Round 7 – Brisbane v Adelaide: Unplug The Jukebox

Round 7
Brisbane v Adelaide
26 April 2026
The ‘Gabba, Brisbane

 

Arrival

 

Mrs Swish, the Pie-Girl and I headed north last Saturday for our first trip to The Gabba.

 

The was a fair smattering of Launceston-bound Hawks folk about the place heading to the early afternoon bout against the Suns. (I’d be too anxious to book a flight that close to the opening ball up, they could have gone on Friday and seen the snow monkeys).

 

Upon arrival at Brisbane Airport, I headed to the conveniences. The bloke to my left at the urinal, who had a sizeable hairy and convex gap between the bottom of his t-shirt and the waistband of his Efco Stubbies, sniffed his fingers post-relief and consequently decided to head back out without stopping by a hand-basin.

 

Welcome to Queensland.

 

 

Match Day

 

On Sunday, the 3:15pm start gave us ample time to head in and out of our 70s themed accommodation a few times before crossing Alice Street to the City Botanical Gardens just after noon. At the Sunday Market we were attracted to Andy’s Kangaroo and Currywurst food truck, where the owner picked up on Pie-Girl’s excellent German and proceeded to relate the story behind his signature dish, the Mantaplatte. I was more impressed by his triple-teated mayonnaise bottle but settled for a very fine ungarnished bratwurst.

 

 

 

 

 

Mrs Swish took the healthier option, grabbing a fruit salad which was indeed yummy yummy. So good that we followed up with another serving of grapes and strawberries.

 

I’m always in a hurry to get to the game and when the Gabba siren could be heard from the forty-minute walk away, so I was doubly toey. (Is there a more evocative sound than a nearby footy siren?)

 

What I didn’t realise when I decided that it was an easy walk to the ground from the city was that Vulture Street is not flat, but there was a large posse of barrackers from both sides who pulled us through in their wake. The travelling Swishes were glad that the day was sunny but not too humid.

 

This sticker made me laugh. I don’t reckon that the Qld Eduction Department sets enough homework if this is any indication.

 

 

 

After passing through Gate 7 and the olde school hand-scanning attendants, we found the stairs to our upper-deck seats. I noted that the Gabba was like a cross between Football Park circa 1995 and the Cattery circa 2015. Our seats weren’t up too high and we weren’t the only Crows fans in our vicinity so we settled in excitedly.

 

The ANZAC observation was appropriately respected and respectful. Flames and fireworks greeted the home side, a Hungry Jacks banner exhorting the visitors to “fire up”.

 

I wasn’t confident of a win for Adelaide, but I hoped for some spark against one of the top two or three sides going around.

 

I was familiar with the home team’s post-goal audio celebrations, which are listed in sequence below (with the Adelaide goals indented), but didn’t know how much they’d piss me off get on my wick give me the irrits annoy me.

 

First Quarter

 

Zombie

    Pedlar

Wonderwall

Hey Jude

    Rankine

Take Me Home, Country Roads

    Thilthorpe

    Rankine

 

Crows with their familiar slow start but they steadied late in the quarter – whilst not looking poised to pounce on the Lions, they were at least still in the hunt. Lions went forward frequently and without much resistance from the Adelaide midfield. Rankine’s two swooping goals were bottlers, but Keays and Berry were missing.

 

Second Quarter

 

Take Me Home, Country Roads

    Walker – Value for kicks

    Dawson – Crows hit the front by 1 point

On A Night Like This

Zombie

Hey Baby

Sweet Caroline

 

Geez it hurts whenever the Denverman scores against his former club, doubly so when that execrable song is played afterward. There was plenty of emotion after Dawson put Adelaide in front, but that was it for the next hour of play. Brisbane shared the ball around for the rest of the term, unleashing an audio assault on the visiting supporters.

 

Half-Time

 

The young lad on the snack bar till only put through two of my drinks – when I pointed this out, he shrugged, scratched his blond tresses and shrugged again. That free lemonade was our last bit of fortune for the day.

 

Third Quarter

 

    Cook

Take Me Home, Country Roads

On A Night Like This

Hey Baby

The Horses

Freed From Desire

Hey Baby

Hey Jude

Adelaide didn’t give a yelp as the very very well drilled Brisbane did as they pleased.

 

Fourth Quarter

 

Daddy Cool

    Pedlar

Take Me Home, Country Roads

    Keays

    Pedlar

    Dawson

Move Your Feet

 

Pedlar didn’t give up in the last, but Adelaide’s junk-time efforts flattered them. It remains to be seen whether this effort can be put behind them, especially with a five-day break before this Friday’s Showdown.

 

Some Observations

 

Brisbane made Adelaide pay for every single half-fumble of which there were many. I saw them the week before against Melbourne, the form guide would have said ‘lost no admirers last start’. Perhaps there is a hint of one-way running occasionally, but it’s a long season.

 

Tex Walker should only turn up at Adelaide Airport when he is picking someone up. Despite hauling the Crows over the line against the Saints, he contributed a booming goal in the second quarter from his only kick. This has been the case away from home for several years. He simply can’t run, jump, bend or defend, but is always good for at least a couple of goals a game at home.

 

Thilthorpe is carrying something, I hope.

 

Keays is being carried.

 

Rankine needs to convert early goals (and they were both beauties) into a bag of five rather than disappearing.

 

Dawson’s effort was huge in the circumstances, and he was let down dreadfully by his teammates.

 

Brisbane will come top this year.

 

Adelaide will be bottom six. Mark my words.

 

Per afl.com.au

 

 

BRISBANE     4.5       9.8       16.8     19.13 (127)

ADELAIDE     4.1       6.3       7.6       11.9 (75)

 

GOALS

Brisbane: Take Me Home Country Roads 4, Hey Baby 3, On A Night Like This 2, Zombie 2, Hey Jude 2, Sweet Caroline, Daddy Cool, Move Your Feet, Freed From Desire, Wonderwall, The Horses

Adelaide: Pedlar 3, Rankine 2, Dawson 2, Walker, Thilthorpe, Keays, Cook

 

BEST

Brisbane: Higher, Take Me Home Country Roads, Hey Baby, The Horses, Piano Man, American Pie

Adelaide: Pedlar, Dawson, Michalanney, Milera

 

INJURIES

Brisbane: Nil (Ed: but Wonderwall had a broken foot)

Adelaide: Nil

 

Crowd: 32,629 at the Gabba

 

Post Game

 

The trudge home saw the three of us tired and deflated, but we continued to rack up the steps (24000 for the day) which were at least downhill.

 

Homeward Bound

 

No-one does double entendre place names like Queensland. We enjoyed a family lunch at Woody Point on Monday, but I couldn’t find the Pinocchio carving anywhere – sadly there was no return to Fartinwayne Burpengary this time around.

 

Lunch in the Gardens on Monday with a pal from Brisbane was our final fling. She asked us how our team went, clearly it wasn’t on the front page of Monday’s Courier-Mail.

 

 

Read more from Swish HERE

 

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