The Crows came home hard, and for a moment there, hit the front in the last quarter But on the road, and with an unlikely hero emerging in the form of Oskar Baker, the Dogs were able to move to 3-0 and sent another strong message to the league.
This club is for real in 2026
It was a strange game, with both teams employing vastly different tactics in the first term. The Crows owned the air, finishing with a 43-12 advantage in marks. However, the Dogs owned the ground ball, and opted to run and carry, linking by hand, which saw them hold a 55-22 advantage in handballs.
It was clear that something had to give, and both teams made the necessary adjustments, but the Adelaide defence stood tall and managed to keep the highly-talented Bulldog forward line at bay.
Unfortunately for them, the Dogs’ back six did just as good a job, with Buku Khamis, James O’Donnell, and Rory Lobb, holding their own.
The game lifted in the last quarter. The Crows got on a roll and it culminated with a miraculous goal from Izak Rankine on the boundary.
But the Dogs were not done.
After a goal by Luke Pedlar was disallowed and a free kick awarded to the Dogs for contact below the knees against Ben Keays, Oskar Baker picked up a handball from Sam Darcy and kicked a pearler that conjured memories of Jason Akermanis or Gary Ablett Junior.
It was enough to get his team over the line, and capped a big night for the man from an early eighties footy card collection.
There is a heap to get through in this one, and plenty of positives for both teams. Time to jump into The Mongrel’s Big Questions from this one.
Before I start with the questions, I have added another couple of sections to this format to see how they fly. Let me know what you think. If I don’t hear anything, I’ll expect that you hated them, and I’ll just go back to doing what I did beforehand.
Nothing is being removed – just your old pal, HB, value-adding.
The remainder of this article is for our members. They support me, and I provide for them. It’s a good deal.
Oh… a Mongrel paywall… the worst of all paywalls. We’re all in on the 2026 AFL season. Player articles, stats, awards, game coverage. Dump the mainstream lip service and dive into articles like this – you will never look back. If you don’t want to, that’s fine. I consider it your loss as we get into the grind of the season, and you’re stuck with the stuff that’s frustrated you for years.
