Sport can be an unjust thing. The Brisbane Lions had dominated almost every aspect of this game against Adelaide. They had the majority of the better players on the field; won three out of four quarters; dominated many of the statistical categories. And then Adelaide, poor all game, mowed them down with six unanswered goals in the last.
Really, it was robbery. The Lions were thoroughly deserving four-goal leaders at three-quarter-time. To that point the Crows had managed just five, and had done a very good job of kicking themselves out of the match with seven behinds in the third quarter.
Post Match Press Conference: Leppa
And after all that, it still wasn't enough for the Lions to hang on. Call it immaturity, tired legs, lack of composure, or Adelaide finally pulling their collective fingers out. Matt Wright gave them a chance; Eddie Betts, after a quiet game, found two goals; Scott Thompson, easily the Crows' best, kicked a beauty from deep in a pocket.
That brought the margin back to less than a goal. The Lions were doughty and fought back hard, but couldn't find the answer they needed. Taylor Walker, barely able to convert all game, finally gave the visitors the lead for the first time; former captain Nathan van Berlo made sure of a result.
But it was anything but convincing. In the past six weeks the Crows have beaten only Gold Coast, Carlton and St Kilda while losing to Hawthorn, Fremantle and Greater Western Sydney; this performance will increase doubts over their claims to a top-eight berth at the end of the season.
The Lions will be gutted. They started playing exactly the football coach Justin Leppitsch wanted them to play: quick movement of the ball, especially via speed merchants Lewis Taylor and Dayne Zorko, who were dominant early, through the middle of the ground. Often it came unstuck, but the Crows were rattled.
They posted the first goal through Jordan Bourke – a rookie defender in his third year – who started at full-forward, marking strongly from a perfect Zorko kick. Later in the quarter he gathered a loose ball and spun around on his right foot for another; in between, Jack Redden and Taylor slotted two more.
The Crows were barely on the board by that stage. Daniel Rich, coming off a dreadful month, could have widened the gap, but he failed to make the distance from a tentative kick from 45 metres, betraying his lack of confidence; from there, the visitors clambered back into the ring as the Lions failed to run out the quarter.
Still, they had a two-goal lead, and after defending stoutly for the first half of the second quarter, giving up only a second goal to Josh Jenkins, they hit back again. Matthew Leuenberger, also needing a good game after a roast from his coach, kicked one and missed another; Pearce Hanley turned Luke Brown inside out in the square.
This was reward for effort. The Lions had been insipid in the last quarter against the Bulldogs last week; here they made the Crows earn everything. Mitch Robinson was their exemplar: playing occasionally erratic but thoroughly desperate football, he was rewarded with a crucial third-quarter goal after being collected high.
That saw the Lions 22 points clear, and the Crows had big problems. Rory Sloane, their best player in the first half, had been substituted with a suspected broken jaw. Eddie Betts couldn't get into the game. And they had the yips. Jenkins, Walker (twice), Matt Crouch and Scott Thompson all missed sitters.
A second goal to Leuenberger after a blatant goal-square infringement took the Lions within the brink of an upset. And then it all fell apart, a sad result for a team that had done so well to restore some pride after last week's ignominy. But the Crows won't take a great deal of solace to go with the four points
BRISBANE LIONS 4.3 6.5 10.7 10.9 (69)
ADELAIDE 2.3 3.6 5.13 11.16 (82)
GOALS
Brisbane Lions: Bourke 2, Leuenberger 2, Hanley, Christensen, Robinson, Redden, Taylor, Zorko
Adelaide: Betts 2, Jenkins 2, Walker 2, van Berlo, Cameron, Wright, Smith, Thompson
BEST
Brisbane Lions: Zorko, Taylor, Robinson, Beams, Paparone, Leuenberger
Adelaide: Thompson, Crouch, Cameron, Laird, Jenkins, Talia
INJURIES
Brisbane Lions: Hanley (hamstring)
Adelaide: Sloane (fractured cheekbone)
SUBSTITUTES
Brisbane Lions: Tom Cutler replaced Pearce Hanley in the third quarter
Adelaide: Cam Ellis-Yolmen replaced Rory Sloane in the third quarter
Reports: Nil
Umpires: Jeffery, Mitchell, Wallace
Official crowd: 18,146 at the Gabba
