Rory Sloane believes the Crows have set the effort standard for the rest of their season after a spirited display against premiership fancies Hawthorn at AAMI Stadium on Saturday.

Minus injured spearhead Taylor Walker, Adelaide put in a gutsy four-quarter performance against the Hawks. The home side fought back from 28 points down in the second quarter to hit the lead early in the final term. But the visitors showed their class, kicking three unanswered goals to keep the Crows at bay and hold on to win by 11 points.

Although disappointed to lose, especially in respected full-back Ben Rutten’s 200^th game, Sloane was pleased with his team’s response to the loss to Carlton last weekend.

“We wanted it really badly for ‘Truck’ and it’s disappointing we couldn’t quite get there,” Sloane said.

“It (our performance) was bit more like how we want to play. We’re still not quite there, but we’ve got to make sure we keep the same standards now. We can’t be up and down each week.

“We’ve got to have that consistency because that’s what made us a great side last year.”

The Crows started strongly but failed to capitalise on their good work in the first quarter, kicking 1.4. At the other end, Hawthorn was efficient with its forward entries, kicking 5.2.

In all, the Adelaide forward line generated 23 scoring shots. Focal point Josh Jenkins kicked 2.4. Sam Kerridge kicked 2.2 in a defensive role on Hawks playmaker Grant Birchall and midfielders Patrick Dangerfield and Scott Thompson pushed forward to kick two goals apiece.

“I think Hawthorn just made more of their opportunities going forward,” Sloane said.

“We have to be smarter with the way we move the ball forward (without Walker), but we’re happy with big Joshy and Shauny Mac (McKernan) crashing into a few packs, which is what we’re going to need. We have to sum up each situation. You can’t just blaze away because we don’t have Tex or Tippo down there.

“It’s a different look forward line, but I think it’ll work for us, definitely.”

Kerridge, who claimed the scalp of Western Bulldogs star Ryan Griffen in Round Four, held Birchall (ranked 2^nd in the AFL for disposals prior to this week) to a mere 18 possessions – nine down on his season average (27).

“Sam is just eager to play in the team any way he can, and he said that to Campo (assistant coach Scott Camporeale). He just wants to play,” Sloane said.

“He sets himself for those roles and I love the way he’s going about it. He’d be tough to play on because he’s strong and super fit. He managed to get Grant Birchall the other way, which was good for us and Sam’s development.”

Most impressive was the efforts of the Adelaide defenders.

Daniel Talia, who kept Lance Franklin goalless, Rutten, Andy Otten, Brent Reilly, Brodie Smith and Luke Brown combined to limit the visitors to only 13.11 – the Hawks second-lowest score of the season.

“The back six have been very good for us this year,” Sloane said.

“We definitely put more heat on in the midfield and the forwards locked the ball in the forward line a bit more, so we could score. For periods of the game, we did that really well but then there were goals we let loose over the back.”

“Talz is a glove. He doesn’t work alone though, he had help from Otto, Radar (Reilly) and big Truck. That’s what I love about the back six; they all help each other out.”