AFL round 13: Adelaide Crows defeat Brisbane Lions by five points

Adelaide has completed a stunning come-from-behind win after Jordan Dawson inspired a last-quarter surge against a Brisbane Lions side which was left to rue its wastefulness in front of goal.

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Three-goal hero Ben Keays spurred Adelaide to a stunning come-from-behind win against Brisbane on Friday night, the surging Crows coming from the clouds to seal a famous five-point win with a five-goals-to-nil final term.

In the clash of the second-placed Lions against the third-placed Crows, Matthew Nicks’ men looked down for the count at three-quarter time.

With Will Ashcroft and Lachie Neale dominating stoppages, Brisbane had the momentum and a 17-point lead heading into the final term having kicked the last two goals of the third quarter.

Riley Thilthorpe got the comeback started with a cracking running goal from the boundary line a minute inside the last quarter and when Keays kicked his third with nine minutes remaining, Adelaide had booted five unanswered goals to hold an 11-point lead.

Zac Bailey had the opportunity to draw the margin back to two points with four minutes remaining, but he missed everything with his set shot after he was paid a free kick for high contact.

More drama was to come when Callum Ah Chee’s snap wobbled over the goal post that led to a tense score review that came back in favour of the home side.

Bailey sent another shot out on the full with just over two minutes remaining, with the gutsy Crows hanging on for a brilliant win — one of the best in the coaching career of Matthew Nicks.

That's got to be Adelaide's most significant victory since the 2017 preliminary final.#AFLCrowsLions

— Matt Turner (@mattturner1986) June 6, 2025

“It’d be up there, for where we’re at in our build and what it is we’re putting together, it’s a really important win,” Nicks said.

“It probably reinforces a belief that’s there.

“It’s interesting, isn’t it? If you don’t quite get across the line, should we not believe in ourselves still?

“And it could have gone that way, but the way our guys set it up to start that last quarter, the footy they’d played, the level they went to, in what were big moments it was a really good step in the right direction for us.

“We’ve always fought, I don’t I don’t recall too many games where we (waved the) white flag or got blown away, but to actually get it done, to actually finish it off - and yes there was some luck in it - but we’d done enough to get the game on our terms and be in a position where we can try and hold it on.

“So, that’s the most pleasing part.”

Meanwhile, Chris Fagan was left to lament the missed opportunities that cost his side the four points.

The Brisbane coach was asked what he felt was behind the final term turnaround and if he could have done anything differently to arrest Adelaide’s momentum.

“I find it hard to answer your question because we had 10 shots in the last quarter, and they had five,” Fagan replied.

“They kicked accurately, and they got some balls out the back and Thilthorpe’s goal at the start sort of brought the crowd into it, and they got a little bit of momentum, but in terms of the last quarter? Ten shots to five, we have five more shots, we lose the game.

“So, that was a game we should have won, in my view.

“Not taking anything away from Adelaide, they persisted.

“So did our blokes, when Adelaide got in front, we dominated the last 15 minutes of the last quarter, and couldn’t get it on the board.

“But I can’t accept that you would say that we got cleaned up in the last quarter ... we actually didn’t.

“We just didn’t kick straight.

“We just didn’t take our shots, we missed, it wasn’t the conditions.”

Jordan Dawson celebrates his last-quarter goal.

RADAR WRECKED

Coming off their most accurate performance in the club’s history, the Crows’ radar was on the blink in a first quarter where they couldn’t buy a goal.

The sharpshooting Crows booted 21.5, including three rushed behinds, in a 90-point thumping of Sydney, but suffered their first goalless opening term of the season despite their outstanding early tackling pressure, Adelaide leading the tackle count 26-17 at quarter-time.

Often pushed wide going into attack by the Lions, the home side kicked 0.6 and one out on the full to trail by nine points at the first break.

A torrential downpour before the game made conditions tricky for both sides, with Brisbane also failing to find the goals until 21 minutes in when Cam Rayner slotted a nice major off his left on the run.

As is so often the case when a drought is broken, another goal quickly followed with Callum Ah Chee converting on the run a minute later.

Rachele goal vs Brisbane

TOOTHY TURNAROUND

The margin was 21 points when Hugh McCluggage converted a free kick 16 minutes into the second quarter, but a piece of Josh Rachele class sparked a turnaround in momentum.

Not far from his infamous ‘teeth’ goal celebration against Port Adelaide that him dropped for the last game of last season, a dogged Rachele was rewarded for a great tackle on Noah Answerth.

With the game delicately poised, Rachele moved a couple of chairs and had his back on the boundary fence as he began his run.

From long distance and a tough angle, the mercurial goalsneak’s shot split the middle and fired up the home fans.

Taylor Walker bagged his first soon after to make it an eight-point game at half-time and Rachele’s second, following a deft handball from Reilly O’Brien, sliced the margin to just three points two minutes into the second half.

James Peatling reacts after being reported for a tackle on Lachie Neale.

PEATLING PINGED

James Peatling was reported for a dangerous tackle on Lachie Neale with the game just five minutes old.

Neale took possession inside Adelaide’s attacking 50 and was quickly set upon by Peatling, who dumped the two-time Brownlow Medal winner unceremoniously on his side.

Neale grabbed his head, which clearly hit the ground, but was cleared to return to the field after getting checked out.

Peatling was suspended for one game earlier this season for a similar tackle on Geelong’s Oisin Mullin in Gather Round.

Originally published as AFL round 13: Adelaide Crows defeat Brisbane Lions by five points