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Brisbane Lions run continues against Crows

16th May, 2009
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On a night of milestones at the Gabba, only Brisbane Lions key forward Daniel Bradshaw celebrated his with a smile.

Clawing their way back from a 25-point, second-term deficit, the Lions racked up their third straight win 18.11 (119) to 12.11 (83) over Adelaide inspired by Bradshaw’s record-breaking five-goal haul.

To say Adelaide had plenty to play for in their crunch match would be an understatement.

While keen to bounce back from two straight beltings to stay in touch with the eight, the Crows’ motivation was more personal on Saturday night.

The legendary Andrew McLeod was equalling the club record of 312 games set by Mark Ricciuto, Scott Thompson was notching his 100th game and Michael Doughty his 150th.

They began like they wanted to send the players off as winners, dominating early to cruise to a 25-point lead by the second term.

Yet it was Bradshaw who was all smiles by fulltime.

The Lions forward broke Alastair Lynch’s Brisbane Bears/Lions goal-kicking record (460) in an amazing third-term blitz of four majors to swing the match.

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He needed two to equal Lynch’s mark but didn’t look like going anywhere near, suffocated by the Crows in the first half when limited to just two touches.

However, Bradshaw came alive in the third – and so did the Lions.

It was hard to outshine Bradshaw but Justin Sherman did his best with an influential three goals and game-high 35 possessions.

Initially the omens weren’t good for Bradshaw or his Lions.

Adelaide had them beaten all over the park but somehow only held a 5.5 (35) to 3.4 (22) advantage at the first break.

The Crows again dominated the second term but but failed to convert pressure into points as late goals by Jonathan Brown and Sherman ensured the Lions remarkably won the second quarter 3.0 to 2.3 to trail by just 10 points at the main break.

Enter Bradshaw.

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The Lions kicked seven of the nine goals in the third term as the hosts ignited the 27,767-strong crowd to lead 13.7 (85) to 9.9 (63).

Brisbane kicked three of the first four majors of the final term and, by the time Bradshaw kicked his fifth to give the hosts a 43-point lead, it was all over.

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