Dees cop deja vu in huge Crows scare; star's masterclass soured by ...

Melbourne has held off a fast-finishing Adelaide in an MCG thriller to win by four points, 14.13 (97) to 13.15 (93).

Trailing by 24 points at three-quarter time, the Crows came with a rush, kicking seven goals to three in the final stanza, but their late change ultimatley came up short.

Further souring the win for Adelaide was Izak Rankine appearing to suffer a serious hamstring injury in the dying minutes of the game after he’d been his side’s best player on the day with 3.3 from 20 touches.

The win saw Melbourne consolidate its spot in the top four – sitting two games and healthy percentage clear of the Western Bulldogs – while the 13th-placed Crows finals hopes were dealt a major blow.

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QUARTER BY QUARTER MATCH REPORT

The Crows were rocked by some late changes after illness forced both Patrick Parnell and Ned McHenry were ruled out pre-game.

That meant defender Luke Nankervis became the club’s fourth debutant of the season, while Lachlan Murphy also came into the line up.

The Demons went in as named with Joel Smith the sub. For Adelaide, Jackson Hateley was the 23rd man.

Melbourne captain Max Gawn continued on from last week’s superb performance, booting a goal from outside the 50 metre arc to get his side off to a great start.

Despite that early setback, the Crows held themselves well, matching their opponents around the ground and generating plenty of inside 50s themselves.

Inaccuracy hurt both sides but particularly the visitors, with one goal to go against four behinds by the end of the opening term.

Izak Rankine kicked the Crows’ sole major and looked lively throughout the term, entering the break with a game-high nine disposals.

At the other end, Jacob van Rooyen loomed large, kicking a goal and posing as a threat aerially.

Melbourne entered quarter-time with a four-point lead.

The Dees broke the game open in the second term, headlined by a double act from Kade Chandler and Jake Melksham, who both kicked back-to-back goals.

Melksham’s two came in the space of a minute, with his second putting his side up by a game-high 29 points.

The Crows began to respond but inaccuracy in front of goal yet again haunted them, with a string of behinds not an accurate reflection of their uptick.

Taylor Walker finally broke the run of behinds for the Crows, kicking just their second major of the afternoon, in the backend of the second quarter.

His goal was preceded by a nasty landing for captain Jordan Dawson, who appeared to fall on his head after a marking contest.

It didn’t appear to daunt him, however, as he took his place at the next centre-bounce.

Adelaide continued to close the gap, with another goal to Rankine reducing the margin to 13 points.

That margin remained at half-time.

Melbourne got off to the ideal start to the second half with the first two goals to Jack Viney and Kysaiah Pickett.

Pickett then really set the MCG alight with an epic goal weaving through traffic to blow the scoreboard out to 30-plus points.

“He’s just on today and has been from the start,” Channel 7 caller Jason Bennett noted, while Essendon legend Tim Watson responded: “He’s been electric.”

Rankine responded at the other end though with a ripping running goal to keep his side in the game.

Adelaide kicked two of the next three goals to remain at arm’s length as the tension went up at the MCG before Gawn dobbed a crucial steadier for his side to wrestle back momentum.

Pickett nearly kicked a miracle snap goal on the three-quarter time, but it hit the post. The Dees led by 24 points, 11.7 (73) to 6.13 (49).

Adelaide got off to the ideal start in the fourth quarter, kicking the first two goals within two minutes to make it a 12-point game.

“Now the challenge is firmly at the feet of Melbourne. How do they respond?”

Ben Keays kicked his second-straight goal after Jake Lever gave away a costly free kick to suddenly make it just a six-point Demons lead in a matter of three minutes.

Channel 7 caller Daisy Pearce added: They needed to be brave, they’ve been that.”

Next, Taylor Walker got out the back of a contest at fill forward to even the scores – before going nuts afterwards – and cap off a wild comeback at the MCG.

Near instantly after being subbed on, Joel Smith kicked an important goal for Melbourne to give the hosts back the lead.

Smith appeared to kick a second-straight goal directly after, but his kick was touched.

The Dees had wrestled back momentum though, with Taj Woewodin then Kade Chandler kicking the next two goals to give the home side a 20-point advantage.

“That response is really impressive when you lose momentum like that,” Watson noted.

These Crows weren’t going to die wondering though with huge long-range goals to Walker Brodie Smith to suddenly bring it back to a 10-point Dees lead with around four minutes remaining.

Rankine appeared to suffer a serious hamstring injury late in the game, grabbing at the area in distress after falling to the ground after a kick as he had to be helped off the ground. The Crows star was then left visibly frustrated on the sidelines icing his hamstring.

