1. Motlop, Guthrie put on a master class 
Dangerfield and Joel Selwood steal the headlines, but Steven Motlop and Cam Guthrie are just as important to this wonderful Geelong side. Motlop's ability to push forward and create run out of the midfield is when the Cats are at their most dangerous. His outside run is superb while Guthrie – who had 36 possessions – does the hard yards in and around the contest. The depth of Geelong's midfield and the multiple weapons at its disposal look set to carry the Cats deep into the finals.

Crows v Cats: Full match coverage and statistics

2. Danger rises from slow start to take home the points
A sold-out crowd of 53,141 – the second-biggest at the redeveloped Adelaide Oval – welcomed former favourite son Patrick Dangerfield to town as the enemy for the first time. The hype for his return was incredible. The Crows followed their promise and didn't tag Danger but his good mate Rory Sloane, who was terrific, renewed acquaintances early with a tough tackle to earn a free kick. Dangerfield had a quiet first term with just five touches before amassing 17 possessions by half-time. His influence on the contest increased as the match wore on, finishing with 33 touches and 11 tackles. 

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3. Seedsman's miss starts the rot
Adelaide recruit Paul Seedsman had the chance to put the Crows in front in the last term with a shot at goal 30m out directly in front. Seedsman's shot inexplicably went wide and the Cats pounced, kicking the next four goals to pull away. Indeed, the Cats dominated general play for much of the night. They had 18 scoring shots to six in the first half, but only led by 12 points to keep the Crows in the game. It took the Crows until the nine-minute mark of the first half to have a disposal in their half of the ground. Tellingly, the Crows went goalless in the last term.

4. Lonergan sees stars … and not of the Dangerfield variety
A bit of friendly fire resulted in Tom Lonergan leaving the game in the first quarter with concussion after an inadvertent head clash with teammate Lachie Henderson. Lonergan returned to the bench and didn't play any further part in the contest. Geelong was already below full strength going into the game. Midfielder Nakia Cockatoo will miss up to eight weeks after knee surgery, defender Jake Kolodjashnij (broken hand) is out for a couple games and Lincoln McCarthy failed to come up from a sore ankle suffered last week against West Coast. 

WATCH: Dangerfield faces the Crows

5. Adelaide's key forwards kept under check
It was always going to be tough for Josh Jenkins to back up his career-best eight-goal haul last week and he went goalless in the first half before getting two majors in the third term. His partner-in-crime Taylor Walker was impressive early with two goals and some strong marking, but didn't have much of an influence after that. Credit must go to Henderson for shutting 'Tex' down beautifully after Lonergan's first-quarter concussion. The Crows skipper looked better, but still isn't back to his best.