On a night of milestones at the Gabba, only Brisbane Lions key forward Daniel Bradshaw celebrated his with a smile.

Clawing their way back from a 25-point, second-term deficit, the Lions racked up their third straight win 18.11 (119) to 12.11 (83) over Adelaide inspired by Bradshaw's record-breaking five-goal haul.

To say Adelaide had plenty to play for in their crunch match would be an understatement.

While keen to bounce back from two straight beltings to stay in touch with the eight, the Crows' motivation was more personal on Saturday night.

The legendary Andrew McLeod was equalling the club record of 312 games set by Mark Ricciuto, Scott Thompson was notching his 100th game and Michael Doughty his 150th.

They began like they wanted to send the players off as winners, dominating early to cruise to a 25-point lead by the second term.

Yet it was Bradshaw who was all smiles by fulltime.

The Lions forward broke Alastair Lynch's Brisbane Bears/Lions goal-kicking record (460) in an amazing third-term blitz of four majors to swing the match.

He needed two to equal Lynch's mark but didn't look like going anywhere near, suffocated by the Crows in the first half when limited to just two touches.

However, Bradshaw came alive in the third - and so did the Lions.

It was hard to outshine Bradshaw but Justin Sherman did his best with an influential three goals and game-high 35 possessions.

Initially the omens weren't good for Bradshaw or his Lions.

Adelaide had them beaten all over the park but somehow only held a 5.5 (35) to 3.4 (22) advantage at the first break.

The Crows again dominated the second term but failed to convert pressure into points as late goals by Jonathan Brown and Sherman ensured the Lions remarkably won the second quarter 3.0 to 2.3 to trail by just 10 points at the main break.

Enter Bradshaw.

The Lions kicked seven of the nine goals in the third term as the hosts ignited the 27,767-strong crowd to lead 13.7 (85) to 9.9 (63).

Brisbane kicked three of the first four majors of the final term and, by the time Bradshaw kicked his fifth to give the hosts a 43-point lead, it was all over.

It was the first time the Lions had won three straight under new coach Michael Voss but the rookie mentor didn't feel like smiling, his triumph soured by a broken jaw suffered by key defender Joel Patfull.

He is expected to be out for a month.

"I am not ecstatic. He (Patfull) is critical for us," Voss said.

But Voss was satisfied with the way his team hung in against the Crows, even when the match seemed out of their grasp in the first half.

It showed the lessons drummed into them since their 93-point debacle at Geelong almost a month ago were sinking in.

"It is something we have worked on - we want consistency of attitude," Voss said.

"There were a few guys out there who could have been beating themselves up at different times - for them to work their way through that is critical in the game today."

Voss said he believed Bradshaw was back to his best after moving his season goal tally to 25 from eight games.

"That's old mate Lynchy done and dusted," Voss laughed, referring to his former Lions teammate's goal kicking record.

Bradshaw said he got "goose bumps" when the crowd stood as one to mark his milestone after he broke the record with a clever snap - and fortunate bounce - in the third term.

"I'm just baby sitting it for Browny (skipper Jonathan Brown)," a humble Bradshaw said of the record.

Meanwhile, Crows coach Neil Craig called for his side to quickly learn a "strong willed, fighting approach" after they slumped to a 3-5 record.

"When we got into an arm wrestle we were found wanting," Craig said.

"We showed the capacity to play a high level of football but not for any lengthy period of time."

"Our resilience and fight in the second half was nowhere near what it should have been."

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