Adelaide came away 45-point winners in its official AFLW practice match against St Kilda at Unley Oval on Saturday. 

Despite being held goalless for the first term and down by four points at quarter time, the Crows were able to sharpen up their entries inside 50 to kick 10 majors for the next three stanzas to ultimately come out winners, the win cemented in the last quarter, with the Saints held goalless, with Adelaide booting four goals.

Captain Ebony Marinoff was a prolific ball-winner finishing with a game-high 39 touches, to go along with her six marks and nine tackles. 

Meanwhile fellow midfielders Sarah Goodwin and Madison Newman had 29 and 27 touches respectively, while four Crows kicked two goals apiece in Caitlin Gould, newcomer Chloe Bown, Hannah Munyard and Kayleigh Cronin.

Crows AFLW Senior Coach Ryan Davis chatted to AFC Media after the match, and delivered five key takeaways. 

Crows get reward for effort

Adelaide kicked 0.3 (3) in the first quarter to St Kilda’s 1.1 (7), but rallied to dominate the second half and run out 45 points winners. 

Davis said while his side didn’t capitalise on the scoreboard in the first half, he was pleased they maintained the pressure to see reward for effort in the back end of the match. 

There were six goal kickers in total, including Sarah Goodwin and Caitlin Gould, whose two majors now go along with her two-bags of four in the previous two match simulations. 

“Caitlin is good in the air and on the ground and in the contest, so for us to give her as many looks as possible will be beneficial for her,” Davis said.  

The need for speed 

Davis was pleased with the speed of play, too, with the likes of small forwards Amy Boyle-Carr and Hannah Munyard showcasing their quick run.

“We look very dangerous when we play with speed and aggressive ball movement,” Davis said.

“We have some players who are really good runners, and we want to make sure we use those weapons going forward.

“But today, being able to apply pressure on the Saints defenders for the entirety of the game meant we were able to get a lot of front half turnovers and score off that, based on the work rate of those small forwards.” 

Young guns impress

Chloe Bown will be a player Crows fans will enjoy watching in 2026, if her first pre-season in the AFLW is anything to go by. 

The No.5 draft pick from 2025 had 19 disposals (the fifth-most of Adelaide’s players), along with four marks, two tackles and two goals. 

“She’s going from strength to strength at the moment,” Davis said. 

“Her contested game is really strong and she’s been able to get on the end of some uncontested possessions, too, which is really nice and being able to hit the scoreboard with a couple of nice goals there, the one on the left snap was really impressive.” 

Another young draftee to watch is key defender Ava Stewart who spent much of the game standing St Kilda’s star forward Jesse Tawhiao-Wardlaw, who was kept goalless.

Charlton and Goodwin add to midfield mix 

Davis said the midfield mix continued to be a work-in-progress, with Teah Charlton and Sarah Goodwin given midfield considerable minutes against St Kilda. 

“They’ve been training there all pre-season and both have obviously had a lot of time on the ball over their previous seasons as well, but I think they add a good element of speed and power and contest to our midfield unit,” Davis said.

“So being able to expose them for more minutes this pre-season has been quite healthy for us.”

Crows’ statistical dominance 

The Crows’ performance was also reflected on the stats sheet. 

The side won key stats including inside-50s (49 to 27), contested possession (123 to 89), clearances (31 to 24), marks inside 50 (12 to 5) and tackles (62 to 60).

The Crows now look ahead to the next pre-season match simulation game, this time against Port Adelaide on Sunday, August 2, while five players – Marinoff, Chelsea Biddell, Cronin, Niamh Kelly and Boyle-Carr – head to Sydney to represent their respective countries in the Australia v Ireland game on August 1.

It’s all leading towards Round One when Adelaide takes on Sydney on August 16.

“We are a work in progress,” Davis said. 

“Today was pleasing, the way we finished off the game … to have some good evidence of what we’ve been working on over the pre-season is nice.” 

Adelaide’s AFLW season begins on August 16 at Unley Oval with a clash against the Swans. 

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