Young Crow Brad Crouch responded to being left out of the team before the bye with the best performance of his short career against Gold Coast.

Crouch, 19, was omitted from side to play Richmond in Round 12. The skilful midfielder was finding a bit of the ball, but the Adelaide coaches wanted to see more, particularly defensively.

And he gave them more on Saturday.

In just his fifth game for the Club, Crouch worked tirelessly to amass a career-best 31 possessions, including a team-high 14 contested (equal with teammate Patrick Dangerfield). He took six marks, won five clearances and also had a goal assist, eclipsing his previous best return of 22 disposals against the Western Bulldogs in Round Four.

But the statistic that would’ve pleased the Crows coaching staff the most was Crouch’s game-high six tackles. He helped set the tone in a stronger defensive team effort and even managed to catch Suns superstar Gary Ablett holding the ball in the third quarter.

Crouch was forced off the ground with cramp in the final term after running himself into the ground.

“Campo (assistant coach Scott Camporeale), who works with the midfielders, and Sando (coach Brenton Sanderson) touched on how important defensive running is,” Crouch said after the game.

“I’ve had to trim down a little bit, not do as many weights and focus more on my running. I need to be able to run hard in offence, but also run hard defensively to help out our backs and I really tried to do that today.

“It was probably my best game at this level. I was pretty knackered by the end of it. I cramped up a fair bit late in the game and I could feel it coming on for a while. It was great to get a few touches, but hopefully we’ve got a good recovery the next few days because I think I’ll need it.”

Crouch (pick two) and Gold Coast sensation Jaeger O’Meara (pick one) were rated as the two best 17-year-olds in the country when they were selected in the 2011 ‘mini-draft’.

The talented duo showed why in the Metricon Stadium clash, with Crouch topping Adelaide’s possession count and O’Meara, who shadowed Dangerfield when he played in the midfield, collecting 32 possessions, five marks and seven clearances.

O’Meara is the Rising Star favourite, while Crouch is in the running for the Round 14 nomination. Crows coach Brenton Sanderson said the pair was a delight to watch.

“We tried to get Crouch and O’Meara head-to-head on the wing at different stages. They’re both fantastic young players,” Sanderson said.

“We had a really good output from some of our young guns today; Crouch and Rory Laird today were fantastic and Brodie Smith at half-back was good too.”

Coming off a bye, Adelaide started slowly against the Suns to trail by 13 points at the first change, but gained the ascendancy with a seven-goal second quarter. Gold Coast challenged again in the third quarter, clawing back to within two points.

Despite being down one rotation after losing defender Brent Reilly (dislocated shoulder) in the opening minute of the game, the Crows kicked away in the last quarter to secure a much-needed victory. The win improved Adelaide’s season record to six wins and seven losses.

Crouch said his team would have to get on a roll to keep touch with the top eight.

“It was a pretty important game for us and a massive result. We just needed to come up here and get the win, it was pretty simple,” he said.

“We’ve got West Coast next week and they looked good against Essendon on Thursday night, so that’ll be a tough game.

“We’ve got them twice in the second half of the season, so next week will be really important again.”