Jenkins says Crows to blame for AFL loss

Star Adelaide forward Josh Jenkins has offered a contrarian view on their lopsided free-kick count in the Crows’ AFL loss to the Western Bulldogs.

The Crows were fuming after Saturday night’s 15-point defeat at Etihad Stadium, where the free kicks were 20-5 against them at three-quarter time and 28-11 for the match.

Coach Don Pyke and chief executive Andrew Fagan promised their fans the club would seek an explanation from the AFL umpiring department.

But Jenkins, who had his best AFL haul of eight goals in the loss, said most of the frees against Adelaide were probably warranted.

“You can see there were Crows players with arms around Western Bulldogs players’ throats and things like that,” he told the ABC.

“It’s hard to see without having seen it on replay but in my opinion, (my) first gut feel was 90 per cent of those free kicks are there.

“So we’ve got a job to do and for the most part, it’s because the ‘Dogs got into the footy before us.”

Indeed, the Bulldogs dominated all the important statistics.

Adelaide had a season-low 37 inside 50s – 31 less than the Bulldogs.

But Jenkins said the fact that Adelaide only trailed by three points with less than two minutes left showed their potential this season.

Their next match on Friday night at Adelaide Oval is massive, with Geelong in strong form and Patrick Dangerfield playing against the Crows for the first time.

“We’re a pretty deadly side in terms of scoring when get a run on and move the ball, we’ve just got to get it in there more than 37 times,” he told the AFL website.

“There’s plenty to be bullish about and the beauty of footy is we’ve got the Cats at home in six nights’ time there’s probably no better side in the competition at the moment.”

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