FOR ONE quarter on Sunday evening, Adelaide looked, dare it be said, that little bit mortal. 

Beaten 52-38 in contested possessions by Richmond and behind by nine points on the scoreboard at quarter-time, the recipe for bringing the Crows undone had been writ large for all to see.

Thirty minutes later, normal transmission had been resumed. The Crows won contested ball in the second term by 54-35, Richmond's movement had been stifled and the Crows were on their way, leading by 27 points at half-time en route to a 75-point win, arguably the most emphatic win by any team in the AFL so far this season.

The lid hovering over Punt Road has not just been put back in its place, but bolted firmly shut, while over in Adelaide they'll be feeling positively giddy about things, with the Crows 6-0 and the only unbeaten team in the competition.

That's Adelaide the city, of course. Adelaide the footy club will be far more circumspect, in the manner of their no-frills coach Don Pyke. But with 21 marks inside 50, 21 goals for the night (and only one to Eddie Betts) he would nevertheless be well pleased with another great night at the footy.

At $3.50 the Crows are now the premiership favourites, and it will take a very good team to beat them. After quarter-time on Sunday they pretty much toyed with the Tigers, who themselves were unbeaten and in good touch.

History is what the Crows need to bear in mind from here. They were the second-best team for most of 2016 before that round 23 loss to West Coast at home that totally derailed their season. 

We also remember the powerful Neil Craig-coached teams of 2005 and 2006, which were dubbed the 'Crow-bots'. They were equally powerful as the Adelaide of today, although they played with a bit less flair. There were long stretches of both seasons when the Crows seemed unbeatable, yet in both 2005 and 2006 they lost home finals, which brought their premiership campaigns to a grinding halt. 

We're a long way from there. It is only the start of May. But the Crows are building something special and given their ability to score heavily and win in multiple ways, there is reason for hope that this season might end differently – and better – than other seasons that have begun with such promise.

'That's why they play the games'

It's an expression coined by the legendary ESPN broadcaster Chris Berman. And the meaning? We can talk all we like about what might happen at the football, but let's wait until the games play out before making our judgments.

It is a point never illustrated better than on Sunday at the MCG. Collingwood was not supposed to get near Geelong. Not on a five-day break, not after playing so poorly on Anzac Day and not against unbeaten Geelong, the last-quarter specialists of the competition.

Wrong, wrong and wrong again. The Pies were fantastic, leading handily at half-time and then kicking six goals to three in a decisive third quarter to seal the game. There would be no powerhouse final stanza from the Cats.

Joel Selwood and Patrick Dangerfield have had quiet games for the Cats but rarely on the same day. Levi Greenwood was brilliant on Selwood, keeping him to 17 touches. The stand-out midfielder was Scott Pendlebury with 32 disposals and nine tackles and for a change, there was a sense of order and organisation about the Magpie forward line, which for a change, took advantage of the repeat forward entries.

Scott has no issue with Pies' tagging tactics

All things considered, this was one of the finer wins of the Nathan Buckley era, well conceived and well executed. It came on the day that his Geelong counterpart Chris Scott received what Buckley so dearly wants – a contract extension.

The one nagging doubt over the Cats was that they had beaten some good teams, but had yet to beat any of the great ones. And with Gold Coast and Essendon to come, we might be none the wiser until Simonds Stadium re-opens for business in three weeks and they host the Western Bulldogs.

Collingwood's performance was in complete contrast to Essendon, which also had the five-day break and played like it. Whereas the Pies kicked away in the third term, the Bombers floundered and were outscored eight goals to two by Melbourne, which won by 38 points. 

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But the Bombers were flat all afternoon, to be truthful, and Anzac Day medallist Joe Daniher, who kicked 1.6 in a wasteful afternoon, typified their lead-footed display. 

The Demons, meanwhile are 3-3 and back in the eight. Jordan Lewis (30 disposals) is back making a contribution and when three of their next four opponents include Hawthorn, Gold Coast and North Melbourne, the opportunity is there to cement themselves in the top eight.

Focus Group 1, Blood and Boots 1

Friday night's Greater Western Sydney-Western Bulldogs clash at UNSW Canberra Stadium (aka Manuka Oval) was as good as advertised.

With the other football codes out of town or idle, footy had the nation's capital all to itself and if one of the aims of the night was to help sell the code in a developing market, then a contest that was tough, tight and which had moments of individual brilliance delivered on every front. It helped that the home team won.

This column is a fan of Mark Maclure's commentary on ABC Grandstand and Fox Footy. Usually. But he was spouting nonsense with his drivel about why the game should not have been played in Canberra. Like his own club (Carlton), the Giants have two home grounds and in this case, the suburban feel, the slippery conditions and the obvious cold only added to the spectacle.

On field, it was a win the Giants really needed. After the narrow preliminary final loss to the Bulldogs last year, they needed to make a statement against a fellow premiership aspirant and they did by working their way back into a game that the numbers indicated should have had them well behind at half-time.

