The Crows kept the Tigers to just the solitary goal in the opening half to be 54 points ahead by half time.
They went on with the job in the second half and recorded a 16.12 (108) to 6.9 (45) victory to celebrate Andrew McLeod's 300th game in style.
Richmond was unable to do the same for Joel Bowden in his 250th match and the loss probably dealt a fatal blow to their top-eight hopes. The Tigers remain a game-and-a-half plus percentage from eighth spot with just three games to play.
And one of those is against premiership fancy Hawthorn, next Sunday at the MCG. They finish the season with games against Fremantle and Melbourne.
Adelaide now sits in 6th spot with 11 wins, just half a game behind North Melbourne and Sydney with games against Essendon, St Kilda and the Western Bulldogs to follow.
But more importantly they are back in the sort of form that could see them challenge later in the season and are coping superbly with the loss of two of their prime movers in the forward line, Jason Porplyzia and Brett Burton, who are both out injured.
The Crows effectively ended the contest at AAMI Stadium on Sunday afternoon with a blistering second term when they slammed on seven goals to nil.
Bowden was the Tigers' only goalkicker in the first half while the Crows found a number of avenues to goal. Scott Stevens, Nick Gill and Simon Goodwin were all multiple goalkickers although they ended the match with a dozen. individual goalscorers.
And they had the most effective midfielders on the ground all day.
With both sides fighting for life in the eight fans arrived at a rain-soaked AAMI Stadium expecting a dogfight. And they got one for about 20 minutes.
The wet and windy weather wreaked havoc on an error-riddled first quarter, but it was the Crows that steadied first.
Bernie Vince signalled the home side’s intent with a crunching tackle on Tiger Richard Tambling setting up a goal to veteran Tyson Edwards.
Milestone man Bowden got off to the perfect start, getting on the end of a slick handball from Nathan Brown and responding with a goal for Richmond.
The footy wasn’t pretty as both teams dropped loose men behind the play and continued to miss targets going forward, but the conditions were perfect for West Australian Stevens.
He joined clever defender Graham Johncock in attack and snapped Adelaide’s second goal after another classy piece of play from Edwards.
The Crows capped off a dominant passage of play with a goal to Goodwin, which extended the lead to 11 points at the first break.
Things continued to fall Stevens’ way in the second quarter with the 98-gamer sharking a mark on the line from a would-be goal to Goodwin.
The resulting goal pushed the margin out to 17 points and triggered an onslaught from the Crows.
Adelaide dominated possession through van Berlo, Michael Doughty, Brad Symes and Thompson and completely outclassed the Tigers.
Gill showed no sign of his kicking yips with the first of his two goals for the term as the Crows pulled further ahead.
Adelaide outmuscled and out-harassed its shell-shocked opponent and Richmond paid the price for allowing McLeod to play as a loose man.
The hard-running Symes went third man up at the ruck contest and tapped the ball straight down the throat of McLeod, who embarked on a vintage run along the wing.
The crowd erupted when McLeod’s long bomb sailed through for a goal and the Crows were keen to continue the celebrations.
Johncock was denied a mark of the year contender inside 50m, but unanswered goals to Goodwin, Kris Massie, Gill and youngster David Mackay more than made amends.
The Adelaide defence of Bock, Ben Rutten and Nathan Bassett were resolute in restricting the Tigers to just one shot at goal for the term.
Matthew Richardson’s lone attempt from 20m out summed up Richmond’s first half when it slid across the face of goal and failed to chip away at the 54-point half time deficit.
The Tigers offered greater resistance in the third term, but Adelaide still won the quarter.
The clinical Crows continued their superior work rate and booted five goals in passages of play more reminiscent of Thursday’s main training session.
Thompson eluded his tagger Daniel Jackson and capitalised on a 50m penalty to open Adelaide’s scoring and he invited Richard Douglas, van Berlo, Brad Moran and Vince to the join the goal kicking party.
The young quartet’s goal spree was gate crashed by two classy long bombs from Brett Deledio and Troy Simmonds, but the Tigers couldn’t prevent the margin blowing out to 66 points at the final change.
Persistent rain turned the last quarter into a scrap with only three goals, to Jack Riewoldt, Jordan McMahon and Thompson scored, but the damage had already been done and the Crows ran out comfortable winners.
The views in this story are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL.
MATCH DETAILS
Adelaide 3.2 10.4 15.6 16.12 (108)
Richmond 1.3 1.4 4.6 6.9 (45)
GOALS
Adelaide: Stevens, Gill, Goodwin, Thompson 2, Douglas, Moran, Massie, Mackay, Edwards, McLeod, van Berlo, Vince
Richmond: Deledio, Simmonds, Pattison, Bowden, Riewoldt
BEST
Adelaide: Stevens, Symes, van Berlo, Bock, Rutten, McLeod, Edwards, Doughty, Vince
Richmond: Tuck, Deledio, Johnson, McMahon
INJURIES
Adelaide: Vince (hamstring)
Richmond: Foley (hip), Schulz (tba) replaced in side by Morton
Reports: Nil
Umpires: L. Farmer, M. James, M. Head
Crowd: 37,562 at AAMI Stadium
