WITH the game on the line in the dying minutes of Sunday's encounter between Adelaide and Essendon, Crows forward Taylor Walker found himself in unfamiliar territory.
On the last line of defence, Walker marked and calmly kicked the ball to a teammate.
Watch the final two minutes of Sunday's nailbiter
If he had remained at 'his' end of the ground, the ball would have likely skidded through for a goal and Adelaide's 14th tick in the wins column become a 'what if'.
That particular act, combined with Walker's four second-half goals justified coach Brenton Sanderson's confidence that his side had developed a special knack of winning close contests.
"They were certainly coming the Bombers and I know coaches sometimes don't say what they really feel, but I'm so impressed with the effort tonight to get the win," Sanderson said.
"That's the third time this year we've won a game by less than 10 points … when the game calls for it we've shown we can win the close ones when it matters.
"It showed a great will and ability for our leaders to stand up and say, 'you know what - we really want to win this game'.
Sanderson said Walker's defensive move was self-initiated, but that only strengthened his claim his Adelaide outfit knew how to win when its chips were down.
Trailing by as many as 28 points late in the second term and losing out in tackles, inside 50s, clearances and contested possessions, the Crows' chips were scattered on the floor.
But the side rallied strongly in the third quarter after Sanderson demanded his leaders take responsibility and turn the match into the home side's favour.
The Crows booted seven third-quarter goals to take a narrow lead into the final break.
"I did put it on our leaders a little bit and not the guys we've named captain, vice-captain, but it was more the guys who've been around the club for a while," he said.
"We had 10 guys tonight who had played 100 [games] plus, Essendon had two.
"So we had the experience tonight and should have been the ones that were the aggressor and stood up to a younger team, but they were hungrier than us early.
"We did have an incredible lift from those older boys in the second half.
"Talk about [Patrick] Dangerfield's game and [Rory] Sloane, we had some special efforts from some individuals, but I think it was those experienced guys who dug deep in the second half."
The win saw the Crows grab hold of second spot and, with very winnable games against Fremantle, the Brisbane Lions, Melbourne and Gold Coast to come, remain in the race for the minor premiership.
Harry Thring covers Adelaide news for AFL.com.au. Follow him on Twitter: @AFL_Harry
