ADELAIDE 0.3.2 0.7.6 1.12.8 1.12.9 (90) NORTH MELBOURNE 0.1.0 0.3.5 0.5.9 0.11.14 (80)
Nine pointers: Adelaide: N van Berlo.
Goals: Adelaide: E Betts 4 B Crouch B Martin C Cameron C Ellis-Yolmen K Ramsey S Kerridge T Lynch T Walker. North Melbourne: J Waite 3 S Higgins 3 D Petrie D Wells J MacMillan K Turner L Thomas.
BEST: Adelaide: Crouch, Lyons, Betts, Grigg, van Berlo, Ellis-Yolmen. North Melbourne: Higgins, Tarrant, Wells, Dal Santo, Daw.
Umpires: Jacob Mollison, Sam Hay, Shane McInerney, Nick Brown.
Venue: Centenary Oval.
It was only a practice session, but North Melbourne coach Brad Scott left the seaside town of Port Lincoln a happy man with confirmation his key forward Drew Petrie is no longer a one-man band.
Scott was more than happy with the strong-marking performance of Carlton recruit Jarrad Waite, who kicked three goals – and especially Western Bulldogs pick-up Shaun Higgins, who was outstanding playing midfield and also snared three.
The Kangaroos held Adelaide goalless in the last quarter to whittle a 50-point deficit and lose by 10 points in their NAB Challenge match, but Scott was far from concerned with the actual result.
"I thought Waite and Higgins were good," Scott said. "They have been training for a month longer than the rest of our group, and they looked further advanced than everyone else in our team."
Scott said Waite would give more versatility to the side. "Pietrie has carried the load for so long for us as our genuine key forward," the coach said. "Drew is still a very good player and one of the best key players in the competition in my opinion, but it's good to give him support."
There was early drama when Adelaide forward Tom Lynch yet again bowed his head going into a tackle, and accidentally hit the hip of an opponent causing concussion. It was the same circumstance that saw Lynch suffer serious concussion against St Kilda in the last round of last season, and obviously it presents an issue that needs to be sorted out by him and his coach Phil Walsh.
Scott said the Crows were good, very good – and definitely different.
"To be honest, I was a little surprised how much I saw," Scott said. "I thought it might be 18 v 18 match practice game, but there were a few tactics in there as well which will keep me on my toes. It was good practice for me as well, which was good.
"We expected some rustiness (in North's game), which we certainly got in the first half or so, but really what you are hoping for in these games is some good match practice against good opposition and to get through unscathed. We achieved all those things.
"We knew we were behind in our preparation but we still have time to do the work."
Eddie Betts was brilliant for Adelaide in his return to his home town on SA's west coast. In a bizarre incident early in the third quarter, he kicked the ball into the goal umpire standing in the middle of the goal line flush in the chest. The ball bounced back into play and was not counted as a score. Minutes later Betts took a mark and kicked his fourth goal with the ball going into the car park.
Both sides had a host of senior players missing, and had to be most encouraged by the performances of some inexperienced players – Adelaide with Keenan Ramsey, Cam Ellis-Yolmen, Harrison Wigg and ruckman Reilly O'Brien (despite his worst kicking imaginable), while North's Kayne Turner and Joel Tippett had their quality moments.
Scott said he wasn't largely disappointed in his team's mistakes. "And we weren't rapt in the things we did well," he added. "It was a level approached from the coaching staff in terms of the goals in a game where we practised some things. It was 50-50 in things done well and things done poorly."
