Adelaide and Geelong have played on 42 occasions with the Cats narrowly ahead 23-19. The Crows have won the past two clashes while Geelong had won five-straight previously.

The last meeting was the 2017 Preliminary Final at Adelaide Oval, where the Crows ran out winners by 61 points.

This will be the fourth time the teams play at Adelaide Oval, with Adelaide ahead 2-1. Geelong is 4-3 overall at Adelaide Oval.

Thursday night fixtures have become more common for the Crows, who are 4-3 on the day. Adelaide has been the away team just once on a Thursday, losing to Geelong by 28 points at Kardinia Park in 2014.

When the two sides met in Round 18, 2017, Richard Douglas kicked a career-high four goals. Previously he had only kicked four goals in 12 meetings with the Cats.

The Crows are ranked seventh for disposals while Geelong is eighth, although just .3 separates the two sides (overall Adelaide leads 378.3 per game to 378).

Geelong favours handballs (166.7 per game to 155.6) while Adelaide favours kicks (222.7 per game to 211.3 per game) and leads contested possessions (155.1 per game to 146.6).

Defensively Geelong is the best team this season, conceding just 69 points on average. Since Round 10, Adelaide is averaging 63 points a game.

Leading players for each side continue to shine with Rory Laird (33) and Matt Crouch (30.7) in the top six in the AFL for average disposals per game. Gary Ablett (28.9) and Joel Selwood (27.9) sit in the top 15 for the Cats.

Tom Stewart is one of 10 players with 100 marks or more this season. Laird leads the Crows with 88.

Major goalkickers are similar with Tom Hawkins booting 30 and Josh Jenkins 26. Returning from injury, Dan Menzel is one to watch out for with 15 goals in five games.

If Eddie Betts plays and kicks a goal he will be equal sixth in Adelaide’s all-time list alongside Darren Jarman and Brett Burton with 264. If he kicks two, he is on his own.

Hugh Greenwood is also likely to record his 100th tackle of the season. Last season he had 99 tackles in 15 games.