To the horror of North Melbourne fans, Jared Petrenko kicks the match-winner for Adelaide. Photo: GETTY IMAGES

Sam Kerridge and Jared Petrenko are far from the first names that come to mind when you think of the Adelaide Football Club. But mention the pair and you’ll bring an instant smile to the dial of any Crows supporter. And with good reason.

They were pivotal to one of the most stunning comeback wins in latter-day AFL history, in Round 9 of the 2013 season against North Melbourne at what was then Etihad Stadium.

Kerridge, playing just his seventh game of AFL football and small forward Petrenko, in his fifth season, were part of an Adelaide line-up which was struggling to recapture the heights of their 2012 under coach Brenton Sanderson, when they’d come within a goal of a grand final berth.

North Melbourne was similarly frustrated, having already lost three of eight games by less than a goal.

But the Roos, with clever half-forward Lindsay Thomas on fire with five goals, four of them kicked consecutively late in the first and early in the second quarters, had led this Sunday afternoon game from the start by as much as 39 points, and were still completely in charge near the finish, 30 points in front with just nine minutes of playing time remaining.

Kerridge had copped a half-time serve from Sanderson for being “a bit fumbly”. “I was only a few games into my career and I thought ‘I’m in for a long afternoon, here’,” he told Triple M’s “Crows Radio Show” last year. “I’m still not even sure what happened”.

What happened was that in the third term, Kerridge almost single-handedly kept Adelaide in the contest, three times responding to North Melbourne goals with goals of his own to leave the Crows with a faint pulse.

But another three goals to the Roos to start the final term left Adelaide still five goals in arrears as the clock ticked past the 15-minute mark. Enter Kerridge again, a goal from a set shot 30 metres out closing the gap to 24 points.


Sam Kerridge kicks one of his six goals in a career-best performance for Adelaide against North Melbourne.

Another seven minutes ticked by, a behind to the Crows the only further score, until, with only a little more than four minutes remaining, Kerridge took a handball from Jason Porplyzia and on his right foot snapped his fifth goal. The gap was now only 17 points, but with so little time left, even Adelaide supporters couldn’t find much voice.

A behind to North gave the Crows the ball from the kick-in. Now Adelaide went coast-to-coast, Porplyzia scooping up a daisy-cutter pass from Nathan Van Berlo and dishing off a handball to Richard Douglas, who ran into goal and made it only 12 points the difference with a touch over three minutes to play.

The Roos went forward again, but Adelaide once more repelled the attempt to land the killer blow. From the resultant counter-attack, Tom Lynch banged the ball forward from the 50-metre line to the goal square, where, incredibly, Kerridge was unattended.

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He had no trouble taking a clean grab, quickly converting from point blank range for his sixth goal, double his previous best tally, and reducing the margin to only six points with one minute 50 seconds left.

Now enter Petrenko, who’d only been called up just before the game as a late inclusion. From the restart, Patrick Dangerfield won the clearance and went long, the ball spilling to Petrenko, who snapped a behind with a banana kick, exactly 90 seconds now remaining, and five points the difference.

Two free kicks to North Melbourne veteran Drew Petrie wound down the clock further, and by the time Petrie cleared the defensive 50 to a contest on the outer wing, the Roos had only 30 more seconds to hang on.

But it was the Crows’ Josh Jenkins who won that contest, dishing a handball off to man-of-the-moment Kerridge, who from only just past the wing threw the ball hurriedly on his boot. It fell some 30 metres out from goal, where North created a two-on-one contest.

That would prove an unfortunate decision, as Petrenko peeled off to the back and the ball went over the pack’s fingers, bobbing up perfectly in the goalsquare for the Adelaide player to kick the match-winning goal out of mid-air without taking possession.

“I was trying to run away from the contest to draw my opponent (Shaun Atley) away from the pack, but he ended up going for it and I’d already committed to the decision,” Petrenko would later recall for the AFL Players’ Association website.

“Somehow, I was lucky enough that my opponent basically took out the contest and the ball came over the back to where I was running.”

The Crows had hit the front for literally the first time all afternoon with only 16 seconds left on the clock and after North Melbourne had led for exactly 120 minutes of playing time.

It seemed like destiny as the game’s final tap-out fell into the hands of Adelaide on-baller Bernie Vince, who ran straight towards the wing and chipped a pass into the safe hands of Porplyzia. That would be that.

Kerridge would play only another 20 games for Adelaide before being traded to Carlton, finishing his AFL career in 2018 with 69 games. Petrenko added only another 11 games to his AFL tally, finishing with 76 games, and was gone by the end of 2014. But the pair are fondly recalled to this day by Adelaide fans.

“It’s funny because that’s pretty much all I’m remembered for,” Petrenko conceded. “I’ve never felt anything like I did after that game. I remember being at the airport afterwards and I was still shaking even hours after the game had finished. That game is something I’ll never forget.”

Nor will any Crows fans who, on enemy turf, witnessed their team winning what had seemed the unwinnable.

This article first appeared at ESPN.