Adelaide solidified its position in the top four with a commanding 61-point victory against Gold Coast at Adelaide Oval on Sunday.

The Crows stormed out of the blocks, keeping the Suns goalless for the first half, while kicking nine majors themselves to come away 16.11 (107) to 6.10 (46) victors.

Adelaide Senior Coach Matthew Nicks spoke to the media post-game and delivered these five takeaways.

Nicks on Alex Neal-Bullen’s influence

Recruit Alex Neal-Bullen played arguably his best game in the tri-colours against the Suns on Sunday.

Neal-Bullen collected a career-high 31 disposals to go with three goals - including one from the pocket in the second quarter - in what was a stand-out performance.

Nicks said Neal-Bullen, who was part of Melbourne’s 2021 Premiership side, was having a huge influence at the Crows, both on and off the field.

“We’ve learnt from really experienced players, Alex Neal-Bullen coming into our side and sitting down in a room and allowing Alex to talk to us about his experiences,” Nicks said.

“The bonus on top is that he’s a pretty damn good footballer as well.

“You can't measure what it is he’s added to our group, as much off-field as he has on-field and it’s hard to say what he’s brought more of.

“But tonight I thought he was a standout for us, I thought, as far as guys who impacted the game.”

Crows’ clinical first-half

Adelaide set-up the victory with a strong first-half, in which it kept Gold Coast goalless.

The Crows put on a clinical performance in the first two quarters, booting nine majors, with contributors all over the ground.

A mix of pressure and efficiency was behind the 55-point, half-time lead, according to Nicks.

“We were hungry, weren’t we? We brought pressure and I’d say that’s where we’ve been most of the year,” Nicks said.

“Then the scoreboard ticked over, we were really efficient with the ball, when we had our opportunities, which was the difference in that first half.

“To come in and keep an opposition team, and a very good one at that, to the score they had at the half was a really good sign as to where we are at mentally. That’s what we came in trying to do.”

Continual improvement the key

Adelaide’s win against Gold Coast was the side’s fourth in a row, following victories against the Bulldogs, Melbourne and Richmond.

Although many aspects of the Crows’ game were impressing the coach, Nicks said there was no room for complacency, with the side striving for continual improvement.

“There’s still a lot to work on and we’ve spoken through that,” Nicks said.

“I don’t know that it ever becomes complete, I think the challenge is continually rolling.

“You see some of the Clubs that have had sustained success - like Geelong - there’s no doubt they’re continuing to improve every year.

“But at the moment where our players sit, their confidence in themselves and their belief in what it is we have built and what we continue to build is really strong.”

Managing the hype and staying in the moment

Adelaide’s recent bout of strong form has it sitting in third position on the ladder with five minor round matches remaining.

Finals footy is edging closer, but the Crows are refusing to buy into the hype, looking no further than the week ahead.

Nicks said the coaching cohort and the players were focused on maintaining the form that had helped put the team in a strong position but would not look too far ahead.

“There’s always hype, every week we play in front of 40,000-odd, so the hype and the pressure is always there - that’s South Australian footy,” Nicks said.

“Our challenge has been to stay focused on what gets us results - so the process - I’ve mentioned it probably post-every game, I’ve spoken about it.

“Last year we learnt a few lessons in and around that - our intentions were right - we wanted to build something and we wanted to look at what it was we were trying to do.

“Murray Davis has come in with incredible experience with a really top performing team in Brissy and he brings that in. He’s able to sit back and give us advice on how we go about our weeks - he’s done a great job in helping us stay in the moment.”

Riley Thilthorpe, Mac Andrew rivalry

Pre-game, plenty was said about the building rivalry between Adelaide key forward Riley Thilthorpe and Suns defender Mac Andrew.

Thilthorpe and Andrew were involved in a heated exchange with seconds remaining when the two sides clashed in Round Four, with the Suns taking the win by a point.

The Crows big man finished the Round 19 match with two goals and six marks, with Nicks revealing he almost did not line-up in the game due to illness.

Nicks said he was happy for the rivalry to continue as long as it was done “in the right way”.

“I thought it was a great match-up, we had one under the weather, probably right up to the first warm-up, we didn’t know if Riley would get up, he’d been up all night very ill, so he did a great job in the end, considering,” Nicks said.

“There’s passion (to our game) and he’s (Andrew) a very, very good player, and he’s so young, he was up against our young, developing very good forward, so what a great match-up.

“We don’t want to shy away from that, we want those big contests, and that will be one that hopefully goes on for years and the two of them go at it, in the right way.”