Adelaide has been making the most of its extended break ahead of its clash with Carlton on Saturday night in Melbourne.

The Crows have a nine-day gap between Rounds Four and Five and Senior coach Matthew Nicks believed it gave his side a chance to better prepare for the Blues. 

“It was great to have a long week,” Nicks said.

“We were able to work on a bit more of our game, so had a session this morning which will enable us to work on a few areas.

"Last week was a sharp week which in some ways is good but this has been a good week for us.

“We have already had a session out on the grass, being able to work on some of that execution, getting plenty of footys in our hands and work on the areas of the game we have to.”

Nicks said the team will have one forced change this week, with defender Patrick Parnell to miss after sustaining a shoulder injury against the Demons.

Nicks named Will Hamill as a potential replacement for Parnell, following the running defender's solid pre-season.

“We will have one forced change unfortunately with Patty Parnell, but that will create an opportunity for someone else to step up,” Nicks said.

“Disappointing to lose Patty to what’s a shoulder injury but we won’t know more on that for probably another week or so.

“It creates an opportunity and Will Hamill is a chance, I’d say more than likely to come in and fill that role.”

Despite the loss to Melbourne, Nicks said there were positive signs to take out of the game and he was confident just a small few tweaks could turn around the team’s fortunes on against the Blues on Saturday afternoon.

“We still have a lot of confidence in the way we play, the brand of footy we play,” Nicks said.

“We’ve got to improve our skills and improve our forward-centre work.

“It’s an area we are looking at and we are spending a fair bit of time on it, we have stripped it right back.

“It’s not an individual that is costing us in that area, it is as a team and our ability to be composed in that moment and come together and work a system as a team.

“The positive with that is we are having our opportunities, if we start making the most of those the game will turn pretty quickly.”

Adelaide plays Carlton at Marvel Stadium on Saturday at 4.05pm (ACST).

The match will be broadcast live on Channel 7 Adelaide, Fox Footy and Kayo.