Will Graham will return to the Gold Coast SUNS side to take on the Adelaide Crows this weekend with the fondest of memories.

He’s played the Crows only once – in Round 4 last year at People First Stadium – and kicked the winning goal in a one-point SUNS victory.

It was a Saturday afternoon thriller in which both sides went in unbeaten. The SUNS led by seven points at quarter-time but trailed by one point at half-time. Graham kicked the first goal of the third quarter to spark a three-goal run for the home side which saw them slip out to a game-high 18-point lead. But the visitors cut it to six points at three-quarter-time.

It was back out to 18 points when Jed Walter and Lachie Weller kicked the first two goals of the final term, but key forwards Taylor Walker and Riley Thilthorpe answered for the Crows.

It could have gone either way until Graham, receiving a slick handpass from Ben King, slotted his second. SUNS by 11 points. Then 12 points.

There were still 15 minutes to play. Walker kicked his fourth for the Crows. The lead was six points. Then seven points. Then one point when Thilthorpe kicked his fifth. Still seven minutes to play.

It was frantic stuff. A free kick against Thilthorpe to Sam Collins with 45 seconds remaining was telling, but Adelaide had one last forward thrust. Mac Andrew spoiled Thilthorpe on the lead and, cleverly electing not to take the ball over the boundary line, cleared the area.

Walter forced it out of bounds on the wing and from the throw-in Graham won the last possession before the siren went. It finished 13.13 (91) to 14.6 (90).

Having lost their first two one-point games in 2019 to St Kilda at Marvel Stadium and Melbourne at People First Stadium, they won three one-pointers in a row - against GWS in Ballarat in 2021, Essendon at Marvel Stadium in 2024 and then Adelaide at People First Stadium in 2025.

There’s no need to ask what happened in the club’s next one-point thriller. It was a moment SUNS fans will remember forever when David Swallow’s famous behind got them home in the elimination final against Fremantle in Perth.

The SUNS have missed the hard-working Graham since he failed to finish his last two starts, in Round 10 against Port Adelaide and Round 13 against Brisbane.

So highly is the 20-year-old StreetSmarts SUNS Academy graduate regarded he will slot straight back into the side to take on an Adelaide side that beat West Coast by 25 points at Optus Stadium last week and has won four of its last five to sit fifth on the ladder.

Happily, though, there will be plenty of self-belief in the home camp. The SUNS have won five of the last eight against the Crows, including their last four meetings at People First Stadium. Prior to the one-point thriller last year it was six points in 2024, 43 points in 2022 and 53 points in 2020.

The recent good run has been a welcome turnaround after the SUNS lost their first 13 games to the Crows from 2011-19.

As the SUNS include Graham and Oscar Adams to replace Ben Long (suspended) and Ben Jepson (omitted), Adelaide will welcome two major inclusions this week – Thilthorpe and half-back flanker Wayne Milera.

They replace mid-season draftee Hugo Hall-Kahan, who has been managed after averaging 20.0 possessions per game through five games in an impressive start to his career, and Billy Dowling (omitted).

Milera is the Crows’ leading possession-winner this year, having averaged 26.0 possessions per game to lead skipper Jordan Dawson (25.2), veteran Rory Laird (24.7), Josh Worrall (23.3) and Sam Berry (22.4).

Thilthorpe, the club’s leading goal-kicker last year, returns to complete the three-pronged key forward set-up with Darcy Fogarty, who kicked an equal career-best five goals last week, and ex-captain Taylor Walker.

Oddly, though, this trio rank down the Crows’ goal-kicking list this year, which is led by small forwards Josh Rachele (27) and Ben Keays (27). Thilthorpe and Fogarty (19) are equal third ahead of captain Dawson (18), Walker (14) and ex-SUNS player Izak Rankine (12).

Rankine, with a 1-3 record against the SUNS since moving south in 2023, has played 13 games and averages 20.0 possessions a game this year while spending more time through the midfield.

Dawson, winner of the Adelaide best and fairest award in each of the last three years and heading for a third All-Australian blazer this year, heads the Adelaide vote in the AFL Coaches Association Player of the Year Award with 51 votes from Milera (43), Rachele (26), Rankine (20) and Berry (18).