Adelaide Senior Coach Matthew Nicks knows his side has a challenge ahead of it as it prepares to take on an in-form Fremantle side at Adelaide Oval on Good Friday.
Although the Dockers have stars all over the ground, halting the influence of spearhead Josh Treacy will be an important key to the Crows claiming a win.
Treacy has booted 10 goals across the past three games - including bags of four in Rounds Two and Three.
When asked how the Crows planned to stop Treacy, Nicks’ answer was simple.
“You have to do it as a team,” Nicks told the media on Tuesday.
“You try to go one-on-one, that’s where you can run into problems because he’s so confident with his hands.
“Trying to get him done one-on-one is going to be really tough, so it’s nothing new for us, it’s the way we play our footy, it’s team D.”
The Crows will however, be without backman Jordon Butts for Friday night’s match, with the defender entering the AFL’s concussion protocols after presenting with delayed concussion symptoms.
Butts’ injury could open the door for Crows defender James Borlase to line up in his first game of 2026.
But Nicks remained coy on a team line-up, with the match committee also set to look at the possibility of playing two rucks with Lachlan McAndrew and Reilly O’Brien.
“I think what he’s (Borlase) proven is that he is a dominant player at SANFL level, he’s just got to trust himself now,” Nicks said.
“It’s a bigger challenge for him, lining up on players like (Pat) Voss, and Treacy at AFL level - they’re the best of the best… We are really confident in what Boz brings.
“ROB was fantastic on the weekend (in the SANFL). You talk about his confidence levels and where he’s at, he didn’t put a foot wrong since not being selected Round One.
“On the weekend he really found his mojo. He was really clunking the ball around the ground, taking big marks, imposed himself on the game. We’ll have a look at that, and have a discussion at match committee, see how the training session goes.”
The Crows will be hoping to return to the winners’ list after narrow losses to the Western Bulldogs and Geelong, respectively.
Nicks said the team knew what it needed to do to match it with the best and it was now about executing it.
“I don’t think our boys lack the effort, if we are not executing - there’s long down the line kicks that we weren't able to execute last weekend, we basically gave the ball back to Geelong,” Nicks said.
“We’ve gone to work on the areas we think we need to clean up, we think that’s going to help our contest.”
Adelaide faces Fremantle at Adelaide Oval on Friday at 6.45pm.
Tickets available here.
