Adelaide's AFL demolition of Brisbane wasn't quite enough to put a smile back on coach Don Pyke's face - but the mere mention of Eddie Betts did the trick.
Betts provided the undoubted highlight of Saturday night's 80-point win at the Gabba, reaching into his bag of tricks to produce a freakish goal-of-the-year contender in the second term.
As only he can do, Betts conjured something amazing out of nothing.
The 30-year-old was competing for possession with Darcy Gardiner but kept his balance under pressure and through heavy traffic.
Almost in the one swift movement, he dribbled the ball along the ground with one foot like a soccer player, scooped it up and then slammed it onto his left foot, dribbling home the goal from an acute angle.
"What can you say? He's unique," Pyke said.
"When he does things like that you just shake your head.
"He's a special player and he does special things and that's great for the game, the fans, our supporters and puts a smile on my face at times as well, which is great."
Betts finished with three goals for the night and four score assists.
The rest of Adelaide's attack dined out on the hapless Lions, with Charlie Cameron kicking four goals - all of them in the third quarter - while Taylor Walker, Tom Lynch and debutant Hugh Greenwood also booted three apiece.
"That's the great part of our forwards, it's not about someone kicking a bag," Pyke said.
"It's about them all contributing.
"We've got an even spread there, and it doesn't function around the ball going in one direction all the time, which makes it harder to defend for oppositions."
Pyke tried his best to keep the lid on after the thumping win, which came after consecutive defeats to North Melbourne and Melbourne that ended an unbeaten start to the season.
Asked if the Crows were 'back', he simply said: "There's some positive signs."
"We lost a couple of games of footy, people were probably saying it was doom and gloom.
"We weren't at our best and that's the challenge in this comp, to be at or near your best as long as you can be for the majority of the season.
"But the reality is it is going to go up and down because the comp's so even."
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