Patrick Dangerfield says the Crows’ season will be over in an instant if they produce another effort similar to the one on display after quarter-time against Brisbane at the Gabba on Saturday night.
Adelaide started the game in sparkling touch, piling on six goals and holding the Lions to their worst first-quarter of the season (0.3) to lead by 38 points at the first change. But Brisbane kicked five of the next six goals to gain the momentum and cut the margin to 11 points at half-time.
The Lions continued to surge in the third quarter, hitting the lead for the first time late in the term and the Crows couldn’t muster a strong enough response, eventually going down by 10 points.
After the game, a furious Patrick Dangerfield slammed his team’s effort, describing it as “pathetic”.
“We just didn’t work hard enough. That was from the midfield, and then forwards didn’t push up the ground enough and our defenders were beaten one-on-one, so it was all over the ground. We still had opportunities to win it in the last quarter, but we weren’t good enough,” Dangerfield said.
“It’s not going to cut it. If we serve that up again, regardless of who we play it’s going to end pretty quickly.
“We need to rectify it very quickly because we weren’t able to do it today. We had two breaks (half-time and three-quarter time), and time during the quarters to address it and stop it, but we didn’t do that.
“From what we’ve been able to deliver during the season, it was just pathetic.”
Dangerfield (30 disposals) and reliable midfielder Scott Thompson (32 disposals) tried to spark their side, but not enough teammates followed. Despite winning the hit-outs 48-21, Adelaide was beaten around the stoppages and lost the contested possession count (149-129) for one of the few times this season.
Taylor Walker and Ian Callinan presented strongly, kicking four goals a-piece but the ball was sent inside50m haphazardly too often. Kurt Tippett was held goalless in his return from a four-week absence through injury.
Dangerfield said a number of players would be disappointed with their performance in the loss.
“We had plenty of guys today, who weren’t picking up the rope, and at the pointy-end of the year we just can’t serve that up,” he said.
Young full-back Daniel Talia was substituted out of the game at half-time because of a corked thigh. He’ll be monitored during the week with the hope of being fit for Sunday’s clash with Melbourne at the MCG. The Crows could regain Jason Porplyzia and Brodie Smith for the match against the Demons.
