Adelaide has won through to its sixth preliminary final, comfortably accounting for Fremantle by 37 points in a semi-final at Norwood Oval on Saturday.
The Crows had far too much class across the park for the Fremantle in the 7.7 (49) to 1.6 (12) result, the West Australians having done extraordinarily well to make a semi-final given the absence of stars Kiara Bowers, Ange Stannett and Aine Tighe.
There were plenty of nerves on show early – Caitlin Gould's opening set shot smothered on the mark – and in the early stanza, Fremantle were working overtime to unsettle Adelaide.
But Freo couldn't find the middle of the goals themselves, and it took a lunging Chelsea Randall's boot-studs to scrape home the opening major.
After an extended quarter-time break – the heat policy well and truly in place for the 35-degree conditions – it was Adelaide who flexed its muscles.
Like they've done all year, the Crows locked the ball in their forward half, but finally, they were able to convert, piling on four goals to take a game-winning 29-point lead into half-time.
Acting Fremantle captain Hayley Miller spent most of the second term receiving treatment on a sore knee, but returned after half-time to play forward, while star recruit Gab Newton worked through some discomfort after landing heavily on her back in a first-term marking contest.
On the rare occasions Fremantle was able to get the ball into attack, the forward structure was more often than not askew, struggling to hold their positions against the strong Adelaide backline, led by Zoe Prowse and Chelsea Biddell.
It was a well-rounded team performance from Adelaide, who had a number of players stand up at different moments, including the elusive Taylah Levy, a hard-running Maddi Newman and crucial link Chelsea Randall, while Ebony Marinoff found plenty of the footy.
Gabby O'Sullivan and Aisling McCarthy ran hard for Freo, while Emma O'Driscoll stood up well under enormous pressure in defence.
Finally, the Crows find the goals
Converting inside 50 opportunities has been a constant issue for Adelaide all year, but the Crows appeared to banish at least a few of their forward-line demons against Fremantle. While the vast majority of their scores came from general play, rather than set shots, Adelaide would have been relieved to have somewhat righted the ship. On the other side of the coin, unlike North Melbourne last week, Fremantle was unable to capitalise on its rebound when the opportunity presented.
Battle of the ruck superstars
The in-form Mim Strom and Jess Allan played out an intriguing battle within the war, and split the points fairly evenly. Given Strom's scintillating form over the past few weeks, that effectively counted as a win for Adelaide. Strom finished with 33 hitouts, 13 disposals, 115m gained and three clearances, while Allan's numbers read 29 hitouts, 10 disposals, 186m gained and two clearances
Up next
Adelaide will take on Brisbane at Brighton Homes Arena in a preliminary final, with the match details to be confirmed on Saturday night. Fremantle's season is over, bowing out in fifth or sixth position depending on the results of Saturday's second semi-final between Hawthorn and Port Adelaide.
ADELAIDE 1.1 5.3 7.5 7.7 (49)
FREMANTLE 0.3 0.4 1.5 1.6 (12)
GOALS
Adelaide: Randall, Levy, Munyard, Martin, Ballard, Marinoff, Ponter
Fremantle: Seth
BEST
Adelaide: Marinoff, J.Allan, Newman, Prowse, Randall, Hatchard
Fremantle: Newton, O'Sullivan, McCarthy, O'Driscoll, Strom
INJURIES
Adelaide: Nil
Fremantle: Miller (knee)
Crowd: 2,011 at Norwood Oval
