Adelaide held on to win its first SANFL match of the season with a thrilling six-point victory over West Adelaide at Hisense Stadium on Saturday evening.

Number two draft pick (2020) Riley Thilthorpe returned to Richmond to face his junior side in the Round 2 match, finishing with 12 disposals, six marks and a goal.

Adelaide’s second draft pick (11th overall) Luke Pedlar made his SANFL debut and was outstanding with three goals and 13 disposals, including a purple patch early in the second quarter where he kicked 2.1 and set up an Elliott Himmelberg goal.

Captain Matthew Wright led the disposal count with 27 while Jackson Hately (26 disposals), Nick Murray, Kieran Strachan (40 hitouts), Himmelberg and Pedlar were amongst the leading performers.

SANFL coach Michael Godden was proud of his team to sneak over the line with a 12.10-82 to 11.10-76 win.

“We talk a lot about development and a lot of it is about that, but we still want to win so it was great for the boys to get the win,” he said.

“He (Pedlar) is a very exciting player for our footy club and in his first game of League footy to kick three goals and show his speed out of the contest was really good.

“We are excited about what he can bring in the future.”

In cold, slippery conditions Chayce Jones won the first clearance of the contest and the Crows went inside 50m immediately.

Adelaide was on the board within the first minute as Jake Cook sent a high ball towards the goals while being thrown to the ground, but it went straight over the goal umpire’s hat.

The Crows went forward again from the restart and Ben Davis found Adelaide’s second major in the opening three minutes.

It was rapid fire in the opening stages of the match as four goals came from the opening four inside 50m entries, and from a combined 25 disposals, with Josh Gore and Angus Rana opening West Adelaide’s account with back-to-back goals two minutes apart.

Thilthorpe was busy early with four disposals in the opening 10 minutes, while West Adelaide midfielder Kieran Lovell looked dangerous with 12 touches in the first term, finishing with 39.

Woodville-West Torrens veteran Chris Hill had eight touches for Adelaide at the first break while Hately had seven.  

At the 11-minute mark of the opening term former Crow Jonathon Beech kicked West Adelaide’s third consecutive goal and the Crows spent the majority of the quarter defending inside 50s (11 to four in the opening 19 minutes).

From a Wright kick in James Matthews booted the ball out in space and Tariek Newchurch found himself in a foot race with Elliot Dunkin, managing to remain composed to find Cook un-manned 40m out.

He booted his second goal against the run of play and brought the margin back to two points (3.2-20 to 3.0-18) at the 20-minute mark.

The West Adelaide fans on the Past Players terrace rose as Josh Koster slotted a goal right in front of them deep in the first to help the Bloods to a seven-point lead at the first change.

The opening stages of the second term belonged to Pedlar who gathered a loose ball on the wing, took a bounce and nailed his first goal in Crows SANFL colours 40m out.

Pedlar also had a hand in Adelaide’s fifth goal, marking at half forward and driving the ball to the top of the goal square to find Himmelberg for his first goal.  

Himmelberg’s goal put the Crows in front.

From the resulting centre bounce Pedlar once again found a loose ball inside 50m where he snapped truly.

He finished the first half with nine disposals and 2.1, while Hately was on fire with 16 disposals and four tackles.

The Crows led by 11 points after the Pedlar goal and West Adelaide responded immediately with goals to Matthew McKenzie and Hamish Ellem to reclaim a one point advantage.

Following a string of four Adelaide behinds and scrappy play from both sides on a slippery Hisense Stadium, Newchurch finally broke a 10-minute goal-less deadlock with a set shot goal to take the crows eight points clear.

The Bloods made a habit of kicking answering goals as Beech and Koster finished the term with late goals to give the Bloods a four-point lead at the main break, 8.4-52 to 7.6-48.

As the lights took effect in the early stages of the third term Fischer McAsey took two important intercept marks, the second on the goal line which set up a forward foray that resulted in Adelaide reclaiming the lead through a Thilthorpe goal.

It lasted just three minutes as West Adelaide responded with its ninth goal, this time a Murray Waite snap from the scoreboard pocket for the game’s fifth lead change.

Like the second term both sides defended well during the middle stages of the third term and Hately continued to win the football, bringing up his 20^th disposal early in the quarter.

The ball got even harder to handle, but Adelaide broke another 10-minute goalless period with Pedlar’s third major.

He marked strongly in front of a West Adelaide defender 15m out to give the Crows a 9.7-61 to 9.4-58 lead.

Deep in the third quarter the Bloods kicked just its second goal of the term as captain Tom Keough bent a snap through the big sticks.

In what was turning out to be a thrilling match, Davis put the Crows back in front less than two minutes later, and scores were level when Beech missed a set shot directly in front.

The scoreboard read 10.7-67 apiece at the final break, despite West Adelaide having nine more inside 50m entries.

The ball was parked in the Bloods forward half in the early stages of the final term but managed just two behinds for their efforts.

The final quarter went goal-less for the first 12 minutes as Adelaide’s tall defenders of McAsey, Murray and Josh Worrell stood up well.

This was rewarded down the other end when Matthews put the Crows back in front by five points with a left foot snap.

Gore booted his second goal from a set shot and levelled the scores once again at the 17-minute mark and the heat in the game, as well as the crowd noise lifted another notch.

At the 22-minute mark Matthews booted his second goal of the match, to put the Crows back in front for the eighth and final time.

The last few minutes were a scramble as the ball was parked in West Adelaide’s forward line, but Crows defenders once again stood tall until the siren sounded on an important win.

Adelaide – 3.2, 7.6, 10.7, 12.10 (82)

West Adelaide – 4.3, 8.4, 10.7, 11.10 (76)

Best: Wright, Murray, Strachan, Hately, Himmelberg, Pedlar
Goals: Pedlar 3, Cook, Davis, Matthews 2, Himmelberg, Newchurch, Thilthorpe