ADELAIDE champion Patrick Dangerfield is almost too courageous for his own good and needs to learn to win more 'outside' possessions, according to Crows coach Brenton Sanderson.

There are fears Dangerfield's bullocking brand of football could affect his longevity in the game and Sanderson has revealed the Crows have been teaching their star midfielder to win more uncontested ball.

The 24-year-old is the No.3 ranked player in the competition for contested ball, averaging 16.1 per game.

However, he is only equal 274th for uncontested disposals, averaging just 9.5 each match.

Sanderson said Dangerfield regularly plays "banged up" and the Crows hoped to tweak his playing style to protect him from injury.

"It's very difficult to keep this player down. He does play banged up a lot. It's impossible to keep him from playing," Sanderson said on Fox Footy's On The Couch on Monday night.

"He reminds of me Chris Judd at the same age where Judd was just all inside and contested.

"We are trying to teach him – we're spending a lot of time with him during the week – to get some outside ball.

"Because of his speed he could really hurt the opposition outside the contest.

"But he's very much a see-ball, get-ball type of player. But without doubt [he's] the most courageous player I've ever seen play and obviously coached.

"He has classic white-line fever."

Sanderson's comments came after Dangerfield suffered a knee injury in the dying moments of the Crows' 16-point win over Collingwood on Sunday.

It was feared Dangerfield, who gathered 26 possessions (14 contested) in the win, had suffered a serious injury after saying he heard a pop when the incident occurred.

He was cleared of any major damage, but will have to be managed through the week to face West Coast on Saturday.

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