Jackson Hately, Luke Pedlar and Kieran Strachan each had SANFL career-high disposal tallies in Adelaide’s Round 9 clash with North Adelaide on Saturday, but the Roosters ran out 40-point winners.
The Crows took to Prospect Oval in the club’s 2021 Indigenous guernsey and kicked the first goal of the game through Tim Baccanello, but North controlled the majority of the 13.7 (85) to 6.9 (45) contest.
Hately finished the match with 28 disposals, 10 marks, six tackles and four clearances, while Pedlar had 23 disposals, seven marks and five tackles.
Crows Development Coach Brent Reilly said Strachan, who collected 21 disposals, 36 hitouts, eight marks and a goal, had turned himself into a consistent performer.
“Strachan has been a workhorse for us all year,” he said.
“He has worked really hard on his fitness and ability to cover the ground and find more of the ball (since he was drafted at pick seven in the 2018 Rookie Draft).
“He almost plays as a tall midfielder and he does some great work in the ruck.
“It was also great to see Peds (Pedlar) come out and play some good footy because we know he has the talent, but he hasn’t been able to do it in the last couple of weeks.
“He went into the midfield today and found a lot of the ball.”
Individual performances aside, Reilly said it was a disappointing loss.
“It’s always disappointing to lose,” he said.
“We let ourselves down with our disposal and turned the ball over often.
“In the last quarter we started to connect and score freely, so we have to keep that connection and belief in the group.”
It was a slow, scrappy start from both sides with the highlight from the opening five minutes a strong pack mark from Josh Worrell on the grandstand wing.
Playing on North tall forward Alex Barns, James Borlase competed well and won several one-on-one battles in the first term.
Barns was held scoreless for the match.
Adelaide often looked to attack from defence, but a chain of handballs broke down at half back which left a window for Lewis Hender to mark 30m out and kick his first goal of the match.
From the half-way mark of the first term North found eight inside 50m entries to three and went into quarter time 19 points in front, thanks to four consecutive goals.
Pedlar and Hately each had 15 disposals in the first half, while Fischer McAsey collected 12 touches and four marks.
With the game played in Adelaide’s forward half for a large chunk of the term (14 Crows inside 50m entries to nine), North Adelaide managed to make the most of its forays forward.
The Roosters kicked five third quarter goals to Adelaide’s three behinds and led by 52 points at the final break.
Crows mid-season draftee Patrick Parnell made his SANFL debut and finished with 11 disposals.
Adelaide will play Sturt next Sunday at Unley Oval.
Adelaide: 1.1, 2.3, 2.6, 6.9 (45)
North Adelaide: 4.2, 6.3, 11.4, 13.7 (85)
Best: Himmelberg, Strachan, Hately, Davis, Pedlar.
Goals: Himmelberg, Frampton 2, Strachan, Baccanello.
