ADELAIDE will consider bringing in a second ruckman against West Coast on Saturday night in order to combat what coach Brenton Sanderson described as the "best ruck combination in the competition".

Eagles Dean Cox and Nic Naitanui have their side ranked second in the AFL for hit-outs this season with 49 a game, compared to the ninth-ranked Crows (39 per game).

Josh Jenkins has been steadily improving as Adelaide's second ruckman to Sam Jacobs, but given the combined strength of Cox and Naitanui, Sanderson flagged the need for reinforcement.

Shaun McKernan appears his likely choice, but the coach wouldn't rule out calling up former Richmond big-man Angus Graham for his first game in Crows colours.

"Cox and Naitanui, the best ruck combination in the competition without doubt," Sanderson said.

"[Graham] will come into the mix, McKernan was the one we went with for six or seven weeks, but we've got Graham, McKernan, even Benny Dowdell's showed a bit of form at Centrals.

"We’ve got the stocks there; it's just what we decide to do with the ruck situation."

With West Coast defender Beau Waters describing Saturday night's showdown with the Crows as an "eight-point game", Sanderson too admitted it was "make or break".

Both sides sit equal on six wins, two out of the eight. Still needing at least six or seven wins to play finals football, Sanderson conceded time was running out for his side to hit top form.

Last weekend's workman-like win over Gold Coast failed to impress the second-year coach, who highlighted the club's ‘team’ defence as an area for improvement.

 "We've still got a bit of a way to go…if we're going to be playing our best footy it's got to happen, like, this week," he said.

 "We need to have ruthless defensive values in our footy team and we're seeing the affects that has across the competition. The sides that defend the hardest for longest typically win.

 "We gave up 59 inside 50s again on the weekend – that's not going to cut it."