ADELAIDE coach Brenton Sanderson has paid tribute to his side's "incredible spirit" after the Crows ran over the top of Fremantle to snatch back the lead and claim a 29-point victory.

The Crows lead edged out to as much as 36 points late in the second quarter before a Fremantle fightback saw the home side take a narrow three-point advantage early in the final quarter.

But the midfield efforts of Rory Sloane and goals to Graham Johncock, Matthew Wright and Taylor Walker sealed the game.

"It was pretty special," Sanderson said.

"I'm not sure what Freo's lead got out to, I know it was pretty small. But for them to fight back from six goals down and then to get in front of us, a lot of sides would have thrown the towel in then.

"A lot of sides would have thought that's enough, but not this team. This team has got incredible spirit."

Sanderson said he hadn't spoken much to the players about their final-quarter fade-out against Collingwood last week, but knew the leadership group had discussed it.

"We've had good conditioning and good run late in games, so it was good to see we were able to run this one out, particularly on the road. To come away and get a fourth quarter like that means you've got a pretty special group."

He also paid tribute to veteran midfielder Scott Thompson, whose blocking work around the stoppages wouldn't have earned him the type of statistics Crows fans have come to expect from such a key player.

But Sanderson was most impressed with the performance of his players at key contests. 

"There were some great moments that we'll talk about during the week," he said.

"Reilly's tackle and turnover that resulted in a goal, that just gets the group up. Petrenko's smother late in the game on the far wing was very special as well and I know we'll talk about Rory Sloane's game for a long time as well."

The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the AFL or its clubs