Popular Crows ruckman Angus Graham said he “had no idea” how long was left when he slotted the match-winning goal in Adelaide’s stunning SANFL win at Prospect Oval.
With just 20 seconds remaining and the SANFL Crows trailing by two points, Graham snared a powerful contested mark and kicked truly to seal the team’s most thrilling win of the season.
Whilst he knew there couldn’t be much time left, Graham said he went back to the basics when lining up the match-winner.
“I just went back and went through my routine and tried to stay relaxed,” Graham told afc.com.au after the four-point win over the Roosters.
“I didn’t know how long there was to go, but I was pretty pumped when I kicked it and the boys got around me.
“It was pretty exciting when the final siren went. ‘Porps’ was telling me that I was a hero but I didn’t really believe any of that.”
Click here to see the full stats from Adelaide's remarkable victory at Prospect Oval.
It was a determined team display against last year’s Grand Finalists. Adelaide surrendered a match-high 18-point lead midway through the second term to trail by eight points in the dying minutes of a see-sawing final quarter.
But the SANFL Crows would not be denied, with desperate individual efforts from Matt Crouch, James Battersby, Michael O’Malley and Will Paynter keeping Adelaide in the hunt.
Graham, who has missed just one game this season for the SANFL Crows through illness, said it was a gutsy effort from the team to overhaul such a quality opposition.
“I’m pretty proud of the boys today, the boys really dug deep,” he said.
“We showed today that we can work together and push through adversity, and to scrape over for a narrow win was really exciting.
“It’s a season-defining moment for us, for sure.”
The win was a just reward for the SANFL Crows, who have shown great improvement in the past month with landmark victories over finals contenders South Adelaide and Woodville-West Torrens, before falling just shy of Central District at Elizabeth.
Graham said it was exciting to see the young SANFL Crows begin to show their potential.
“We’ve come a long way and I think we’ve gelled a lot in the past few weeks,” Graham said.
“Early on we were probably struggling to read each other and come together as a group, but in the last month we’ve kept it really simple and our culture has grown as a team.
“We’re going into the bye very confident of having a strong second half of the year.”