BRISBANE'S finals chances have taken a major blow with a 26-point loss in their season-defining showdown against Adelaide at AAMI Stadium.
The Crows won 12.14 (86) to 8.12 (60) in front of a bumper crowd of 46,507, which came to pay tribute to Adelaide captain Mark Ricciuto in possibly his last game on home soil.
The loss leaves Brisbane a game out of the eight and needing to win next week’s blockbuster assignment against ladder leader Geelong at the Gabba, with other results also needing to go the Lions way.
The win returns Adelaide to the top eight for the first time since round 14, and they will remain there at least until next Friday night’s battle with Collingwood at Telstra Dome.
The key to the Crows win was ferocious all-ground defensive pressure, which kept the Lions running brigade shackled and restricted Brisbane to its second lowest score of the year.
Jonathan Brown’s battle with Ben Rutten was won by the Crow, who kept the Brisbane goliath to just one goal, while Adelaide’s Robert Shirley blanketed Simon Black, in particular during the first half, when the Crows established their ascendancy.
Black and Robert Copeland were the Lions' only multiple goalscorer with two apiece, while Simon Goodwin (31 possessions) and Nathan Bock also led the Crows goalscoring with two goals.
The game started as a tense struggle, and it was 11 minutes before the first goal, a left-foot snap from the Crows’ Scott Thompson.
Ricciuto appeared off the bench at the 13-minute mark to a tumultuous reception as the Crows began to dominate possession. But the noise was soon silenced with a goal from young Brisbane tall Mitch Clark.
The Crows dominance – they ended the quarter with 17 inside 50s to just seven – was rewarded soon after, however, with successive goals in a minute to Scott Welsh and a typically hard-running Tyson Edwards.
Under pressure, the Lions hit back with two of their own, with Brown marking strongly and another to Tim Notting on the run, leaving the margin just two points in the Crows' favour at quarter time.
The second quarter started in exactly the same fashion as the first – tense and tight – with the first goal to Adelaide’s Nick Gill after 10 minutes.
Gill – who is fast becoming a gangly cult-hero in Adelaide – then created another for Goodwin, and Crows were out to a 16-point lead after 13 minutes, before the arm-wrestle resumed.
For the rest of the quarter the ball bounced between the two defensive 50s, with the deadlock only broken again by the home side moments before half time, when Bock soccered through after a goal square contest to give the Crows a 24 point half-time lead.
With the game there to be broken, Adelaide did just that, with a goal to Goodwin in the first minute of the second half, and from that point on the Crows were never threatened, the sides booting five goals each for the rest of the game.
Veteran Chris Scott was a late inclusion for the Lions, replacing Josh Drummond, while for the Crows Chris Knights was replaced by Michael Doughty.
ADELAIDE 3.2 6.7 10.13 12.14 (86)
BRISBANE LIONS 3.0 3.1 5.8 8.12 (60)
GOALS - Adelaide: S Goodwin 2, N Bock 2, N Gill, S Thompson, T Edwards, S Welsh, G Johncock, A McLeod, B Burton, J Porplyzia. Brisbane Lions: S Black 2, R Copeland 2, M Clark, T Notting, J Brown, C Stiller.
BEST - Adelaide: S Goodwin, R Shirley, A McLeod, S Stevens, B Hudson, S Thompson, B Rutten, B Reilly. Brisbane Lions: L Power, J Adcock, D Merrett, T Selwood.
INUJRIES - Adelaide: C Knights (back) replaced in selected side by M Doughty, S Welsh (knock to the knee). Brisbane Lions: J Drummond (knee) replaced in selected side by C Scott, J Patfull (broken collarbone).
Reports: B Reilly (Adelaide) reported by field umpire D Goldspink for rough conduct on C Stiller (Brisbane) in the fourth quarter.
Umpires: M Stevic S Jeffery D Goldspink.
Official crowd: 46,507 at AAMI Stadium.