Coaches normally love a spread of goalkickers, but this one was unusual with just four for each team. But they were key particularly for the Giants with the Jeremy Cameron (four), Jonathan Patton (three) and Toby Greene (three) among them. If you want to see a goal as inspirational as they come, have a look at Patton's bomb from outside 50 in the final quarter to put the Giants in front. 

They'll need to press on without Greene next week and perhaps longer. He'll likely serve time for that strike on Caleb Daniel and the MRP should add a week for stupidity given it came days after a public plea from his coach to stop walking such a fine line.

And what about a nod to Tom 'The Machine' Scully, who didn't come off the ground in the second half. It's all very well for a key forward or back to not sit on the pine for such an extended period, but a hard runner like Scully? Remarkable.

The Dogs got brilliance from Jake Stringer and Marcus Bontempelli, but didn't get the points. The shame for them was it was probably their best performance for the year, but Richmond and West Coast in the next fortnight, they'll need to keep at it. Footy can be relentless.

And well done to the League's scheduling team. It might be a rivalry between one team forged from "blood and boots" and the other from an "AFL focus group" but it is real and it is heated and thoroughly deserving of prime-time exposure, and we get it again in round 21, this time at Etihad Stadium (which will please Maclure no end) and likely with the top four and home finals very much up for grabs.

Not your everyday Swans

To say Sydney's season plumbed new depths with the loss to Carlton at the MCG on Saturday would be a touch unfair, because the Blues were excellent for the most part. 

But the Swans are winless at the bottom of the ladder and a few clear ideas are starting to emerge as to why. 

The first are the injuries and what the Swans haven't been able to do is settle their side down. Too many key Swans, notably All Australian defender Dane Rampe (one game) and former skipper Jarrad McVeigh have barely played and the defence has suffered. Isaac Heeney has only managed two games after a bout of glandular fever, while Kurt Tippett lacks continuity. 

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Sydney's blue-collar but blue ribbon midfield is also down. Josh Kennedy has been OK, while Luke Parker and Dan Hannebery are battling. Neither appears fully fit although they have both played all six games so far. Tom Mitchell is sorely missed for his ball-getting abilities and over at Hawthorn he has been the one shining light so far this season.

Lance Franklin has been good this season, but even a player of his stature can't carry the team on his formidable shoulders. Sam Reid kicked six goals against the Bulldogs in round two, but various injuries haven't allowed him to settle in one part of the ground. Gary Rohan and Tom Papley haven't played enough, either. 

And as we have seen with the Hawks, confidence starts to sag as the losses start to mount. The young Blues were gettable even as late as midway through the final quarter on Saturday, but the Swans couldn't muster the energy and lacked the self-belief to mount any sort of challenge. Of the six Swans defeats so far, this was the most un-Sydney like.

With the Brisbane Lions at home this week, the Swans should get off the bottom of the ladder. But this will be an unusual season for the Swans, just the third in the last 22 years that they haven't played finals.

More observations

1. When your surname is Silvagni, then all eyes will be on your Carlton debut. And what a first-up performance from Alex, the former Fremantle defender who kept Franklin quiet. The Blues are starting to put things together nicely and they'll be quietly confident of crashing Collingwood's 125th anniversary celebrations at the MCG on Saturday, as they did the centenary match back in 1992. 

2. Not sure whether St Kilda's 75-point obliteration tells us more about the Saints or the Hawks. It was a firm response from the visitors and a nice reward for their large and loyal supporter base in Tasmania, not so much from the few years they played home games there but from the days of Darrel Baldock, Ian Stewart and Verdun Howell. At 3-3 the Saints have squared the ledger, but we're holding judgment on them until they host the Giants in a big Friday night game at Etihad. The Hawks weren't going to keep winning in Tasmania forever, but this loss was every bit as bad as the thrashings from Gold Coast and Geelong already this year. You can officially put a fork through the Hawks for 2017. They're done and you'd think there are a few more teams waiting for their chance for some payback against the club that has handed out some fearful hidings the last few years.

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3. It was a throwback to, say, 2012 at Etihad Stadium on Saturday night with Gary Ablett putting in a monstrous performance for Gold Coast, albeit it not good enough to get the win. In his most dominant performance in years, Ablett racked up 45 disposals (27 contested) and a career-high 18 clearances, as well as nine tackles. Alas, the difference between the two sides was North spearhead Ben Brown, who kicked six goals and with Steven May and Rory Thompson both missing, the Suns had nobody to stop him. For the Kangas it was their first win of the season and no less than they deserved given that their effort and application so far this season has been pretty good.

4. The 83-point loss to Port Adelaide on Saturday was the fifth straight for the Brisbane Lions but the first time they didn't really bring maximum effort to the contest. That will disappoint Chris Fagan, but he has been in the caper long enough to know there will be peaks and troughs along the way as a developing group comes together. The most notable aspect for the Power – and the most pleasing – was the form of Chad Wingard through the midfield, with 31 disposals and seven clearances.

Coach Ken Hinkley flagged this move before the season and a versatile Wingard can provide the X-factor Port needs against the big boys of the competition.