Adelaide has moved as much as third on the AFLW ladder after grinding out a four-point win over St Kilda in an arm-wrestle at Norwood Oval.
Coming off their first lack of the season to reigning premiers Brisbane, Adelaide by no means led by greater than seven factors on Friday en path to a hard-earned 3.8 (26) to three.4 (22) victory.
The win lifted the Crows, now 5-1 for the season, to inside two factors of ladder leaders North Melbourne.
St Kilda (3-3) suffered a 3rd straight defeat, however cling on to eighth spot on share forward of Essendon.
The Crows maintained their excellent report in opposition to the Saints, notching a fifth straight win and ensured they did not undergo successive losses for the primary time since 2020.
They tallied 14 extra inside 50s and 21 further contested possessions, however struggled to trend scoring alternatives in opposition to a doughty Saints defence, which pulled off a number of smothers.
The Saints trailed after every quarter but additionally had issues within the ahead half, taking simply two marks inside 50.
They received inside one level with slightly below 9 minutes to go when Hannah Stuart goaled.
The Saints did not handle one other rating, whereas the Crows added three extra behinds to clinch victory.
“There was tons to love apart from maybe simply our ball use and our potential, to profit from our alternatives,” Crows coach Matthew Clarke mentioned.
Adelaide dynamo Ebony Marinoff racked up 31 touches, 17 tackles, 16 contested possessions, 9 clearances and 6 marks.
The Saints’ run of low scores continued, after they kicked simply two objectives in every of their final two matches and three within the one earlier than that.
The Saints kicked the primary objective of Friday night time’s match, with Molly McDonald placing by way of a set shot after taking a mark.
However they did not kick their second till the ultimate 25 seconds of the third quarter when J’Noemi Anderson registered a significant.
That levelled the scores, however Chelsea Randall’s last-second kick bounced over a few gamers to present the Crows a six-point lead heading into the ultimate quarter.
Adelaide’s Hannah Munyard kicked among the best AFLW objectives of the season, sprinting away simply contained in the boundary line within the first quarter and goaling with a checkside kick from an acute angle to present the Crows the lead.
Tyanna Smith labored arduous for the Saints, notching 22 touches, 14 tackles and eight clearances.
“I used to be actually happy with our group I believed we actually caught at it, it was a very arduous fought sport,” Saints coach Nick Dal Santo mentioned.
“We’re happy with some facets of our sport however we might like to attain extra objectives.”
Adelaide’s Abbie Ballard, who solely not too long ago returned from an ACL harm, was compelled out of the sport and was seen with an ice pack strapped to her left knee .
“She’s received a historical past there, so we had been ultra-conservative. So she must get a scan and we’ll see the place this lands,” Clarke mentioned.
AAP