A 50m penalty to Dawson saw Walker kick another goal and bring it back within a kick.

The Crows went inside 50 again immediately after but couldn’t find a target as the ball instantly rebounded out.

That would ultimatley be their last chance as Melbourne hung on in an epic finish at the MCG.

The 3-2-1 (what we learned via David Zita) ...

3) DEJA VU FOR DEES BEFORE STARS LIFT

Melbourne got a taste of its own medicine after last week‘s final-quarter heroics against Brisbane.

This time around, it was the Crows who threatened to pull off a spectacular win, with four goals in seven minutes levelling the scores.

Credit to the Dees for steadying the ship and running over the top of their opponents in the end.

Like he did against the Lions last week, Max Gawn led from the front, yet again raising the debate of where Brodie Grundy fits in.

A week after his best performance of the year, Gawn was again enormous in the air and hit the scoreboard with two goals, including the opening one of the match from beyond the 50 metre arc.

His work in the air enabled the likes of Jack Viney and Angus Brayshaw to get to work and ultimately prevail at clearance.

Up forward, Kysaiah Pickett looks to be returning to some of his best form, with his two goals going with nearly 20 disposals, two goal assists and 10 score involvements.

Joel Smith had his chance to make an impact when he was subbed on for Ben Brown in the final quarter and didn‘t miss his chance, kicking a goal and having another denied by a score review not long after.

There is competition for spots across the ground and they still have Clayton Oliver to come back into this side... eventually.

After a middling section of the season that had their top-four hopes under threat, the Dees appear to finally be putting the pieces together and timing their run brilliantly.

2) RUN HOME CLEARS FOR TOP-FOUR BOUND DEES

Melbourne‘s win over the Crows, coupled with Geelong’s loss to the Brisbane Lions a day earlier, means the top-four is now virtually set in stone, barring a sequence of incredible events.

It‘s ample reward for the Dees’ hard work, which saw them recover a season that looked to be slipping away just a few weeks ago.

Collingwood‘s win over Port Adelaide also means top spt is virtually secured for the Pies, so the Dees could finish fourth and still get to play its Qualifying Final at the MCG.

Granted, the lack of hosting rights will mean the Magpie army will be out in almighty force, but the Dees have beaten the Pies on this ground already this season and will back themselves to repeat the feat.

For the Crows, things are far less rosy.

It means next week‘s Showdown against Port Adelaide is effectively their season on the line, which is not a good place to be when you’re taking on an arch-rival that will be desperate to rebound after a tight loss to Collingwood.

Given the way things are panning out, the Crows could well enter the final round assured of a win against West Coast but reliant on other sides to fall over.

It‘s not a great spot to be in and it does seem as though Matthew Nicks’ side is running out of steam after a gallant charge at the top eight in a year of improvement that’s perhaps masked by some tight losses.

1) RANKINE MASTERCLASS SOURED BY INJURY BLOW

Izak Rankine‘s hamstring injury is as cruel a blow as the Crows could’ve copped given the performance he had put in.

He has never needed much of the ball to hurt the opposition, which is why alarm bells would‘ve been ringing in the Melbourne coaches box when he entered half-time with an equal game-high 14 disposals.

With Josh Rachele out for the first of two matches due to a striking charge, even more emphasis was put on the already-vital Rankine to have an impact for his side.

The 23-year-old certainly did his part, racking up eight disposals in the first quarter and kicking the side‘s only goal for the term.

He continued to cause chaos in the second quarter, with inaccuracy in front of the big sticks the only thing preventing him from having an even bigger impact on the game.

Such were the headaches he inflicted on the Dees‘ coaches box that the move was made to swap out Judd McVee for the more seasoned Christian Salem.

“Second quarter, he was the spark in the last 10 minutes for the Adelaide Crows,” Brad Johnson said at half-time on Fox Footy.

“Four shots at goal and the second-most disposals on the ground.”

The move of Salem to Rankine underscored just how much damage Rankine had done, given what it meant for Melbourne‘s counter-attack.

“That becomes interesting because Salem is an attacker,” Johnson observed.

“How much does he go off to be able to create versus what Rankine can do if they do cause a turnover?”

Dermott Brereton said the move was indicative of Rankine‘s quality.

“They‘ve trusted McVee on the opposition forwards that are really, really dangerous because he’s got pace, he’s got wheels,” Brereton said.

“This bloke (Rankine) is in a different class, so he got moved on.”

Despite the change of matchup, Rankine simply kept on keeping on, even though it ultimately proved unfruitful for his side.

His hamstring tear looked significant in the final minutes and could well have put an end to his season in a devastating blow for the side given his output to this point.

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