Adelaide will play in Darwin for AFL premiership points for the first time on Saturday night.

The Crows men’s team played a pre-season match against the Indigenous All Stars at TIO Stadium in 2009. The Club’s women’s side tackled the Dees in an AFLW game and also faced Fremantle in a practice match at the Darwin venue earlier this year.

In the AFL, Adelaide and Melbourne have met outside of South Australia and Victoria just once before, on the Gold Coast in 2006. The Crows won that match by five points.

The Dees, who will ‘host’ Saturday night’s game, have played in the Northern Territory already this season, recording a 35-point win over Gold Coast in Alice Springs.

The Demons won their most recent match at TIO Stadium, against Fremantle in Round 16, 2016. The 32-point victory ended a run of four straight losses at the Darwin stadium.

Now Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin captained the Crows in an exhibition game in Darwin

Adelaide and Melbourne have played a total of 36 times. The Crows hold the advantage, 23 – 13.

The two teams met only eight weeks ago when the Demons came from 28 points down to upstage the Crows by seven goals at Adelaide Oval.

On that night, hard-nosed Dees onballers Jack Viney and Clayton Oliver combined for 60 possessions, 22 tackles, 11 clearances and two goals.

Viney will be missing this week as he recovers from foot surgery. His co-captain Nathan Jones, who kicked two goals against the Crows, is also sidelined with a quad complaint.

Teenager Oliver ranks second in the AFL for contested possessions (223) and hard-ball gets (90).

He’s ninth for total disposals (445). In-form Crow Matt Crouch is second overall (479).

The fifth-placed Dees have won four of their past five games, including three by fewer than 10 points.

Two strong pressure teams, Adelaide (1,112) and Melbourne (929) rank first and second for points scored from opposition turnovers.

The Demons (first) and Crows (second) are also the best at denying their opposition effective disposals.

The Crows have scored 89 points from turnovers forced by Rory Sloane – no player in the competition has generated more scores for his team from turnovers this season.

Sloane is only one goal shy of his 100^th career goal.

Lively forward Jeff Garlett leads Melbourne’s goalkicking with 32 from 15 matches.

Garlett has laid more forward 50m tackles (33) than any other player in the competition.

Star Crow Eddie Betts has the best goalkicking accuracy (68.4 per cent) of the top 10 goalkickers in the League this season.

Betts equalled Adelaide’s club record for goal assists in a game with five against the Western Bulldogs last Friday night.

The Demons are the highest-possession team in the competition, averaging 29 more possessions than their direct opponents this season. They average a League-high 194 handballs per game.

Crows defender Rory Laird boasts the best disposal efficiency (80.1 per cent) of the top 50 possession winners this season.

Adelaide has averaged more points from intercepts (74.1) than any other club this season.

Melbourne has kicked more goals (51) from within 15 metres than any team. Adelaide is third (42) from this distance. The Dees also lead the League for goals on the run (53).

The Crows have kicked 74 goals from 31 – 40 metres – ranked No.1.

Adelaide (190) and Melbourne (171) are first and third for corridor goals.

Only five Demons have played every game in 2017 – the equal-lowest of any club. In contrast, nine Crows have lined up in all 15 matches this season.

The competitive Demons have the lowest losing margin (16 points) of any team this season.