Early in the final quarter at Patersons Stadium on Saturday, a message came from the coach’s box for the midfield to lift and influential young midfielder Rory Sloane took it upon himself to drag Adelaide back into the game.

Sloane starred in the first half against Fremantle, amassing 19 possessions and two goals, but like most of his Crows teammates fell away in the third term, touching the ball only four times.

After a quiet last term in the loss to Collingwood last weekend, the courageous 22-year-old appeared determined to make amends against the Dockers, willing his battle-weary body to contest after contest. He controlled the stoppages, winning five of Adelaide’s 18 final-quarter clearances

Sloane also collected 10 disposals, and kicked his third goal - a long-range bomb from a ball-up - to put the Crows back in front halfway through the term.

After the siren sounded on Adelaide’s gutsy 29-point win, a modest Sloane paid tribute to his team’s resolve.

“We knew Freo were going to come out hard. They got a bit of a run on late in that second quarter. We thought that might flow on after half time and it did, so it was good we were able to respond in the last quarter,” Sloane said.

“I came back to the bench in the last quarter and had a chat to ‘Campo’ (midfield coach Scott Camporeale) and ‘Sando’ (coach Brenton Sanderson). They really wanted us to lift through the midfield.

“We pushed that message to our midfielders and you saw the result of that in the end.”

Sloane’s partner in crime in the midfield was recently re-signed star Patrick Dangerfield. The pair won 18 clearances (nine each) and 38 contested possessions combined.

Dangerfield was prolific in the first three quarters, storming his way to 30 possessions and working to the point of exhaustion.

“I was absolutely knackered in the last quarter,” Dangerfield said.

“You might not make it your quarter, but if you make it your moment within the quarter and put on a block or a tackle or something like that, that’s what we really pride ourselves on.

“We found something and it was important that we did because we knew that if Freo got off to a good start in the last quarter, the crowd would get behind them and they could get on top.

“It was important for us to fight it out right until the end. We knew that if we stayed positive throughout the game we knew we were capable of winning.”