Furious Gold Coast coach Damien Hardwick has torn shreds off his team after they slumped to their seventh-straight defeat with another disappointing performance.
The Suns were completely outclassed by a rampant Adelaide side, trailing by 60 points at three-quarter time on their way to a 79-point loss.
During the three-quarter time break, a furious Hardwick eyeballed his players with a ferocious spray.
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“(He is) extremely upset with his side’s performance up until this point in the game,” commentator Adam Papalia said on Fox Footy.
“Sixty-point deficit at three-quarter time. Staring them straight into the eyeballs.”
Former Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley added: “Dimma really had a crack.”
The spray did nothing to inspire his team to keep the score respectable as the Crows piled on another six goals in the last term.
A season that started with so much promise for the Suns is now hanging by a thread.
The one-time premiership favourites are now languishing in 14th place with a 7-10 record and face an uphill battle to make the top 10 let alone compete in the finals.
“I think every tipster across the country would have had them in the top six, most would have had them in the top four,” Hinkley said after the match.
“This has been some sort of fall. It’s almost season done … wildcard would be their best result.
“It’s turned really bleak and it’s happened really quick.”
Adelaide champion Mark Ricciuto put the blame squarely on the defence after they conceded over 100 points for the sixth time in the past seven matches.
“The defence is not good enough. You can’t win against good sides conceding 100 points nearly every week,” he said.
The Suns’ seventh loss in a row was compounded by losing Will Graham to a shoulder dislocation.
Brownlow Medal winner Matt Rowell (27 disposals) battled hard, Jed Walter booted three goals, and the Uwland brothers, Bodhi and Zeke, toiled in defence.
Hardwick basically conceded their season was over after the match, saying they don’t deserve to make finals on current form.
“This year is effectively gone … what we have to do is forge our way forward and see how we are going to look next year,” he said after the match.
“The challenge is set for the playing group about who we want to be. You can sit there after tonight’s performance and go into your shell or you can fight for something. We’ve got to better than what we are.
“Tonight’s a hit, there’s no doubt about that. We couldn’t play any worse. I didn’t see it coming.”
As disappointing as the Suns were, the Crows were brilliant as they hunt a top-four finish.
After a wayward start to the night, Taylor Walker finished with 5.4 and now needs just one more goal to reach 700 in his career.
Skipper Jordan Dawson racked up 29 touches and two goals in another standout performance, while Izak Rankine and Sam Berry were influential.
There was no sign of the blowout early when the Crows, courtesy of a pair of Josh Rachele goals, took a five-point edge at quarter-time.
But Adelaide then accelerated with a match-defining burst of four consecutive goals to delight the 40,165-strong crowd.
After Rankine scored and Rachele kicked his third, Ben Keays dribbled accurately for a 24-point lead.
In the aftermath, Suns defender Mac Andrew was penalised for dissent, gifting Jake Soligo a goal – and Adelaide a 30-point lead.
Despite the ankle injury to triple club champion Laird, the home side held a 27-point halftime buffer.
The Crows produced another burst, booting six goals to one in the third quarter as the Suns collectively crashed.
Adelaide were 60 points up at three-quarter time, before stalwart Walker iced the winning cake with four final-term goals himself.
— with AAP
