Adelaide Senior Assistant Coach Scott Burns says Saturday’s trial game loss to Port Adelaide was a good chance for the team to benchmark itself against one of the competition’s best ahead of a rematch next weekend.

The Crows made a promising start with early goals to Reilly O’Brien and Billy Frampton before the Power took control in the second and third quarters and won by 52 points at Alberton.

“We’re playing against the minor premier (last year) and if they’re not favourites this year they’d be close to it and we’re certainly developing so it was a really good test for us,” Burns said

“We were pretty pleased with our start and it was that third quarter where they really jumped us and we couldn’t quite control it.

“We are still finding our feet with our mix through the midfield but they probably came through a bit too easy and made it hard for the defenders.”

Frampton kicked three goals in his second encouraging performance in as many weeks while Ben Keays shone through the midfield and kicked two, as did Ned McHenry whose pressure was relentless and kicked a classy set shot from the pocket.

Darcy Fogarty and Taylor Walker presented strongly inside 50m while young defenders Nick Murray and Jordon Butts competed well on Charlie Dixon.

Adelaide will play Port Adelaide again next Sunday at Noarlunga in the AAMI Community Series game which will be the last hit-out before Round One.

“We played 26-27 today, we’ve got to filter that down to 22 next week so how that looks I’m not too sure at this stage,” Burns said.

“There are quite a few boys putting their hands up and a few who would have liked to have done a bit more, and underneath that there's three or four really good performances in the SANFL too.”

Draftees Riley Thilthorpe kicked four goals in the SANFL game while midfielders Sam Berry and Luke Pedlar also impressed.

“He’d (Thilthorpe) be around the mark (for next week), I’m not sure how we’ll set up going into next week’s game at Noarlunga but he’s had a bit of a limited pre-season so it was good for him, Pedlar and Berry to get back here and look quite strong.”

On a disappointing note, Burns said the team was shattered for Wayne Milera who requires surgery for a ruptured patella tendon and is set for a lengthy stint on the sidelines.

“It’s disappointing, our fans want to see him playing because he’s a terrific player when he’s up and going but he’s also a terrific person too,” Burns said.

“So we don’t like having our people miss out on football too much at all and when it’s back to back (injuries) it’s going to be painful for him, but all we know at this stage is he’s having the operation, the boys will rally around him and there are things he can do with this young group over the next three or four months to really help us.

“It’s really unfortunate because we know he is a quality player and at training he’s looked quite good in that position but unfortunately it’s a pretty ruthless industry and it’s another opportunity for someone so while we all feel for Wayne, someone is going to have to step up and take his place.”

PORT ADELAIDE    5.6    9.9     15.12    18.17 (125)
ADELAIDE               4.1    5.3        8.6       11.7 (73)

GOALS: Frampton 3; Keays, McHenry 2; O’Brien, Walker, Rowe, Schoenberg