Round 17, 2001
Melbourne vs Adelaide
Saturday 28 July
Venue: MCG
Attendance: 17,556
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Final | |
| Melbourne | 1.5 | 6.8 | 8.9 | 12.12.84 |
| Adelaide | 6.1 | 9.3 | 12.7 | 15.10.100 |
Adelaide win by 16 points
Goalkickers: Russell Robertson 3, Cameron Bruce 2, Jeff Farmer 2, Brad Green 2, Nathan Brown 1, Steven Febey 1, David Neitz 1
Brownlow Votes:
1 - David Neitz
Best and Fairest
29 - David Neitz
29 - Steven Febey
23 - Andrew Leoncelli
22 - Nathan Brown
18 - Jeff Farmer
6 - Adem Yze
Milestones:
Last game
Ben Beams
On their very last chance of slipping into the eight - needing to win all the remaining games with some percentage boosters - Melbourne had no right to get close to a much better Adelaide side but still almost snatched a victory despite being embarassingly poor and bringing screams of frustration from supporters .
Over-possession and a lack of direction was the Demons' trademark on the day, but if not for a match winning six goal haul from Darren Jarman they might still have won. Matched up against Shane Woewodin he had three goals in the first quarter, and the Crows were 28 points up by the time Cameron Bruce kicked the home side's first goal.
Jeff Farmer sparked the game in the second quarter, kicking two goals and forcing a turnover which gifted Nathan Brown another to drag the margin back to seven points. Jarman steadied for the Crows with his fourth and despite a five goal to three term the Demons were still well behind.
Two botched kicks across goal gifted the Crows goals in a frustrating third quarter, but Adelaide were wasteful with many of the opportunities they were gifted and only added another goal to their half-time lead. Russell Robertson booted three goals in the last quarter, and David Neitz drifted forward to boot a goal which cut the margin to nine points but Jarman appeared again to set up the winning goal and the Demons were sunk.
Best were Farmer, Brown and Neitz. Steven Febey had 33 possessions, including 20 effective handballs.
Neale Daniher said "It's disappointing, six goals to one in the first quarter and then on the scoreboard we win the next three quarters. We'd bottled up the game. We had to. It was a very ugly game."
Video
Media
Age - 29/07/2001
Herald Sun - 29/07/2001
demons.com.au