A RARE chance to enjoy Adelaide's ascendancy is the latest instalment of afl.com.au's series of the defining moments and memories of the past 20 grand finals.

Adelaide 15.15 (105) d North Melbourne 8.22 (70)
The Crows headed into the 1998 season looking for back-to-back flags but it was North Melbourne that entered the finals series with momentum, taking out the minor premiership and winning its last nine matches. Finishing fifth, Adelaide went on to become the second club in history to win a premiership from outside the top four.

The Kangaroos came out hard and had the Crows on the wire in the first half but were wasteful in front of goal, kicking 6.15 to Adelaide's 4.3. The Crows found another gear with an 11-goal second half to seal the club's second premiership.

The captain: Mark Bickley
"[John Blakey] had a shot at goal in the last quarter. He missed and I remember someone in the crowd had stolen the ball. We didn't have the bag of balls behind the goals in those days, so we had to wait for someone on the other side of the fence to throw it back.

"Kane Johnson and I were standing close by and we both happened to have our hands on our knees because we were knackered. For some reason we just caught each other's eye and I winked at him as though we both knew we had the game won."

The player: Kane Johnson
"We'd both started at half-back and had been moved into the midfield. We had come from four goals down to have a win, so we were both feeling pretty good about ourselves. Throughout the year we'd both been ruck-rovers because back in those days only two people used to rotate through those positions.

"We had a really good relationship and used to work a bit in tandem. On that day we both ended up being on the ball, so it was really good to share that moment."