Melbourne stun Crows by 41 points in AFL

Melbourne have thrashed the Crows by 41 points in their AFL match in Adelaide after coming from five goals down.

Bernie Vince of the Demons celebrates

Melbourne have thrashed the Crows by 41 points in their AFL match in Adelaide. (AAP)

Melbourne have come from five goals down to steamroll AFL ladder leaders Adelaide by 41 points in a Saturday night boilover.

The Demons trailed by 28 points in the second quarter but produced a spirited comeback to win 17.5 (107) to 9.12 (66) at Adelaide Oval.

Cam Pedersen kicked three goals and Nathan Jones, Tom McDonald, Jeff Garlett, Dean Kent and Tomas Bugg two each in Melbourne's fourth win of the season.

Demons defender Jayden Hunt was knocked out in an accidental collision with Adelaide's Sam Jacobs, who recorded 74 hitouts for the game, just six shy of Todd Goldstein's record.

Jacobs' dominance helped Adelaide create a 28-point lead 18 minutes into the second term.

But Melbourne climbed from the canvas with an unheralded scoring spree: nine consecutive goals, and 13 of the next 14 in the game.

Co-captains Jones (25 disposals) and Jack Viney (30 touches), emerging stars Christian Petracca (24 possessions) and Christian Salem (31 disposals) and backman Michael Hibberd (34 possessions) were superb for the Demons.

Their feats helped teammate Bernie Vince celebrate his 200th AFL game with a win over his old club.

Vince was tasked with minding Adelaide's prime mover Rory Sloane and curtailed the star Crow to just 11 disposals.

Adelaide's Rory Laird (37 touches) and Matt Crouch (29 possessions) tried to stem the Melbourne flow.

But the home side faded alarmingly en route to consecutive losses after six wins to open their campaign.

Crows captain Taylor Walker and his attacking colleagues Eddie Betts and Josh Jenkins kicked two goals each in a game which went from having four field umpires to two.

Starting umpire Craig Fleer was felled when he cracked heads with Vince early in the second quarter at a centre-bounce. Stunned, he left the field.

But his replacement, emergency umpire Rowan Hundertmark, was also forced off with a suspected leg muscle tear leaving just two field umpires in the final quarter.

Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin hailed the character of his players to respond to their second-quarter predicament.

"It continues to build some belief about the pathway forward of what we're trying to create," he said.

"The boys tonight were just terrific, to be down and be able to fight back and to win like that was really pleasing."

Adelaide coach Don Pyke said his players were outworked by their opponents.

"Halfway through that second quarter, the game was being played in our half ... and it was all looking good," Pyke said.

"Our second half was just poor."


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Melbourne stun Crows by 41 points in AFL | SBS News