• Week two finals fixture

A RAMPANT Adelaide has crushed North Melbourne to keep its premiership dreams alive.

Champion goal-sneak Eddie Betts produced a magnificent six-goal haul as the Crows easily accounted for the Kangaroos by 62 points in the first elimination final at Adelaide Oval on Saturday night.

The Crows have set up a semi-final showdown with the Sydney Swans at the SCG next Saturday night.

The winner will face Geelong at the MCG in the second preliminary final on Friday night, September 23.

In front of a crowd of 49,007, the Crows turned on the afterburners in the third quarter with eight goals to three after the margin was only 12 points at half-time.

Full match details and stats

The 21.15 (141) to 12.7 (79) result marked the final game in the blue and white for delisted Kangaroos veterans Brent Harvey, Drew Petrie, Nick Dal Santo and Michael Firrito.

Both teams formed a tunnel at the end of the game as the crowd stood to honour the Kangaroos quartet.

The only concern for the Crows was having defender Kyle Hartigan placed on report for tripping Lindsay Thomas in the second quarter.

Five things we learned: Adel v N Melb

Hartigan did a wonderful job in shutting down Petrie.

Midfielder Matt Crouch was his usual busy self around the ground, Tom Lynch was outstanding with four goals and Daniel Talia closed out Kangaroos key forward Ben Brown.

Rebounding defender Brodie Smith made a brilliant return with 29 possessions and two goals after missing the round 23 loss to West Coast with concussion.

Crows coach Don Pyke was pleased with how his side bounced back from the loss to the Eagles.

"I was really proud of the guys tonight," Pyke said.

"A couple of weeks ago we had a disappointing night and I thought they responded like good sides do.

"It started with our effort around the ball, our contest work and our work rate away from there.

"They were the two things we were lacking the last time we played and I thought it was a real focus over the two-week break we had."

Harvey and Dal Santo were heavily involved in their last games for the Kangaroos.

Majak Daw was strong up forward with four goals and Thomas kicked three.

But pushing the Crows for a half wasn't any solace to Kangaroos coach Brad Scott.

"We're bitterly disappointed," Scott said.

"We came over here to win the game and acquit ourselves well, we were just outplayed tonight.

"Their efficiency was good in the first half and ours wasn't where it needed to be, so we could've been in a much better situation at half-time.

"We hung in there, but we were really disappointing in the third quarter.

"When you play that way against Adelaide, they make you pay, and they made us pay in the third quarter."

The Crows dominated play in the first half, but could only manage six goals from 16 scoring shots to keep the Kangaroos in the contest.

The tide turned after the break with the Crows kicking 8.1 in the term – with three of those to Betts – to break the game open.

It took less than a minute for the Crows to kick their opening goal of the game, Charlie Cameron getting in behind the Kangaroos' defence to run into an unmarked goal square.

The eighth-placed Kangaroos were brave in staying close for the first half, but didn't have the run to stay with the Crows.

MEDICAL ROOM
Adelaide: The Crows got through the game unscathed . Brodie Smith impressed on his return from concussion and showed no lingering effects.
North Melbourne: Lindsay Thomas looked proppy after Kyle Hartigan caught him with a boot to the knee in the second quarter, but the small forward played out the match and didn’t appear to have any concerns. 

NEXT UP
The Crows will be raring to go for their semi final against the Swans at the SCG next Saturday with a preliminary final berth on the line. The Roos will head to their break knowing there is plenty of work to do on a list that only won three games in the second half of the season.

ADELAIDE                      4.6   6.10   14.11   21.15 (141)
NORTH MELBOURNE    2.4   5.4      8.5     12.7 (79)

GOALS
Adelaide Crows: Betts 6, Lynch 4, Jenkins 2, Walker 2, Smith 2, Cameron, Lever, M.Crouch, Walker, Lyons
North Melbourne: Daw 4, Thomas 3, Higgins 2, Goldstein 2, Ziebell

BEST
Adelaide Crows: Betts, Lynch, M.Crouch, Smith, Lyons, Thompson, Walker
North Melbourne: Ziebell, Higgins, Daw

INJURIES
Adelaide Crows: Nil
North Melbourne: Nil

Reports: Kyle Hartigan (Adelaide) for tripping Lindsay Thomas (North Melbourne) in the second quarter.

Umpires: Donlon, Kamolins, Jeffery

Official crowd: 49,007