Vice-captain Ange Foley says the Crows must bounce back quickly after letting a spot in the inaugural AFL Women’s Grand Final slip through their fingers at TIO Stadium on Saturday night.

Victory over Melbourne would’ve locked down a spot for the Crows in the decider, but Adelaide went down by two points to the dogged Dees in an entertaining contest in Darwin.

The Crows took control early and led by 13 points at quarter-time, holding the Demons scoreless to the first change.

But the tide started to turn in the second term and Melbourne snatched the lead for the first time in the opening minutes of the third quarter.

“We’re very disappointed with our second and third quarters. We just didn’t play our brand of footy,” Foley said post-match.

“This week we’ll look at making sure we’re playing four quarters of footy, coming out strong, fixing our errors and going back and playing our game like we did in the first four weeks.”

Match report: Crows v Demons

The Crows dominated the overall inside 50m count 35-21 and had their chances to get back into the contest in the second half, but fumbled in front of goal and lacked composure in comparison to the sharp and skilful Dees.

A late surge with less than two minutes to play saw the Crows kick two majors in the space of 20 seconds.

Kellie Gibson dribbled through a goal then Sarah Perkins snapped another across her body to give the Crows some hope of a last-gasp victory.

“If there was another minute, maybe, like last week… we wished for another minute,” Foley said.

But it was too little, too late, and Foley said the side’s second consecutive loss by less than a goal was hard to swallow.

“Two in a row hurts a lot,” she said.

“But the feeling in the rooms tonight was to get around each other, get back to training and go to Melbourne next week and beat the Pies.”

The result didn’t detract from the atmosphere at TIO Stadium on a day that showcased women’s football and the SA/NT AFLW partnership.

Darwin-based vice-captains Foley and Sally Riley led the team out onto the field through an adoring guard of honour filled with their local footy teammates in front of a packed crowd of more than 5,000 people.

“Riley and I got to run out the front today and lead the girls in front of an unbelievable crowd,” Foley said.

“It was unreal. The Territory is right behind this team.

“Footy has come a long way in the time that I’ve been here in the Territory, and tonight was more of a celebration of that.”

Both sides put on a physical, contested display in typical Top End weather of 37 degrees and 83 per cent humidity.

The Crows led the tackle count throughout the game and finished on top in the statistic 57-51, but couldn’t find as much of the football as the Demons, who dominated the disposal tally 218-181.

Foley was a standout in defence, collecting 13 disposals and claiming a team-high six marks. She also helped set up an important goal to Chelsea Randall in the second quarter and laid a goal-saving tackle in the third that helped halt Melbourne’s momentum.

Brisbane has already booked its place in the AFL Women’s Grand Final after registering its sixth-straight win over the Western Bulldogs. Only Melbourne or Adelaide can join the Lions in the decider.

Foley said next Sunday’s clash with Collingwood at Olympic Park would be the team’s biggest game of the season so far.

“We need to win next week. We need to come out, we need to play our footy,” she said.

“The way that the fixture is set up, we need to treat every game as if it’s a Grand Final.”