Adelaide's AFLW premiership defence is in serious jeopardy after the Crows suffered a crushing 32-point defeat against Melbourne at Casey Fields.
The Crows are now winless after two rounds and will probably have to win their remaining five games to be any of chance of finishing in the top two and qualifying for the grand final.
Melbourne are now undefeated along with Carlton and their bid for a maiden women's grand final berth is well on track thanks to the 8.8 (56) to 4.0 (24) result.
The Dees' star midfield triumvirate of Karen Paxman (21 disposals), Elise O'Dea (18) and Daisy Pearce (15 and nine tackles) set up the huge win in the second quarter after a scrappy first period yielded only one goal to each team.
The Crows clearly battled without their star co-captain Erin Phillips, who was once again sidelined due to a quad injury.
Melbourne expertly denied the Crows the ball, as they dominated both the disposal and contested possession counts, while they almost doubled the visitors for inside 50s.
"They brought such great intensity, as we thought they would, in the first quarter," Melbourne coach Mick Stinear said.
"It took our girls a quarter to adjust and I thought they responded really well in the second quarter with their intensity around the ball and their ability to win the footy and just give us first use.
"That second quarter really set us up for the day."
Adelaide coach Bec Goddard wasn't using the absence of Phillips as an excuse and lamented her players' resembling "under-12s" at times during the game.
"We expect our other players to step up and it's a great opportunity for them to show why they should be playing in the AFLW," she said.
The premiership coach was at a loss to explain Adelaide's drop-off after quarter-time.
"It's something that we'll really look at because I was really happy with the first quarter," she said.
"The girls were really up, it was a positive quarter-time break and then we just really let it go."
Melbourne busted the game wide open in the second term, booting four goals to one.
Adelaide's only score came from a 60-metre bomb from Adelaide's Jasmyn Hewett, but Melbourne took a commanding 20-point lead at the major break.
When Melissa Hickey magnificently curled a snap shot around the corner from 35m out on a sharp angle for a superb goal 35 seconds into the third term, Adelaide's fate was sealed.
Share
