Adelaide’s final home-and-away game at Adelaide Oval in 2026 delivered a night of milestones, momentum and some standout individual numbers.

Tex climbs the all-time goalkicking list

Taylor Walker celebrated his own retirement party, adding six goals to his career tally to jump another spot on the all-time VFL/AFL list. Walker has now booted 712 goals from 317 AFL games, overtaking Collingwood Team of the Century forward Dick Lee (707 goals) to be ranked 26th. He is only six goals behind St Kilda champion Nick Riewoldt on 718.  It is the most goals Walker has kicked in a game since the last minor round of 2023, when he bagged nine goals against West Coast.

Rankine runs riot through the midfield

Izak Rankine continues to have an enormous impact from the midfield, kicking four goals from his 35 disposals. He had a blistering start to the game, collecting eight disposals at 100 per cent efficiency, three clearances, two goals and two goal assists in Adelaide’s fast start. The only player with a higher-rated quarter this season was captain Jordan Dawson, against the Western Bulldogs in round 15. Rankine finished with 12 clearances including seven centre clearances, 845 metres gained, three goals assists and 10 score involvements. 

Contributors stand up across the ground

Dan Curtin thrived on more midfield responsibility to collect 22 disposals, eight score involvements, four centre clearances and a clever late goal. It was another good night for Dawson with 32 disposals and eight score involvements while mid-season draftee Hugo Hall-Kahan had a career-best 24 disposals across half-back, including six rebound 50s and nine score involvements. 

Forward spread fuels the scoreboard

The extra traffic from 64 inside 50s helped the forwards get involved. Darcy Fogarty took a game-high four contested marks, Riley Thilthorpe’s 12 score involvements included his own 3.4, and hard-running Ben Keays had 11 score involvements and three goals among 25 disposals. Adelaide has had five forwards kick 30 or more goals so far this season. Josh Rachele leads the way with 38, Thilthorpe has kicked 34, Walker’s six goals lifted him to 31, and Keays and Fogarty are on 30. 

Fast start sets season-high score

Adelaide’s nine goal opening term was its equal second-highest scoring quarter of the season and the final score of 24.13 (157) was its highest of the season. The record opening term for the Crows is 9.4 (58) against Gold Coast in 2011.

Big crowd watches another Crows-Giants chapter

Saturday night’s crowd of 52,332 was the highest for a minor round game between GWS and Adelaide, beating the previous best of 46,737 in 2016. The 2017 Qualifying Final between these clubs was watched by 52,805 at Adelaide Oval.  It was also the second highest home attendance for the season behind the round-nine Showdown (53,045). Adelaide, which hadn’t faced the Giants since April 19 last year, has now won 13 of their 20 clashes.