Adelaide last played the Western Bulldogs in a final in 2015 and it was an unforgettable night at the MCG.
An iconic passage of play featuring Taylor Walker late in the 2015 Elimination Final remains one of Adelaide’s greatest September moments.
Adelaide’s first-year Captain out-positioned his opponent in a marking contest, took a long, two-bounce run from the wing and then cleverly passed the ball inside to Charlie Cameron, who slotted through a goal to give the Crows a seven-point lead with 90 seconds to play.
It was the match-winning move to end an amazing contest that had opened at a frantic pace, when the Western Bulldogs booted three goals in the first three minutes of the opening quarter.
Eddie Betts broke the run with Adelaide’s first goal but another to the Bulldogs gave them a 25-6 lead before the Crows booted five consecutive goals to lead by nine points at the first break.
Betts had three goals, and Rory Sloane was heavily involved from the midfield.
There was little between the sides for the rest of the game.
Betts’ fifth goal in the last seconds of the third quarter gave Adelaide an 11-point break but the Bulldogs kicked four of the first five goals of the last quarter to open an eight-point lead.
It was Walker who stepped up for his third goal, launching from the 50m arc to cut the gap to one point.
The Crows regained the lead with two behinds, the second after a desperate smother of a Betts kick close to the goal-line.
Rewinding the lead-up to the decisive play from Walker to Cameron shows a threatening Bulldogs surge through the middle before Rory Laird and hard-running Riley Knight forced a stoppage at half-back.
Sloane won possession from the ball-up, handballed towards Tom Lynch who gave it to Knight, and his long kick ended in the hands of Walker. Cameron, who was in defence at the start of the play, ran hard to give Walker the crucial forward option.
Interim Coach Scott Camporeale, who took over a squad reeling from the death of coach Phil Walsh two months earlier, praised Adelaide’s fighting qualities.
"I'm just so proud of the group and footy club to get to this point,” Camporeale said post-match.
“One to make the finals and earn the right, and then obviously to get the result tonight was great.”
Second elimination final, September 12, 2015
SCOREBOARD
Adelaide 16.13 (109) d Western Bulldogs 14.18 (102)
Goals:
Betts 5, Walker 3, Knight, Cameron 2, Henderson, Lynch, Sloane, Thompson.
Best:
Betts, Walker, Henderson, Knight, Sloane, Thompson, Cameron, Brown, Jacobs, Laird.
Crowd:
60,872, at the MCG
