Crows midfielder Patrick Dangerfield inspired the Crows in the last quarter against the Brisbane Lions on Saturday night. Picture: Chris Hyde. Source: Getty Images
PATRICK Dangerfield put the Adelaide Football Club on his back last night.
With his team staring at a 0-2 start to the season and with any hopes of being a top four threat this season slipping away, the man who will one day captain the Crows said enough is enough.
Two game-breaking fourth quarter goals later and Adelaide had escaped the Gabba with a 19-point win against the Brisbane Lions.
The first mini-crisis of the Brenton Sanderson era had been avoided and Adelaide can now enter next weekend's Showdown without any unwanted hysteria.
The Crows were trailing early in the final term when Dangerfield grabbed hold of a loose ball in the middle of the ground, surged forward and banged it through on his left foot.
"I think it was probably - what's the expression - more arse than class?" Dangerfield said.
He followed it with a miraculous shot across his body which gave Adelaide just enough breathing space to get home.
"I was pretty happy when that went through, I can tell you," Dangerfield said. The expressions on the face of Dangerfield's team-mates told the story - equal parts elation, admiration and disbelief.
Those same faces had been filled with concern moments earlier as Adelaide battled hard to put away a Lions outfit that had been humbled by the Western Bulldogs last week.
Statistically there were no great areas for concern like there were against Essendon when the tackling and clearance counts were weighted heavily against the Crows. But Adelaide continually missed targets by foot to keep Brisbane in the contest.
Rory Sloane, Scott Thompson and key defenders Ben Rutten and Daniel Talia were also immense as Brad Crouch made an accomplished debut.
He settled quickly, gathering seven disposals in the first term, and was one of the tidier Crows with his disposal all night.
With early control of the corridor Brisbane kept Adelaide hemmed in its defence and it was only the sturdy work of Talia that kept the damage to a single goal through Stefan Martin.
Adelaide was left to play on the counter-attack but found its way through twice - first a solo run up the wing by Ricky Henderson and second a chain of possession that finished with Taylor Walker - to take the lead.
A Crows forward line of Walker, Josh Jenkins and Ricky Henderson exposed Brisbane's lack of tall defensive support behind Daniel Merrett but inaccurate kicking for goal kept scores level at quarter time.
Two of Brisbane's first three goals came from free kicks for ball-up infringements as Adelaide found another new rule to freshen up on at training. After a fortnight with huge external focus on their tackling problem the Crows trailed the Lions 18-12 in that category early in the second term. But they evened it up at 27-27 by half-time as Dangerfield set the tone with his attack on the ball and body.
The Crows had spoken about replicating the Western Bulldogs ability to take a lot of marks inside 50 against the Lions in round one and backed it up by kicking four of their first five goals that way.
The Lions' lack of size and inability to defend dangerous space cost them time and again and with Dangerfield dominating in the middle the Crows began to take control of the game.
Just when you thought Adelaide was getting away Brisbane struck to close the gap to seven points at half time.
The second term didn't end well for Adelaide with Nathan van Berlo felling Tom Rockliff with a blow to the head that may cop some scrutiny this coming week.
Momentum continued to swing back and forth in the third term as both sides sensed the importance of avoiding an 0-2 start to the season.
Jason Porplyzia, who was demoted to the substitute's role, was introduced for the ineffectual Ian Callinan as conditions started to worsen.
Walker burned three opportunities and Brisbane - despite kicking 4.8 for the term - finished the quarter with an eight point lead and reason to believe they were on their way to their first win of the season.
But Dangerfield refused to yield and despite some hairy moments in the closing minutes the Crows held on.
"We spoke about it at three quarter time - we need to back our fitness in, we've had a terrific pre-season and we can run with the very best teams," Dangerfield said.
"The boys fought really hard and did it well."
CROWS 2.3 7.6. 9.11 14.12 (96)
LIONS 2.3 6.5 10.13 10.17 (77)
BEST PLAYERS: CROWS: Dangerfield, Sloane, Rutten, Wright, Talia, Thompson, Crouch. LIONS: Hanley, Leuenberger, Zorko, Moloney, Merrett.
GOALS: CROWS: Jenkins, Petrenko, Dangerfield, Walker 2; Reilly, Jaensch, Douglas, Henderson, Sloane, Jacobs. LIONS: Zorko, Green, Martin 2; Polkinghorne, Hanley, Bewick, Rockliff.
INJURIES/REPORTS: Nil.
UMPIRES: Ryan, Stewart, Ryan.
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