joined Vince in finding plenty of the ball with the pair setting up several forward thrusts that Patrick Dangerfield, Tippett and Knights finished off.

Fevola marked strongly on Ben Rutten, his opponent for most of the game, and then Scott Stevens for a pair of goals against the tide, but the Crows forced three turnovers from point kick-ins that led directly to goals.

Vince made them pay twice and Dangerfield bagged the other as Adelaide led by 20 points at the main break.

It was by no means a match-winning lead, but Neil Craig's men quickly went about setting up one that was.

The Crows ran in waves and linked up with handpass after handpass as Knights, Mackay then Tippett advanced the score.

Again it was Fevola who put up a fight at the other end with a brilliant check-side goal from distance, but Adelaide was in complete control.

A four-goal burst, with Symes' running major after a dozen handballs the pick of the bunch, put the premiership points on ice.

Gibbs goaled late to stem the flow, but the three-quarter time margin was 53 points.

With only pride left to play for, the Blues could not even salvage a fighting finish and were outscored seven goals to four as Adelaide proved it could kick a massive total when it needed to.

Carlton    7.2   10.5   12.6   16.8 (104)
Adelaide     6.3   13.7   20.11   27.14 (176)

GOALS
Carlton: Fevola 5, Stevens 2, Walker, O'hAilpin, Hampson, Joseph, Simpson, Gibbs, Murphy, Carrazzo, Yarran
Adelaide: Porplyzia 4, Knights 4, Tippett 4, Vince 3, Dangerfield 2, Hentschel 2, Burton 2, McLeod, Goodwin, Mackay, Symes, Thompson, Sellar

BEST
Carlton: Gibbs, Walker, Stevens, Fevola, Scotland, Judd
Adelaide: Vince, McLeod, Knights, Johncock, Symes, Maric, Thompson, Porplyzia

INJURIES
Carlton: Nil
Adelaide: van Berlo (back strain), Mackay (ankle)

Reports: Nil

Umpires: Vozzo, McBurney, Meredith

Official crowd: 42,356 at Etihad Stadium

The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the club.