You won’t find him at the top of the official stats sheets, but emerging defender Sam Siggins was an integral part of Adelaide’s landslide victory over Woodville-West Torrrens on Sunday.

Siggins was handed the responsibility of minding 196cm power forward Andrew Ainger in another big assignment for the 20-year-old Tasmanian.

Ainger, who had kicked 27 goals for the season going into Sunday’s clash, was held to just five disposals and one goal for the afternoon as Siggins produced arguably his most impressive defensive performance since joining the Crows at the end of 2012.

The athletic defender modestly said it was Adelaide’s excellent midfield pressure that helped him nullify the Eagles goalkicker.

“I thought I was alright today, but a lot of credit has to go to the boys up the field,” Siggins told afc.com.au post-match.

“It makes it a lot easier when they force the opposition to rush and kick it in high all day.”

Siggins, who missed Adelaide’s last clash with the Eagles through injury, gathered 11 possessions and two marks of his own as the Crows cruised to their biggest SANFL win of the season.

The tall Crow defender, who is yet to make his AFL debut, said it was another valuable step in his development to stand an opponent of such great experience.

“He’s a good player, he works pretty hard, and he has really good hands,” Siggins said of Ainger.

“He’s a good opponent to learn off of and hopefully that holds me in good stead into the future.”

The Crows booted their highest SANFL score of the season on Sunday, yet it was Adelaide’s defensive effort that was arguably the most impressive aspect.

Mobile defender Sam Shaw collected 23 disposals, seven marks and four rebound 50ms opposed to experienced forward Adam Grocke. It was Shaw’s best performance since returning from a hamstring injury early last month.

Retiring full back Ben Rutten was also irrepressible on the last line of defence. ‘Truck’ held Eagles’ lead goalkicker Michael Wundke goalless for the first time this season to prove he still has plenty to offer for the remainder of 2014.

Click here to see the full list of stats from Adelaide’s SANFL win.

“It was a really good effort by the defence as a whole today,” Siggins said.

“They’ve got some big forwards up there, but I thought we fought it out well and did a pretty good job on them.

“It’s great playing alongside ‘Truck’ as well with his voice and direction. He’s just so loud back there, and it’s fantastic for guys like myself and Jake Kelly to learn off him.”

“He does well to keep us on our toes for the whole 120 minutes.”

The upset victory keeps Adelaide’s SANFL finals hopes flickering with the Crows two games out of the top five with just three matches remaining.

With no room for error, the Crows will now confront bottom-placed Glenelg next Saturday afternoon at the Bay to keep their 2014 season alive.

 “We can’t afford to look ahead at all,” Siggins said.

“We’re just taking it week by week. We need to win every game from hereon in to have any chance, and have a few other results go our way.

“So there’s no point in us worrying about it. We’ll just focus on Glenelg next week and take care of our opponent as best we can.”