Hayes sets record, Crows beat Saints

ADELAIDE Ben Rutten started his 229-game career as the only man to goal with his first three kicks in the AFL – and goaled with his last kick in his last game – and also seems likely to leave it on report.

In what was a meaningless game premiership-points wise, the Adelaide All-Australian full-back appeared to fell St Kilda's Adam Schneider – whose retirement is also imminent – with his right elbow during the first quarter, an incident that will surely be investigated by the match review panel.

In contrast, Lenny Hayes, also in his last appearance, gathered his eighth tackle for the game six minutes into the third quarter to take his career tally to 1491, making him the most prolific tackler in VFL/AFL history, surpassing Sydney's Jude Bolton's record set last year.

And because of Hayes' outstanding overall contribution to the game – like Rutten had previously established – he was aptly chaired off the field  to the applause of every  fan.

They arrived in their masses as usual – including the one millionth AFL fan at Adelaide Oval this season. The attendance of 44,969 took Adelaide's season tally to 528,508 for an average 48,046, the highest across the AFL this season, just ahead of Collingwood.

The difference with the Crows' fans this time was that their faces were forlorn before the game. Even the pre-match toss had a twist with South Australia's oldest person, 105-year-old Gladys Bond, flipping the coin

But what must have Gladys wondered about her Benny "The Truck" Rutten, and of her beloved Crows in a mistake-ridden first quarter before ripping the game apart with five goals in the opening nine minutes of the second term to establish the expected – a comfortable win against the bottom side?

From that moment, the Crows played like there was no tomorrow. And there wasn't. It wasn't a game blessed with an abundance of skills, but you rarely get games otherwise between sides out of the finals race and players under the incredible pressure with the fear of being delisted in the coming weeks.

We had the youth who merely seized the moment, and Brad Crouch playing alongside his kid brother Matt in an AFL game for the first time – the first set of brothers to do so for the Crows since Andrew and Darren Jarman in 1996. The disappointing aspect here was that coach Brenton Sanderson had Matt as the sub. He's a Rising Star nominee playing his eighth game; why not give him a full game in a meaningless match?

Adelaide looked stronger using regular forward Josh Jenkins, who had kicked 40 goals this season, in defence, while its forward structure looked good, especially with Eddie Betts, who kicked his 50th goal for the season midway through the third term.

Sam Kerridge (25th game) produced moments of quality in his return from injury, Jarryd Lyons (21) was impressive and young Matt Crouch again showed class in his seemingly cameo role. The much-maligned Brent Reilly was impressive in defence in just his 10th game for the season.

For Saints coach Alan Richardson, this was the best 2015 pre-season game he could have hoped for; the result irrelevant but the signs from the six players with fewer than 30 AFL games experience indeed encouraging.

Without setting the game alight under difficult circumstances, Spencer White, Cameron Shenton, Nathan Wright, Sebastian Ross, Billy Longer and sub Brodie Murdoch showed enough to suggest they have taken another important step in their development. This is what St Kilda's appearance was all about, and while the ball delivery skills remain low, few could challenge the Saints' attack on the ball.

We have seen better games, especially from the Truck who went in reverse. Hopefully he's judged on the previous 228 games. And, of course, we'll miss Lenny the smooth prime mover.