Ben Rutten in action against the Western Bulldogs. Picture: Simon Cross Source: The Advertiser
BEN Rutten woke up yesterday to the screaming headline "Cracks grow in Crows' backline''.
By the end of the 52-point flogging of the Western Bulldogs, those cracks had been closed, at least temporarily.
After conceding an average of 104 points in the opening three rounds - 21 points worse than last year - Adelaide coughed up only 28 points against the impotent Dogs.
The Bulldogs' score of 4.4 (28) was their worst-ever against the Crows.
Their previous worst was the 5.5 (35) they kicked eight years ago.
Only two late goals by Adam Cooney and debutant Jack Macrae salvaged any pride for the Dogs, who had booted just 2.4 entering time-on in the final term.
While Adelaide full back Ben Rutten noted the atrocious conditions helped the Crows backmen blanket their opponents, he said the scoreline was a positive sign for a group which had struggled to contain their opponents at the start of the season.
"We don't want to be conceding 100 points week-in, week-out,'' said Rutten, who was given great assistance in the back half from Andy Otten and Brent Reilly.
"We were much better defensively - all over the ground. We wanted to build our whole game on defence and it showed."
"Not only were we able to stop them from scoring but we were able to keep the ball in our forward half of the ground, which resulted in more scoring opportunities for us.''
Rutten praised the Adelaide midfield for making life tough for their Bulldogs' opponents and stopping easy ball getting into their defensive-50 zone.
"Defence is a team thing and the boys upfield put a lot of pressure on, which made our lives down back a lot easier,'' he said.
"The ball didn't come down too much and we were able to keep our structure down there, which was good.''
Rutten described the victory as one of relief for the Crows, declaring it was a "must-win'' match after dropping two of their first three clashes.
"We needed to win and we needed to get back to playing a contested-style of footy,'' he said.
"I suppose the way the game panned out, with the wet weather, it suited that and it was left up to us to do the right thing.
"Internally there were demands on the group to produce the goods and to get more contributors each week and I thought Lairdy (Rory Laird) did a good job, along with Sam Kerridge
"They came into the side and performed strongly. Overall we had a lot more contributors than we have had at times this year."But we know it's just one win. You can't afford to fall behind the eight-ball early in the season, so it's important we keep plugging along and continue to improve.''
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