The Crows four-game winning run ended with a last-gasp, one-point loss at The Gabba
After bouncing back from a shaky start to the season with four straight wins, the Crows came crashing back to Earth with a heartbreaking one-point loss against the Lions.
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The wallpaper that has covered the cracks in Adelaide’s last four weeks was ripped off at the Gabba on a gloomy Saturday afternoon to expose some issues that need addressing for the Crows.
The club was chasing its fifth straight win since it began the 2017 season in barnstorming fashion and was still in it with a few minutes left in the game after kicking three goals in succession to threaten with an upset.
But it was too late and a late trademark goal from Eddie Betts took it to a one-point loss.
They had come from the clouds in one of the most entertaining games of the season but the Crows have a bit of work to do before their form can be compared to 2017.
They scrap better and the contested work has improved dramatically over the past month and a bit but there are areas that need sharp improvement.
It starts in the middle, because the Lions’ win was underwritten by the amount of times they scored from stoppages and how their ruckmen, Stefan Martin and Oscar McInerny, gave silver service to their littlemen.
The Crows had to try to score from turnovers instead but that makes for harder work than having the ball in the front half.
The centre square is the biggest issues, even though little things such as missed shots for goals and a few dropped marks hurt.
Reilly O’Brien battled well but could have done with the support of Josh Jenkins, who by reports played a peach of a game in the SANFL.
A POINT TO PROVE
Bryce Gibbs only came into the side after former club champion and prolific ball winner Matt Crouch failed a fitness test and missed because of a corked hip.
You could tell from the first bounce the Gibbs, a former Carlton champion with 258 games in the bank, was keen to prove a point and cement his spot in the side.
He had nine disposals and a goal — should have been two — by quarter time but it was all about how he went about his business.
One of the things that stand out when Gibbs plays well is that he doesn’t ball watch once he’s delivered the ball to a teammate, he puts his head down and gets to the next contest, and the one after that.
There’s also a degree of class about Gibbs; his passes into the forward line it was to the forward’s advantage. He kicked another important goal late in the second quarter to make the margin five points and keep the Crows close.
LEO LIKE
Lachie Murphy took one of the marks for the day and reminded the crowd of Sydney Swan Leo Barry’s from-the-side mark that won the Swans the 2005 grand final late in the second quarter at the Gabba.
It was a significant moment for the Crows, because it gave them the lead after they began taking control of the game halfway into the term.
Brisbane, which had been so composed and good at holding on to possession, started to show that they were under pressure as Taylor Walker imposed himself on the game with shots for goal — on a better day, he would already have had a bag.
The Crows took the lead after Murphy’s goal but it was short-lived as Brisbane began winning the ruck as soon as Reilly O’Brien had a spell on the bench.
BROUGHT HIS OWN
They knew about Lachie Neale, a South Australian who ended up at Brisbane this year after making his name at Fremantle.
He came into the game as the competitions’s leading possession getter at an average of 30-odd and the Crows had discussed assigned a close tag to him to curb the small midfielder’s impact.
Yet by halftime he had run riot alongside Cam Ellis-Yolmen, who is stronger-bodied but didn’t have the toe to keep up with Neale.
The Glenelg recruit from the South-East had 25 disposals and eight clearances by half time and was the chief reason while the Lions were a goal ahead.
OLD PALS
The Crows were reminded of what they have let go of in recent year’s with Charlie Cameron being one of the game’s most influential quarter with a couples of important goals in the third and fourth quarters.
He has an impressive set of wheels and an uncanny goal sense and his first game against his old club will be one he remembers.
Then there was Jarryd Lyons, another blast from the past who provided one of the highlights with a mid-air goal of the match contender.
SCOREBOARD
LIONS 3,5 7.8 11.11 13.15 (93)
CROWS 2.4 6.8 9.11 13.14 (92)
Goals
Lions: Cameron 3, McStay 3, Hipwood 2, Robinson, Lyons, Zorko, Martin, McCarthy
Crows: Betts 3, Walker 3, Gibbs 2, Sloane, Lynch, Murphy, Atkins, Himmelberg
Best
Lions: Neale, Zorko, McCluggage, Cameron, Martin, Lyons
Crows: Sloane, Gibbs, Lynch, B Crouch, Laird
Injuries: Crows: Hartigan (concussion/head knock)
Umpires: Donlon, Haussen, Gavine
Crowd: 20,405 at the Gabba
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