Adelaide has booked a spot in an AFLW Preliminary Final after beating Sydney by 67 points at Norwood Oval on Saturday night.
A rampaging Adelaide outfit, led by gun midfielder Anne Hatchard, the Crows led for the entirety of the game, kicking six goals across the middle two terms in the 12.10 (82) to 2.3 (15) victory.
The result means Adelaide will face North Melbourne in a Preliminary Final – the Crows' fifth in the six seasons preliminary finals have been scheduled, including the cancelled 2020 matches.
The ball lived in Adelaide's forward 50 in the first quarter with a 13-2 count, but Sydney did incredibly well to restrict the Crows to 2.2 with the same fierce intensity the team displayed against Gold Coast last weekend.
But the Swans' issue was getting enough ball forward of centre to attack their own goals, a forward line already hamstrung by the absence of sole spearhead Bec Privitelli, who suffered a Lisfranc injury last week.
The Crows were content to let Chloe Molloy push into the midfield as a spare around the ball, earning themselves a floating intercept defender – usually Zoe Prowse – in return.
Adelaide certainly couldn't flick the ball around by hand with impunity, with Sydney keen to shut down the outlet handball at all costs.
But the bigger Crows bodies – with some now in their eighth AFLW season, compared to most Swans in their second – often proved to be the difference in the stoppages.
The middle two quarters were where Adelaide put its foot down on the scoreboard as Jess Allan found ascendancy in the ruck, finding plenty of width in the narrow confines of Norwood as Sydney lost its shape somewhat.
Pressure forward Jess Waterhouse returned with a bang after being overlooked last weekend, capping off a strong game with an outstanding bouncing effort while running towards the boundary.
Laura Gardiner battled hard but was somewhat down on her usual outstanding output this season, while defender Ella Heads was steady and Brenna Tarrant took a few strong intercept marks.
The Swans midfield lost some grunt when Aimee Whelan (bicep) was a late withdrawal before the game.
ADELAIDE 2.2 5.5 8.5 12.10 (82)
SYDNEY 1.0 2.0 2.3 2.3 (15)
GOALS
Adelaide: Hatchard 2, Randall 2, Bonner 2, Waterhouse 2, Gould, Bonner, Ponter, Jones
Sydney: Newman, Molloy
BEST
Adelaide: Hatchard, Marinoff, Randall, J. Allan, Ponter, Kelly
Sydney: Gardiner, Molloy, Heads, Tarrant
INJURIES
Adelaide: Nil
Sydney: Nil
LATE CHANGES
Adelaide: Nil
Sydney: Aimee Whelan, replaced in the selected side by Paige Sheppard
Reports: Nil
