{"id":840699,"date":"2026-08-02T23:07:51","date_gmt":"2026-08-02T23:07:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/840699\/"},"modified":"2026-08-02T23:07:51","modified_gmt":"2026-08-02T23:07:51","slug":"crows-cruise-past-bombers-to-go-fourth-in-afl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/840699\/","title":{"rendered":"Crows cruise past Bombers to go fourth in AFL"},"content":{"rendered":"

Adelaide’s fate rests squarely in their own hands, says coach Matthew Nicks, after the Crows returned to the AFL top four with a comfortable 72-point win over battling Essendon.<\/p>\n

The Bombers, anchored to the bottom of the ladder after Richmond’s win over West Coast earlier on Sunday, started brightly with the first two goals.<\/p>\n

But Adelaide kicked the final five majors of the first term and never looked back, romping home by 23.7 (145) to 11.7 (73) at Marvel Stadium.<\/p>\n

“We’ve just got to continue to win now. Destiny’s in our hands,” Nicks said.<\/p>\n

“I guess in a way we’ve earned the position we’re in. We’ve now got three weeks to nail that, starting next weekend.”<\/p>\n

\"Riley<\/p>\n

Riley Thilthorpe joined the Adelaide goalfest, kicking five. (Dylan Burns\/AAP PHOTOS)<\/p>\n

The Crows (13-7) are in prime position to seize a top-four berth, but Nicks urged his charges to lock in on their next match against Richmond at Adelaide Oval.<\/p>\n

“It’s something that we acknowledge. We look at results yesterday and we don’t shy away from the fact that that opportunity is now there,” Nicks said.<\/p>\n

“If you win all three games, then it’s ours.”<\/p>\n

Adelaide spearhead Riley Thilthorpe, who Nicks called “dominant”, monstered Essendon’s defence and finished with 5.2 and 10 marks.<\/p>\n

Crows star Izak Rankine (23 disposals, 10 score involvements and three goals) was influential.<\/p>\n

Skipper Jordan Dawson (30 disposals, nine clearances) was prolific, while Billy Dowling and Ben Keays kicked three goals each.<\/p>\n

On return from injury, Crows recruit Callum Ah Chee kicked two goals and had three goal assists.<\/p>\n

Adelaide also celebrated terrific maiden AFL goals from impressive debutant Oscar Ryan, Hugo Hall-Kahan and first-gamer Archie Ludowyk.<\/p>\n

James Borlase (hamstring awareness) sat out the second half but Nicks believed the defender would be fine.<\/p>\n

Peter Wright was a shining light for Essendon, kicking six goals.<\/p>\n

\"Peter<\/p>\n

Peter Wright was defiant for the cellar dwelling Bombers, kicking six majors. (Dylan Burns\/AAP PHOTOS)<\/p>\n

“His last four or five, six weeks have been sensational,” interim coach Dean Solomon said.<\/p>\n

“The way that he’s showed leadership within the whole group, it’s been a significant shift in growth for Pete and no doubt game day has just been an outcome of that mindset.<\/p>\n

“So he got a bit of reward today.”<\/p>\n

Essendon star Zach Merrett (27 disposals) fought hard and young gun Archie Roberts (26) was a threat.<\/p>\n

\"Zach<\/p>\n

Zach Merrett provided a focal point for the Bombers … and a seat for Oscar Ryan. (Dylan Burns\/AAP PHOTOS)<\/p>\n

Essendon’s Angus Clarke was concussed when he was accidentally collected by teammate Isaac Kako.<\/p>\n

Solomon said Clarke would head to hospital due to neck soreness and expected him to have his left knee, which he hyperextended earlier, scanned.<\/p>\n

The gulf in class won out and Adelaide led by 33 points at halftime, then 50 at three-quarter time before kicking away late.<\/p>\n

Solomon lamented Essendon conceding 66 points in “red time” late in quarters.<\/p>\n

“It’s been a bit of a theme over the last five or six weeks. We concede one, it becomes two or three or four very quickly,” he said.<\/p>\n

Essendon (2-18), still in the recruitment process for their next coach, next face Geelong at GMHBA Stadium on Saturday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Adelaide’s fate rests squarely in their own hands, says coach Matthew Nicks, after the Crows returned to the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":840700,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,3028,16712,20250,85,34325],"class_list":["post-840699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-essendon","tag-matthew-nicks","tag-riley-thilthorpe","tag-sports","tag-the-crows"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/840699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=840699"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/840699\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/840700"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=840699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=840699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=840699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}