THERE was littlesaving Greater Western Sydney from a significant loss when an off-the-ball bumpfrom Adelaide's Richard Douglas on Callan Ward saw the Giants' skipper subbedwith concussion at half-time.
The match was headingtowards an inevitable result, but the loss of their most experienced playerdestroyed any possibility of a comeback for the Giants.
Ward was casuallyfollowing Crow Brodie Smith, who was lining up for a long shot at goal, when hewas flattened by Douglas, sparking heated scenes as Giants players looked toremonstrate.
The hit didn'tappear high, but the fact Ward wasn't involved in the play and was concussedsuggests Douglas will have a case to offer at the Match Review Panel.
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Giants coach LeonCameron refused to pass judgment on Douglas, but admitted leaving theresponsibility of leading the club to a squad of youngsters made it difficultto mount a comeback.
"We've got19 players under 50 games, our average games is about 30 … to have one of your100-game players go down half way through the second quarter was disappointing.
"It's hardfor me to judge at this stage until you have another very good look at it.
"It'sobviously controversial, the bump, but from our point of view it was justdisappointing to lose him considering that leadership we do need.
"Then yourely on a five-gamer, or a seven-gamer or a 31-game player to actually try andpick us up off the canvas when we started to lose control."
Cameron confirmedWard suffered concussion in the incident.
Having only seenthe replay of the bump once, Crows coach Brenton Sanderson didn't venture anopinion, but said that Douglas didn't believe it was the type of hit that wouldland him in trouble.
"It's notfor me to judge what the Match Review Panel will decide, but I probably can'thave a strong opinion on it when I've only seen one replay," Sandersonsaid.
"I spoke toWard after the game, he was fine. 'Dougy' thought it was a clean bump, but onceagain we'll have to wait and see."
AlthoughCameron's Giants were beaten by almost 11 goals, the 65-point margin was halfthat of their previous loss to the Crows – a 135-point embarrassment in roundseven last year.
Cameron said whilethe Crows were allowed to free wheel for 40 minutes before half-time, theGiants' fight in the second half was encouraging.
"The last 10minutes [of the first quarter] I thought we dropped away with our effort andthen the second quarter was really disappointing," he said.
"There's thegame …the 40 minutes of footy we were non-competitive.
"I wasreally pleased we fought out the second half, but you can't allow a good sidelike Adelaide 30-40 minutes of free-wheeling footy where they can do whateverthey want.
"They did itlast week against St Kilda, they did it this week against us. They're playingsome really good footy, I expect the them to be a top-eight side."
