One hundred and forty one points. At any level of football this is the sort of belting that can shatter a football club.

And for the Adelaide Football Club, it was public humiliation on the grandest scale. July 24, 2004 at Brisbane’s Gabba was branded into the club’s history for all the wrong reasons when - after trailing by 29 points at half-time - the Crows allowed Brisbane to kick 21 second half goals.

The stunned playing group, coaches and officials returned home to find the words pathetic and disgracefull (sic) being washed off the walls of the AAMI Stadium clubrooms. Inside and outside the club, debate raged.

And yet just four games into his senior coaching career, Neil Craig was deflecting the questions about his and the club’s future by asking for patience.

Nearly two years later Adelaide is returning to the Gabba for the first time since its record loss. Craig is still the coach, 14 players from that terrible night will return to the scene of the crime and the Crows have won 29 of the 40 matches played since the debacle.

“It was one of those things you don’t want to happen again,” says defender Nathan Bassett. “I remember the ball going over my head a lot between the white sticks … it was just a tough night. Brent Reilly kicked backwards, I think it was the youngest forward line we ever had, we had only 23 players available to get picked.

“It was a tough night of footy. I think Fitzy (former Crows forward Ryan Fitzgerald) got evicted from the Big Brother House so a lot of things happened on that night!

“I had never played in a bigger loss than that. It was something that hurt our playing group, it was something where your competition gets questioned. From there we have certainly improved a helluva lot as a group.

“To be completely outplayed like that and to feel like you had no control over it and couldn’t do anything about it was frustrating. I’m sure Essendon probably felt a bit like that last week.”

Brisbane, which in 2004 had its premiership run ended by Port Adelaide, no longer dominates the competition.

But the Crows have not beaten the Lions since 2002 and last clinched the premiership points at the Gabba in 2001.

Bassett says Saturday night is a chance for redemption. “We’ve lost up there a few times in a row, and a couple of times in finals and a couple of times quite badly, so that’s certainly a part of it,” he said. “There’s probably a perception from Brisbane supporters who have seen us play up there that we are not that good so we’d want to change that perception.

“I think when a team beats you six times in a row there is something you’ve got to get over. So that’s another test for our playing group and something that we will be looking to get through.

“It’s a good opportunity to see where we sit.”