It’s not often a player considers keeping his opponent to 25 possessions and two goals a victory. But it’s not every week you come up against one of the game’s greatest-ever players, Gary Ablett.

Young Crow Sam Kerridge had the unenviable job of trying to nullify Ablett at Adelaide Oval on Sunday. The task was so great, Crows coach Brenton Sanderson revealed he had a plan A, B, C and D for stopping the Gold Coast superstar. But Sanderson didn’t have to worry about his fall back options – plan A worked a treat.

Kerridge wore the two-time Brownlow Medallist like a glove, denying him time and space with the ball. In typical fashion, Ablett got away a few times to kick two classy first-half goals but his impact on the game was below his brilliant best. Sanderson described Kerridge’s negating role as “influential” in Adelaide’s 32-point win.

Kerridge said the Suns skipper kept him on his toes the entire game.

“He (Ablett) has a great ability to keep his feet at the contest. He’s always on the move, which means I have to concentrate all the time. If I’m not on my guard, I’ve lost him and once he’s gone he’s going to rack up possessions,” Kerridge said after the game.

“He’s the best at it (getting the ball) and has been for a number of years. He’s just a great player.

“It was great to play on him today. I loved it.”

Prior to Round 11, Ablett had been averaging 32 possessions and two goals per game, and had kicked two bags of four goals in his last three games. Ablett’s disposal return on Sunday was his second-lowest of the season.

Kerridge said he adopted a different approach to thwarting the two-time premiership player.

“It wasn’t really about how many possessions Ablett had,” Kerridge said.

“During the week, I spoke to ‘Campo’ (midfield coach Scott Camporeale) and Sando. We talked about the fact that he (Ablett) is always going to get the footy and rack up possessions. (For me) it was about limiting how damaging those possessions were. We knew if we could limit that, it would hold us in good stead to win the game.

“To keep him to 25 was fantastic.”

Kerridge’s role helped the Crows get on top in the midfield on Sunday.

Adelaide beat Gold Coast – the best contested possession team in the competition – in contested possessions, 173-154. The home team also won the clearances 46-39. Sanderson said the midfield battle was crucial to the result.

“Gold Coast has a brilliant young midfield. David Swallow was very good today. Dion Prestia was very good too and kicked two goals from forward 50m stoppages. They bat really deep through the midfield, but I thought we won the midfield battle today,” he said.

“The clearances were plus-seven. Even in the last quarter, we had plus-35 uncontested possessions and that just shows how hard our guys worked and how much they wanted to win today.”

Led by 2012 Rising Star winner Daniel Talia, Adelaide’s defence also stood tall.

The Crows kept the Suns to fewer than 100 points for the first time in six weeks.

Talia held his direct opponent, in-form key forward Tom Lynch, goalless. The brilliant Crow has now conceded only one goal in his past four games.

“Tals is massive for us. He’s a fantastic player, as we and all our supporters know,” Kerridge said.

“He doesn’t get beaten – ever. We love him and he’s a great member of the team. He’s praised a lot inside our four walls. We love having him in the side because he does his job week-in and week-out.”

Adelaide’s spirited performance against the Suns was a strong response to last week’s disappointing five-point loss to Carlton. Kerridge said the challenge was for the Crows to produce that kind of effort consistently.

“Last week was disappointing. The boys were dirty about it and we wanted to come out and prove to not only ourselves but our fans and everyone that we can play some good footy, and that our game style stands up,” he said.

“We know we can play good footy, as everyone saw today. We’ve just have to put it on ourselves to produce it every week.”

The win was also the perfect celebration of Indigenous Round. Crows great and Indigenous games record holder Andrew McLeod designed the guernsey worn by the players and spoke to the team about the importance of the jumper and the occasion during the week. Bid on match-worn, signed Indigenous Round guernseys.

“It was fantastic to hear from Bunji (McLeod). He has such a presence and was a fantastic footballer for a long time at our football club,” Kerridge said.

“For him to design the guernsey was great and a really proud moment for him, as he said. To sit there and hear about the background of the jumper was awesome.

“For the team to go out there and have a win for the likes of Eddie Betts, Charlie Cameron and Jared Petrenko and Cam Ellis-Yolmen, who didn’t play today, was great.”