Not all of Adelaide’s ‘firsts’ were memorable for enjoyable reasons.
The Crows’ debut AFL season in 1991 exposed the side to some of the game’s greats at the hostile setting of suburban football grounds in Victoria.
Adelaide’s first trip to St Kilda’s home Moorabbin Oval, packed with 25,000 fans on a sunny May afternoon in round seven, coincided with the first game of the season for Saints champion full forward Tony Lockett.
It was an abysmal day for the visitors, who shared their changerooms with Fitzroy’s reserves side and then were thumped by 131 points, as Lockett booted 12 goals.
Lockett, who had been sidelined by a back injury, took his first mark on the lead in the opening 15 seconds and had kicked four goals by quarter-time. He had nine goals in the first half and finished with 12.6.
Adelaide managed only one goal in a miserable first half and scored 4.7.
It was a heavy dose of reality, after the Crows had won three of their first six games and their biggest loss had been to West Coast by 65 points in Perth.
“There is a time and place for ranting and raving and accusation, and it wasn’t today,” Adelaide coach Graham Cornes told the media post-game.
Nigel Smart started on Lockett, then experienced Danny Hughes had a turn, before he was replaced by Rodney Maynard later during the second quarter.
Maynard told The Advertiser: “I didn’t know what to expect going back there. He was marking everything, so I was a bit tense. I was a bit lucky. He missed a couple and our blokes started to get the ball a bit more up-field.”
Lockett equalled his previous career-best with the last goal of the match before leaving the ground surrounded by hundreds of joyous St Kilda fans.
“Just one of those days, I suppose,” explained Lockett at the time.
But the 1987 Brownlow Medallist had plenty of these big days.
Lockett won the 1991 Coleman Medal despite missing the first six rounds, kicking 127 goals in 17 games - including 10.6 against Adelaide at Football Park later in the season when he reached the century milestone. This time Maynard had the job at full back for the whole game.
The Crows played at Moorabbin Oval one more time, in Round Seven, 1992, when St Kilda won by 74 points and Lockett kicked 10 for a total of 32 goals in three games against Adelaide.
His opponent was Smart. “Tony played very well and you have to cop it don’t you?,” the 1991 All Australian defender said at the time.
Adelaide finally broke the St Kilda and Lockett spell late in the 1992 season, when the Crows won at Football Park by 16 points and Lockett kicked three goals.
