Round 2, 2001
Adelaide vs Melbourne
Saturday 7 April
Venue: Football Park
Attendance: 35,653
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Final | |
| Adelaide | 2.3 | 3.7 | 7.11 | 11.14.80 |
| Melbourne | 3.3 | 9.6 | 11.10 | 12.11.83 |
Melbourne win by 3 points
Goalkickers: Russell Robertson 3, Cameron Bruce 2, Andrew Leoncelli 2, David Schwarz 2, Ben Beams 1, David Neitz 1, Adem Yze 1
Brownlow Votes:
3 - Andrew Leoncelli
2 - Peter Walsh
Best and Fairest
31 - Andrew Leoncelli
28 - Russell Robertson
26 - Peter Walsh
19 - Jeff White
13 - Anthony McDonald
11 - Nathan Brown
5 - Brent Grgic
Milestones:
First Game
Darren Jolly
150 Games
Anthony Ingerson (also with Adelaide)
The Dees were back in the winners circle, but it was a close run thing. After having led all night in greasy conditions, by as much as 35 at half time, the Crows struck back in the last quarter and a Simon Goodwin goal saw them hit the lead in with 30 seconds to go. Melbourne had been as much as 23 points in front late in the third quarter, but Adelaide slamming on 4.3 to 0.1 had put them in front.
From the centre bounce Adelaide's Matthew Clarke won the ball, but Daniel Ward sharked the ball and kicked it forward where it rolled out of play. From the boundary throw-in Schwarz thumped the ball forward to Leoncelli, who had been dominant all night, saw the Melbourne midfielder make his 28th possesion the most important with a goal on the run to win the game. There were just three seconds left on the clock when the goal umpire signalled maximum points.
Leoncelli was clearly Melbourne's best along with Robertson, Walsh and Yze. Ward had done an excellent job nullifying Andrew McLeod before the Crow champion erupted in the second half to help drag his side back into the game. It would be the last time Melbourne ever won at Football Park before it was closed in 2013, and the last time they would win a match in South Australia until Round 7, 2014.
Neale Daniher said "I thought our first half was really good and then our work rate fell away. At the end the Crows were playing winning footy and we were just hoping the siren would go. We'll learn a good lesson from that."
Media
AFANA News 2001
Age - 08/04/2001
Herald Sun - 09/04/2001