For three quarters of Saturday afternoon’s clash with Adelaide, Gold Coast remained within touching distance of the Crows at Adelaide Oval. In the final term, Scott Camporeale’s side ran away with the game, kicking eight goals to two, to turn a nine-point lead at the final break into a 45-point victory.
In his first game back after appearing on tabloid newspapers in controversial circumstances, Harley Bennell returned in a stunning manner. He won the most ball on the ground with 39 possessions for the afternoon, and whilst his disposal let him down at times, his performance against such quality opposition and in the face of adversity was extremely admirable.
Bennell collected possessions all over the ground. He spent time in the middle, as well as across half-back and floating across half-forward. The midfielder finished with 16 contested possessions, nine inside 50s and five clearances to go with a metres gained of 672m – the third most of any player for the round.
Tom Lynch was the most dominant key position player on the ground at Adelaide Oval. He was plucking everything that came his way, hauling in a game-high 11 marks – none of which were easy ones behind the ball. Four of his marks were contested and four were taken inside 50.
The 22-year-old finished with 4.1 from 21 possessions on Saturday to get the better of Adelaide’s Sam Shaw and Jake Lever who tried to double team him at different times.
Charlie Dixon demonstrated once again why he is so damaging up forward. If he had taken some of his chances – two gettable set shots in front of goal in the third quarter – he would have had an even better day. He finished with 3.3 from 14 possessions and six marks, all of which were taken inside the arc, and five of them were contested. Dixon dominated Kyle Hartigan to continue his strong season that has been interrupted by persistent ankle injuries.
The key matchup going into the game was the duel between Steven May and Taylor Walker. After having his colours lowered the last time the pair faced each other, May returned the favour to beat the Crows captain. The Northern Territorian held Walker to 2.1 and minimal influence on the game. Walker’s first goal was also no fault of May’s with poor defending up the ground to blame.
With Gary Ablett going down early, an already depleted midfield was severely up against it. Jesse Lonergan and Aaron Hall both filled the void as best they could against a strong Adelaide engine room that bats very deep. Lonergan finished with 20 disposals, nine tackles and a brilliant goal, whilst Hall was influential with 24 possessions, five clearances and four tackles.
Who was your best player in round seventeen?
After sixteen rounds, Michael Rischitelli still leads the Fans Player of the Year on 238 votes, ahead of injured defender Adam Saad on 169 votes, Charlie Dixon on 134 votes and Kade Kolodjashnij on 128 votes.
