Riley Thilthorpe suffered a frightening injury scare before becoming the match winner as Adelaide avoided the upset of the season in a thrilling nine-point win over West Coast at Optus Stadium.
Sunday's first versus last battle was meant to be a stroll in the park for the Crows, but West Coast kicked six unanswered goals from late in the first quarter until early in the third to open up a shock 17-point lead in front of 32,845 fans.
The Eagles still led by 10 points when Tim Kelly goaled early in the last quarter, but Adelaide kicked the next four to secure the 13.9 (87) to 12.6 (78) victory.
It lifted the Crows (16-5) a game clear on top of the ladder ahead of their last two matches against Collingwood and North Melbourne.
Adelaide coach Matthew Nicks was left with his hands on his head on seeing Thilthorpe writhing in pain on the turf after being collected high by a flying Liam Duggan bump in the third quarter.
Thilthorpe was left nursing a neck and shoulder injury and went to the bench for an extended medical check.
Duggan's high bump is likely to end in a suspension for the Eagles co-captain, who was playing his 200th game.
Thilthorpe was able to return later in the term and kicked a goal during a run of four straight majors as Adelaide momentarily settled the ship.
West Coast pushed ahead again courtesy of two goals to Liam Ryan late in the third quarter and a major to Kelly early in the fourth.
With eight minutes to go, Adelaide were holding on to a one-point lead.
Enter Thilthorpe.
The man mountain took a strong mark and nailed a 53m set shot to give the Crows a seven-point lead.
And he effectively sealed the win with a snap under pressure with less than five minutes remaining.
"It will be a little bit sore tomorrow, but I'm all good. It's lucky," Thilthorpe said of his injury scare when asked by Fox Footy.
"A bit of carry on from me as well. I don't think there was any intent in that (bump), but it did hurt a lot."
Thilthorpe and Luke Pedlar finished with three goals each, while Crows skipper Jordan Dawson (26 disposals, 14 tackles, five clearances, one goal) and Izak Rankine (23 disposals, six clearances, one goal) were huge.
For West Coast, Ryan and Jobe Shanahan kicked three goals apiece, while Kelly (25 disposals, 10 clearances, one goal) battled hard in the midfield.
Adelaide won the centre clearances (8-1) and inside 50s (14-5) in the opening term, but their dominance only translated to a 13-point lead, with the Eagles scoring 3.1 from their five entries.
Retired premiership stars Dom Sheed and Jeremy McGovern's careers were celebrated at quarter time with a full-field re-enactment of their involvement in the piece of play that won West Coast the 2018 grand final.
The crowd erupted when the player entrusted with replicating Sheed's boundary-line set shot also nailed the kick, shocking even himself.
With the crowd buzzing, West Coast produced one of their best quarters of the season in the second term, with their intense tackling the highlight.
Adelaide were restricted to just two behinds for the second term, with the crowd giving West Coast a standing ovation as their team walked off with a six-point lead.
Crows players were left stunned early in the third quarter after Hamish Davis's dribbling effort was followed by a calm set shot goal from Shanahan.
Thilthorpe's exit added to their headaches, but the forward's return helped the Crows turn around their fortunes.