Adelaide went a long way to confirming its position as minor premiers after getting the better of Essendon at Etihad Stadium.
Our Inside Football experts take a look at the individual performances of each player...
ESSENDON – 12.8 (80)
Patrick AMBROSE – 4
Lined up at full-back on Walker who tested him early.
Travis COLYER – 3
Rarely sighted in first two quarters, but managed to kick big goal late.
Joe DANIHER – 5
Dangerous on Talia with three goals in first half, but couldn’t improve tally after that.
Matt DEA – 5
Good game as he worked hard down back.
Martin GLEESON – 7
Hard worker in the first half running out of defence and maintained the output.
Brendon GODDARD – 7
Strong and prolific first half based on wing and kept on winning the ball.
Josh GREEN – 3
Flashed in at times but not a big game.
Dyson HEPPELL – 6
Busy around the ground in first half and had a solid game overall..
Cale HOOKER – 6
Gave Essendon a chance when he came into the game with three big goals in third quarter.
Ben HOWLETT – 3
Couldn’t win enough of the ball.
Michael HURLEY – 8
Matched up on Jenkins initially and had strong first half. Read game beautifully with 34 possessions.
James KELLY – 5
Kept at the task and never gave up.
Jayden LAVERDE – 4
Matched up on Keath at the start and showed a couple of clever pieces of play early.
Head to head with Jacobs in ruck and neither held sway.
Anthony MCDONALD-TIPUNGWUTI – 3
Was well contained in the first half, then looked to have a hamstring issue but came back.
Andrew MCGRATH – 7
Given big job on Betts and in first half was prepared to attack but had a couple of blues.
Conor MCKENNA – 6
Prepared to take risks running from defence and a few things didn’t come off.
David MYERS – 5
Strong at the contest in first quarter then dropped out of the play for a while before fighting back.
Darcy PARISH – 3
Not a big impact.
James STEWART – 4
Started with an early goal but then was tied up til final term when he kicked a monster goal.
Jobe WATSON – 5
Couldn’t make an impact in the first half, but lifted side with a goal. Workmanlike.
David ZAHARAKIS – 7
Ran hard to win ball and gave a performance that was consistent across four quarters.
ADELAIDE – 18.15 (123)
Rory ATKINS – 8
Pinpoint use of the ball from defence and also ran forward to score.
Eddie BETTS – 2
Well contained, but produced magic bit of ball-handling to set up Lynch goal.
Luke BROWN – 5
Played his role as usual and was steady all the way.
Charlie CAMERON – 4
Not a big game, but kept working and tackled hard.
Brad CROUCH – 6
Was once again a valuable force in tandem with his brother.
Matt CROUCH – 8
Continues to be a prolific ball-winner with anther 35 touches, and constantly generated moves.
Richard DOUGLAS – 8
Had a good night and was a strong ball-winner all over the ground for four quarters.
Hugh GREENWOOD – 5
Youngster impressed with a strong finish to his game.
Sam JACOBS – 4
Wasn’t able to take total charge in ruck, but gave a capable display.
Josh JENKINS – 7
Good start and an even better finish when his height was too much for Essendon. Three goals.
Alex KEATH – 6
Settling into defensive spot more and more as the weeks go by.
Jake KELLY – 5
Low key game but played his part.
Riley KNIGHT – 4
Cool type under pressure and did a few nice things.
Rory LAIRD – 6
Just does the business and gave his usual high quality display.
Jake LEVER – 6
Accomplished defender whose certainty and judgment showed why he is being pursued by other clubs.
Tom LYNCH – 6
Inexplicably missed a simple goal, but the rest of his game was solid.
David MACKAY – 6
Always busy and kept ticking away in a typically honest effort on the wing.
Mitch MCGOVERN – 6
Big presence in forward line with vice-like hands in forward line which raised three goals.
Brodie SMITH – 8
Strong ball-winner in hard contests and stood up very well when Essendon surged. Kicked beautiful goal on run.
Daniel TALIA – 5
Matched upon Hooker and had the upper hand early, but lowered colours on night.
Taylor WALKER – 4
Looked to suffer foot injury early, but was OK and finished with two goals.