Adelaide midfielder Rory Sloane says his side never lost confidence it could overrun Essendon despite trailing by 28 points late in the second quarter at AAMI Stadium on Sunday night.
The Bombers led by eight points at the first change and kicked further ahead in a dominant second-quarter display. Patrick Dangerfield kept Adelaide in the contest with two goals for the term, including one in the dying stages to reduce the margin to 22 points at half-time.
The Crows, who found themselves in a similar position against Richmond five weeks ago, didn’t panic, and piled on seven goals to the visitors’ three in the third quarter to be a goal ahead at the last change.
The lead changed several times in the tense final term, but goals to Taylor Walker and Graham Johncock saw Adelaide hold on for a thrilling four-point win.
“There’s a lot of belief within the group,” Sloane told afc.com.au after the game.
“We’ve done it a few times (come from behind to win), including that Richmond game.
“We just wanted to keep calm at half-time and come out in the second half and play the style of footy we know wins us games. And that’s what we were able to do.”
The ball was deep in Essendon’s attacking 50m with 40 seconds left on the clock.
Adelaide’s plan for the frantic final minute was simple.
“We just had to hold on,” Sloane said.
“We had to get numbers around the ball, create a stoppage, then try to win the stoppage and gain yardage. We had to play safe because we knew there wasn’t long left in the game.”
Sloane was one of the architects of Adelaide’s fightback. The influential onballer finished the match with a modest 18 possessions, but generated a game-high eight inside50ms and kicked an important long goal from an Essendon turnover to put the Crows ahead for the first time at the halfway mark of the third quarter.
Patrick Dangerfield starred again with 29 possessions, 11 clearances and 3.1, while Taylor Walker kicked four second-half goals and took a saving mark in defence in the dying minutes.
Skipper Nathan van Berlo, veteran Graham Johncock and young defender Daniel Talia, who rebounded from a tough day at Geelong to keep Michael Hurley to a solitary goal, were also important.
“We had to work together to get the result,” Sloane said.
“In the second quarter we really let ourselves down especially with our ball use. We played into their hands. They wanted to play man-on-man and we just kept going down the line.
“We took a few more risks in the second half and as you saw in the third quarter we kicked seven goals, so it paid off.”
The Crows will now prepare to take on a resurgent Fremantle at AAMI Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
Sloane said it was important his team didn’t give the Dockers a similar head start this week.
“We’ll review tonight’s game strongly especially that second quarter because that’s where we let it get away from us,” he said.
“But there were some good things to come out of the game. Coming back from five goals down to win is a real positive for us.
“The belief is there, so hopefully we can carry it on for the rest of the year.”
