AFL Live: Adelaide Crows host Richmond Tigers in Thursday night ...

It's going to be a massive win for Adem Yze and his young side, and it's going to be a piercing defeat for Matthew Nicks and his team.

Siren seconds away.

The debutant had a chance to be a real hero, but his set shot from directly in front shanks out on the full.

Moments later Dowling gets another half-chance, but his quick snap falls short and is rushed through. Eight-point game, 2:13 to play.

The Tigers had bust out on the counter-attack and had Shai Bolton out with the whole 50 to himself. But the ball somehow evaded him, bouncing at right angles away from the silky Bolton.

The Tigers trap it inside their attacking end with another stoppage. Four minutes to play. Crows rapidly running out of time.

This game has definitely gone up a notch.

The Adelaide crowd's on its feet. 

Do these young Tigers have the legs and experience to hold on?

The Tigers stopped for a second as a holding the ball decision was paid on the wing, and in that moment the Crows sprung forward and were gone.

Still stacks of work for Dowling to do, but from 45 out on the run he steadied and absolutely split the middle. It's a nine-point game, and still right up for grabs.

The Tigers are shutting the game down with repeat stoppages and making it hard for Adelaide to get any real run on. Still stacks of time with the margin only 15 points.

Richmond have made their sub now, with Tyler Sonsie coming off for Kane McAuliffe. Looks like a tactical one for some fresh legs. McAuliffe is a natural ball winner too and a really tough kid, just what these last few minutes are calling for.

An injury has forced Matthew Nicks's hand here.

Kieran Strachan - fresh off his first goal in AFL footy - has been given the red vest.

The Crows say he's injured his groin.

Ned McHenry is brought straight into the action.

They've been running forward in waves all night tonight, and that is yet another flowing move and brilliant finish from a small Tigers forward.

Richmond forced two or three turnovers with big tackles in the lead up, with the ball eventually falling to Campbell running clear about 45 from goal on a tight angle. The drop punt faded back to perfection and reinstated a 15-point lead for Richmond.

Two goals in as many minutes for Adelaide, who are very swiftly back in business here.

Balta just lost touch on Fogarty as another ball came in deep, and the Big Darcy is in too good a form to be allowed a clear run at the footy. What do the Tigers have now?

This isn't what Jacob Koschitzke needed on his return to AFL football.

Mark Keane took a while to get back to his feet after this, right before the three-quarter time siren.

Just as they did in the third quarter, Adelaide come straight out of the first centre clearance and put a goal on the board.

Rachele made some space for himself in the marking contest with a little shove on Vlastuin and held on to the grab. He has two now, and it's back to 16.

It was a fantastic quarter for Richmond, but it could have been even better. In the last minute Jacob Koschitzke took a big pack mark, beating Mark Keane in the process. After their little run in moments before tempers were hot, and Noah Cumberland came in hot and shoved the Crows' defender to the ground, turning the ball over and costing Richmond a crucial chance.

It's a missed chance for the Tigers, but one of their few blemishes for the entire night so far. They have seriously outhunted Adelaide tonight and in Baker and Bolton boast the most lively and dangerous players on the field.

This would be a damaging defeat for Adelaide, almost unfathomably so. They've got four goals to make up and a quarter to do it. The gauntlet has been thrown down.

He might not be in line for the votes anymore, but he's still having an influence! Bolton fed a quick handball out to McIntosh outside a stoppage and his drop punt split the middle.

Moments before that, Mark Keane was felled off the ball by a swinging Jacob Koschitzke elbow. It was a crude one and Keane was down in pain for quite some time.

A week ago, he was on the ground in yellow and black.

Footy can be a cruel game, especially for Lefau who faces a long stint on the sidelines having ruptured his right ACL.

Nice to see the new Tiger keeping an eye on his teammates from his hospital bed.

Jack Graham held Schoenberg a little too long in a tackle and gave up the free kick, but from all of 50 out on a pretty tight angle the Tigers still would have felt fairly safe.

But Schoenberg absolutely flushed that, drawing it back beautifully for a crucial Adelaide goal. Boy how they needed that,

With 10 minutes to play in the third quarter, the Tigers are on the verge of busting this one right open. There is just too much life, too many sparks in this Tigers side for an evidently one-dimensional Adelaide to handle right now.

Baker converted his set shot to make it a 24-point game. Crows on the verge already.

Dustin Martin may be sitting this match out, but that doesn't mean we don't get a fend-off or two.

Luke Nankervis here doing his best Martin impression on Seth Campbell.

Shout-out to Tom Brown, maybe the best kick of a footy in the league, whose pass to the leading Koschitzke had to somehow dissect about three defenders while having perfect wait to the find the right drop zone.

Of course, he nailed it.

Koschitzke has spent some time in defence in the VFL lately but has always been more at home up forward. He certainly finished that like a true full forward.