Taylor Walker’s march towards 700 goals gathered momentum, Josh Rachele matched a career-best mark, plus more key stats and storylines from Adelaide’s win over Gold Coast.
Walker edges closer to 700 goals
Taylor Walker made a dramatic late charge to 699 AFL career goals on Saturday night. He had been stuck on 694 goals in the previous two games, when he managed only three behinds. Another four consecutive behinds on Saturday night frustrated the former captain, but he booted his first goal late in the third-quarter and then added four more in the last term, including a sneaky gift from Ben Keays. Walker also went past Mark Ricciuto into third place on Adelaide’s all-time AFL games list, now on 313. Walker’s win-loss record for 312 games was remarkably almost identical to Ricciuto. Both played in 162 wins but Walker was involved in two draws, one more than the 2003 Brownlow Medallist.
Rankine stars against former side
Izak Rankine collected a game-high 31 disposals and 597 metres gained, nine score involvements and covered 15.2km in an outstanding performance against his former club. Other stat highlights included Sam Berry’s 12 tackles (for a season total of 133), 10 clearances to James Peatling and Josh Worrell’s game-high nine intercepts.
Soligo reaches 100-game milestone
Jake Soligo played his 100th AFL game on Saturday night, becoming the 66th player to reach the milestone for the Crows. Soligo, 23, made his AFL debut in the opening round of the 2022 season and has played 15 games this year after an interrupted pre-season.
Rachele matches career-best return
Josh Rachele’s three goals, all kicked in the first half, lifted him to equal his career-high season of 30 goals. Rachele finished with 30 goals from 22 games in 2024, then booted 27 in 14 games last year.
Crows maintain perfect SA record against Suns
Adelaide has won all its 10 clashes with Gold Coast in South Australia. The Suns have not beaten the Crows at Adelaide Oval in eight games since 2014, after losing their first two at Football Park. But Adelaide has lost its last five games away on the Gold Coast.
Laird’s disposals streak ends through injury
Injury ended Rory Laird’s incredible run of 246 games with 15 or more disposals. He had gathered 14 disposals in the first half before going off with an ankle injury.
