FREMANTLE now holds the unwanted title as football's greatest slider, having lost its sixth-straight game, this time to Adelaide by 33 points at Adelaide Oval on Saturday.

The Dockers' sixth loss to start 2016 'betters' Richmond's five-game losing streak to start the 1983 season, after finishing minor premiers the year before.

No club in VFL/AFL history has won a minor premiership and then started the following season as poorly as Fremantle.

Crows star Rory Sloane (31 possessions, one goal) was the pick of the midfielders on Saturday, while Tom Lynch recovered from a disastrous miss early in the game to boot two majors and Eddie Betts continued his stellar run with another four in the 14.13 (97) to 8.15 (63) victory.

Full match coverage and stats

Michael Walters was great for the Dockers (29 disposals, three goals), as was Stephen Hill (25 possessions) and Michael Barlow (33 possessions, seven tackles), while Alex Pearce did a great job on Adelaide skipper Taylor Walker (goalless).

In a game marred by poor skills from both sides it was the Crows who made more of their opportunities, particularly through the second and third quarters.

From midway through the second when Fremantle held a two-point lead to early in the third term, both sides had six shots on goal – Adelaide kicked five goals and the Dockers missed all six.

It was the point when Fremantle coach Ross Lyon felt the game slipped away.

"The scoreboard didn't reflect really how well we were going in the game, to be truthful," Lyon said.

“But then we lost some composure in the third quarter, didn’t use the ball well…they counter punch you pretty quickly.”

Five talking points: Adelaide v Fremantle

It was the Dockers who controlled the bulk of early possession and had taken six marks inside 50 to zero inside 10 minutes, but that ascendancy resulted in just a single goal.

The momentum swung to the Crows but the home side was unable to make the most of the play.

Had it not been for their abysmal kicking in front of goal the Dockers would have taken a handy lead into the main break, but their 1.7 from set shots to half-time allowed Adelaide a 12-point lead.

And they were quickly forced to rue those missed opportunities.

Jarryd Lyons slammed home from point-blank range before Betts nailed a classy left-footer from hard up against the boundary and then Brodie Smith finished from long range to extend Adelaide's lead to 29 points.

The Crows improved their efficiency in the final term and it paid dividends on the scoreboard as Josh Jenkins, Betts and then Sloane sealed the win.

Crows coach Don Pyke was happy with his side's response after half-time.

“I just thought at half time we looked at some areas we wanted to work on in terms of the way we were moving the ball, our work around the contest,” Pyke said.

“In the third quarter we were able to find a way which was really pleasing.”

MEDICAL ROOM
Adelaide: The only slight concern for the Crows would be the toe of star defender Rory Laird. He appeared to be concerned about it prior to the game and aggravated it late in the contest. “We’ll probably get it scanned just from a precautionary viewpoint. He was pretty sore towards the end,” coach Don Pyke said.

Fremantle: Whilst it was another loss for the Dockers they managed to get through the contest unscathed and the club insisted they had no injury worries to speak of. 

NEXT UP
Adelaide gets yet another opportunity to test itself against one of the competition leaders in the Western Bulldogs at Etihad Stadium. Fremantle’s start to the year appears destined to go from awful to depressing next week when they host a flying Greater Western Sydney who will head west full of confidence after destroying the reigning premiers.

Hayden Crozier is airborne as he attempts to tackle Scott Thompson. Picture: AFL Media

ADELAIDE       2.4    5.5    9.10   14.13 (97)
1.3    2.11   3.14    8.16 (64)FREMANTLE     

GOALS
Adelaide: Betts 4, Lynch 2, Jenkins 2, Douglas, Atkins, Lyons, Smith, Sloane, McGovern
Fremantle: Walters 3, Taberner, Crozier, Pavlich, Mayne, Griffin

BEST
Adelaide: Sloane, Lynch, Laird, Jacobs, Betts, Hartigan
Fremantle: Hill, Walters, A. Pearce, Neale 

INJURIES
Adelaide: Laird (foot)
Fremantle: Nil

Reports: Nil

Umpires: Farmer, Hosking, Ryan 

Official crowd: 47,423 at Adelaide Oval