Source :- THE AGE NEWS
Crows legend Mark Ricciuto has offered fans in the standing area at Adelaide Oval some sage advice as the rain keeps falling.
Fellow commentator Dwayne Russell pointed out that the hill area was still packed despite rain having fallen for much of the day.
“You will need your screw ins up there,” Riccuito deadpanned, referencing the type of footy boots needed for a wet, muddy game.
Cats 16, Crows 13 with 10 mins to go in Q1.
The wet conditions haven’t extinguished the scoring as both sides are still running the ball strongly.
Alex Neal-Bullen just bolted into an open goal for the Crows.
Super start at Adelaide Oval.
Cats 15, Crows 13 with 13 mins to go in Q1.
The Crows didn’t drop their heads, instead they won it from the middle, sent it long and found Alex Neal-Bullen who lured the defenders to the outside, then flicked a pass to Zac Taylor who booted the goal.
The rain is “bucketing” down according to Mark Ricciuto.
As I was typing this post up, Dangerfield wriggled free and booted Geelong’s second goal. This is a super start despite the rain.
Cats 13, Crows 6 with 17 mins to go in Q1.
Jack Martin has flown high for a mark in the opening minutes, casually snapping a goal and giving the visitors a dream start.
Ex-Crow Patrick Dangerfield, with boos flowing, sent a long kick to the front of the square and Martin flew across the pack to take the mark.
Cats 7, Crows 0 with 18 mins to go in Q1.
The Crows will also look to restrict Cats defensive ace Tom Stewart, whose intercept marks and rebounding can be very damaging.
Coach Matthew Nicks said Callum Ah Chee would get first go at trying to take on Stewart.
“We’ll put some time into him [Stewart] because he hurts us, and unfortunately he’s hurt us when we’ve put some time into him previously,” Crows coach Matthew Nicks told Kayo Sports.
“We have quite an experienced player that’s going to do that in Callum Ah Chee tonight, so hopefully Chris [Scott] is not watching this broadcast, but the reality of it is, he probably knows we’re doing it.
“Cal’s got a real good balance of how to be relevant, how to be dangerous to try and hurt him when we have the footy, but also show him a lot of respect because he’s one of the best players in the competition.
Adelaide know better than most that it pays to avoid five-time AFL All-Australian defender Tom Stewart when launching into attack.
It’s also easier said than done, and Stewart is a major focus for the Crows ahead of their clash with the Cats tonight.
When the two teams clashed in round three, Stewart had nine intercept possessions as the Cats held off Adelaide by eight points.
Stewart is elite at picking off opposition kicks inside 50, and he also kicked a goal in the March 26 clash.
Mid-season draftee Hugo Hall-Fahan will make his Adelaide debut and coach Matthew Nicks has told him to play free.
Nicks beamed about the former VFL player who was pick No.10 in this year’s mid-season draft and is best friends with Crows defender Josh Worrell.
“First you look at your culture, and he’s made an impact in such a short period of time,” Nicks told Kayo Sports.
“He doesn’t know our game plan all that well, so we will just look to him to go out and play.
Cats coach Chris Scott may still start defender Jack Henry in the forward line tonight but with rain falling in Adelaide, the versatile player could return to defence.
Henry has kicked four goals so far this season and has recently spent time up forward.
“I suspect we will still start him forward, but that may change [as the game goes on],” Scott told Kayo Sports in the pre-game.
Scott said the Cats were ready to bounce back from last week’s loss to Carlton, and he expected a big challenge from the Crows tonight.
The stars have aligned for Adelaide’s mid-season recruit Hugo Hall-Kahan, who will make his AFL debut on tonight against Geelong.
The Crows picked Hall-Kahan in last week’s rookie draft. The 22-year-old defender had previously been on Sydney’s list, also recruited by them in the 2026 mid-season draft.
Adelaide did not expect Hall-Kahan to play in the AFL quite so soon, but Isaac Cumming’s hamstring injury at training on Monday night has paved the way.
Crows football boss Adam Kelly said Hall-Kahan had made an immediate impression at the club and deserved his selection for the Adelaide Oval clash.
