And on grand final day, September 27 1998, the Crows coach celebrated a second consecutive premiership with a flying leap into a jubilant huddle of players near the centre of the MCG.
It was one of the enduring images of the match – and Blight’s ‘that’s how I ripped my pants story” will no doubt be retold this weekend when most of the Crows people involved that day gather for the 1998 Premiership Reunion.
Blight’s energetic and emotional display reflected the scale of the challenges faced by Adelaide in 1998.
His side had taken the bumpy route to the 1998 grand final. It started the season with a loss to Carlton and won just three of its first eight games. When Richmond stormed to victory in the last term of the round eight game at Football Park, Blight left the coaches box early and walked around the boundary line to the rooms while the game continued.
The Crows then rose to third with six wins from the next eight games; slipped again with narrow losses to Carlton and Fremantle; and then completed the minor round in fifth place after only losing to North Melbourne in the last five rounds. An away win over West Coast in Perth had secured the Crows a finals berth but their premiership campaign had a poor start, with the team copping an eight goal hiding from Melbourne in the first qualifying final at the MCG.
The final eight system of the time, however, gave Adelaide another chance the following week and the Crows progressed to the preliminary final stage with a stunning 27-point win over Sydney in the SCG mud.
Again the Western Bulldogs stood between Adelaide and the grand final. This time the result was rarely in doubt, the Crows kicking away to a 68-point win at the MCG.
But on grand final day, minor premiers North Melbourne controlled the first half. By half-time Adelaide was fortunate to remain in the contest, the Kangaroos’ poor conversion producing just six goals from 21 shots (and 2.11 in the second term) for a four-goal lead.
Creating space for the Crows to run was the key plank to Blight’s half-time renovation of a team on the edge of grand final despair. Adelaide responded positively but its third term score of 5.8 only gave it a two-point advantage heading into the last quarter. Goals to James Thiessen and Darren Jarman in the first three minutes increased the lead but it was not until Jarman kicked his fifth at the 17-minute mark that victory seemed inevitable. Then it was left to Nigel Smart and Peter Vardy to complete the 35-point win and spark a second round of Crows premiership celebrations.
1998 Grand final details:
Adelaide 3.2 4.3 9.11 15.15 (105)
North Melbourne 4.4 6.15 8.15 8.22 (70)
Crows best – McLeod, Hart, Caven, Johnson, Rehn, Bickley, Jarman.
Crows goals – Jarman 5, Smart 3, Vardy 2, James, Johnson, Ricciuto, Pittman, Thiessen.
Crowd: 94,431 at the MCG
