Five-goal hero Josh Jenkins says he’s coming to grips with his new role in the Crows attack.

With the in-form Eddie Betts and captain Taylor Walker subdued, Jenkins was the match winner in Adelaide’s scrappy nine-point victory over Carlton at the MCG.

The 199cm, 107kg, forward equalled his career-high of five goals, slotting two clutch majors – including the sealer – in the tense final term. He also took eight marks (three contested), outmuscling opponent Sam Rowe in a couple of crucial contests late in the match.

The former basketballer has relied on his biggest weapons, speed and agility, for much of his 56-game AFL career, but has been asked to play as more of a ‘traditional’ big man in coach Phil Walsh’s new forward line structure.

“It’s been a challenge and I’ve enjoyed it. ‘Walshy’ has really asked me to do something a bit different, to stand under long balls and compete for the boys when I’m often outnumbered one against two, or two against three and just fight and scrap,” Jenkins said after the game on Saturday.

“It’s probably something that’s going to take me awhile to fully get used to. I’ve had a pretty slow start to the year. It was probably my first year coming in with really high expectations of myself and I haven’t been able to live up to it as yet.

“Walshy has really put it on me to perform. Today, it was pleasing to do my bit and influence the game.”

As the Blues attempted to expose Adelaide’s defence with tall trio Lachie Henderson, Matthew Kreuzer, Levi Casboult and also utility Andrejs Averitt, the Crows tried to isolate Jenkins inside forward 50m.

Walsh praised Jenkins for executing his role in the team.

“Because of the match-ups today, ‘Tex’ (Walker) played a bit higher up the ground, so the focus was Jenkins. We saw the rewards we were able to get out of that match-up,” Walsh said.

“We’ve really defined Josh’s role. He’s really clear on what he’s being asked to do and today he delivered in spades.”

Despite Betts and Walker kicking only two goals combined, the inaccurate Crows managed to kick a winning, albeit inaccurate, score of 14.15 (99). Tom Lynch chimed in with two goals, while Matthew Wright, Charlie Cameron, Nathan van Berlo, Patrick Dangerfield and Sam Jacobs all kicked one.

“A lot has been made of how good Tex and Eddie are and they’ve performed outrageously well to start the year, particularly Eddie, but Lynchy’s kicked 35 goals in a season before and ‘Danger’ is capable of kicking goals,” Jenkins said.

“Charlie is getting better every week, so we believe we’ve got six or seven guys capable of standing up on any given today.

“Today, was my day but, hopefully, next time it’s Charlie’s turn or Tex or Eddie’s again.”

Jenkins, who continues to make great inroads in his goalkicking, was one of Adelaide’s most accurate on Saturday afternoon (5.1).

For the second straight week, the Crows threatened to kick themselves out of the game with missed opportunities in front of goal. After kicking 6.3 in the first term, the visitors registered a wasteful 4.10 in the next two quarters before straightening up with a better return of 4.2 in the final term.

Kicking in general play was also an issue, with Walsh describing his team’s skill errors as “embarrassing” at times.

“It’s a pretty similar theme. We’ve got to improve our ball use … that’s something we’ll work on a lot,” Jenkins said.

“As forwards (we need to improve our goalkicking). We’ve got to kick our goals and make it easier for each other to kick them.

“The beauty of a bye is that you get some time to work on the things you need to.

Another recurring theme is Adelaide’s slow starts.

The Crows recovered from 19 points down in the first quarter to lead by 14 points at quarter-time. Jenkins said Adelaide needed to find a solution for the problem before it cost the Club more games.

“We’ve almost tried everything to remedy that, but as of yet we’ve been unable to rectify it. We’ll have a look at it again and see what we can do to improve it,” he said.

“Against most teams, and it nearly happened today, a slow start like that isn’t going to be good enough and you won’t get back in the game.”

An unfortunate talking point out of the match was the knee injury to Carlton champion Chris Judd.

Judd ruptured his ACL (Anterior Cruciate Ligament) in an awkward landing late in the first quarter.

Jenkins expressed his sympathy for the respected dual-Brownlow Medallist.

“You could sense it around the whole arena. It was a real sort of numb feeling,” Jenkins said.

“Hopefully, it’s not the last we see of Chris Judd because it’s not a fair way to go out. Footy is a cruel game. It was certainly a pretty hollow moment when it happened.”

The Crows, who have a record of six wins and four losses, have a bye next weekend before taking on reigning premiers Hawthorn in a Thursday night clash at Adelaide Oval on June 18.