Josh Rachele the hero as Adelaide Crows leave Essendon's finals hopes in jeopardy

The Crows were battered, bruised then looked down and out. Then somehow found a way to win, leaving coach Matthew Nicks beaming with pride.

MELBOURNE, JULY 19, 2024: 2024 AFL - Round 19 - Essendon Bombers v Adelaide Crows at Marvel Stadium. Josh Rachele of the Crows celebrates a goal, Picture: Mark Stewart

Adelaide coach Matthew Nicks was “incredibly proud” of the way his injury-hit and inexperienced team fought the game out to the end on Friday night to snatch a memorable upset two-point victory against Essendon at Marvel Stadium.

After shooting out to a 36-point lead late in the first half on the back of eight consecutive goals, it looked as though the Crows blew it when the Bombers kicked 11 of the next 13 to lead by 16 points in the final term.

But Adelaide would not be denied as they kicked the last three majors to win a topsy-turvy clash.

Making the result even more impressive for the Crows was the fact that they finished the game with only two rotations on the bench, due to injuries sustained by Jordan Dawson (concussion), Nick Murray (knee) and Jordon Butts (ankle), and gave up more than 800 games of experience to Essendon.

“Anyone over the age of 21 seemed to be going down sore tonight, which challenged us, but it gave an opportunity for some of our younger guys to step up,” Nicks said.

“You can’t measure grit - there’s no stat for it - but I reckon we won it tonight so that was the most pleasing part of the game.”

 

But the gutsy win could come at a big cost with Dawson already ruled out of their next game against Hawthorn, while there are fears that Murray might have injured the same ACL he ruptured last year and Butts’ foot injury could also be significant.

Murray was playing just his fifth game back on Friday night since returning from an 11-month absence.

“We’re all trying to think positive thoughts at the moment,” Nicks said of Murray.

“He has to have a scan on that. I don’t want to say we’re confident but we’re going to stay really positive, and as you can imagine he’s quite emotional at the moment.

“Hopefully that one comes out the right way.”

Compounding things for the Crows could be a potential suspension for match-winner Ben Keays, who played one of the best games of his career, which featured a personal best five goals.

Keays will come under scrutiny from the MRO after his dump tackle on Essendon’s Jye Caldwell in the final quarter which ended up with the Bomber’s head crashing into the turf and leading him to be subbed out to undergo a concussion test, which he ultimately passed.

MELBOURNE, JULY 19, 2024: 2024 AFL - Round 19 - Essendon Bombers v Adelaide Crows at Marvel Stadium. Josh Rachele of the Crows celebrates a goal, Picture: Mark Stewart

“It’s going to be one that’s talked about I’m sure,” Nicks said.

But whether Keays is free to play or not remains to be seen because Nicks said it was a “confusing week” after Brisbane’s Charlie Cameron and the Giants’ Toby Bedford had their three-game bans for dangerous tackles overturned on appeal.

“We educated one way and then we had to come back and do a complete flip on that and talk now about, ‘Alright, how are we going to go about it?’,” Nicks said.

Meanwhile, veteran forward Taylor Walker is expected to return to face the Hawks after being managed this week.

Originally published as Josh Rachele the hero as Adelaide Crows leave Essendon's finals hopes in jeopardy