Melbourne arrived in the city of churches confident of exorcising its AAMI Stadium demons, but any hope of the club’s first victory at the venue in nine years was snuffed out in the first half.
The Crows made the most of the Dees characteristically slow start, kicking nine goals to the visitors’ three to lead by 41 points at the main change.
Melbourne staged a comeback in the third quarter, kicking 5.1 to Adelaide’s 1.9 to be within 25 points at three-quarter time, but two goals to Taylor Walker in the final term saw the Crows steady and cruise to their fourth win of the season 16.21 (117) to 11.7 (73).
Matthew Bate led the way for the Dees with four goals, while Jack Grimes (26 disposals and six rebound 50s), Brad Green (23 disposals and two goals) and Jack Trengove (22 touches) also worked hard.
Kurt Tippett topped the hosts' goalkicking with four, while Matthew Jaensch (three goals) and Bernie Vince (30 disposals and four clearances) both made amends in their first games back from club-imposed suspensions.
Simon Goodwin, Brad Symes, Rory Sloane, Scott Thompson and Richard Douglas combined with resurgent ruckman Jon Griffin to dominate the stoppages (50-26), while Graham Johncock (32 possessions) shrugged off a Lynden Dunn-tag to star across half-back.
Adelaide’s win was marred by a serious ankle injury to line-breaking midfielder David Mackay.
The win sees Adelaide climb to 14th on the AFL ladder and out of wooden-spoon contention - at least temporarily - while the Dees remain half-a-game ahead in 13th.
Adelaide 4.6 9.10 10.19 16.21 (117)
Melbourne 1.3 3.5 8.6 11.7 (73)
GOALS
Adelaide: Tippett 4, Jaensch 3, Walker 2, Johncock, Griffin, Vince, Maric, Henderson, van Berlo, Dangerfield
Melbourne: Bate 4, Green 2, Dunn 2, Bruce 2, Jetta
BEST
Adelaide: Goodwin, Johncock, Symes, Vince, Sloane, Griffin, Tippett
Melbourne: Bate, Grimes, Green, Bruce, Trengove, Scully
INJURIES
Adelaide: Mackay (ankle)
Melbourne: Nil
Reports: Nil
Umpires: Ryan, Armstrong, Jeffery
Official crowd: 34,442 at AAMI Stadium
The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL
