Crows "just fantastic": Craig

CROWS coach Neil Craig has labelled his team's all-round effort against West Coast at AAMI Stadium on Saturday as "fantastic."

Adelaide burst out of the blocks with a six-goal first quarter and never looked back.

The Crows led by 37 points at three-quarter time and then piled on an eight-goal final term to record their highest score and greatest ever-winning margin (76 points) against West Coast.

"Hopefully that game sent a bit of a message to our supporters," Craig said after the game.

"Last week there was a lot of talk about how good our attack was, even though we lost the game, but also as a club we thought we lost balance [of attack and defence].

"Today I'm suggesting to the people who saw the game that we're back in balance and that's the sort of thing we will keep trying to do.

"From a team perspective it was just fantastic."

Adelaide lost experienced onballers Rob Shirley and Brent Reilly to injury during the week and questions were raised about how the Crows' young midfield would cope with West Coast's engine room.

Scott Thompson, Jason Porplyzia, Richard Douglas, Bernie Vince, Nathan van Berlo, David Mackay and Brad Symes showed they were more than up to the task.

Craig also lavished praise on Michael Doughty, who restricted Daniel Kerr's effectiveness even though the West Coast star still collected 24 possessions. He also singled out kipper Simon Goodwin, who booted a career-high seven goals.

But Craig was perhaps most thrilled with how his young charges responded in the absence of some of their senior colleagues.

"Just the way our junior, inexperienced players played [was great], also the way our senior guys went about our business and, of course, the way our midfield was able to handle a pretty good midfield from West Coast," he said.

"It was a good day for us.

"Our record against West Coast, I think, was one out of eight and now it's two out of nine, so its still a long way out, but I was really pleased with the way our young guys went about it.

"It's great for the younger guys to be part of our club and to hopefully start to set that record straight."

Adelaide's record win was soured by a knee injury to exciting young forward Kurt Tippett. The 20 –year-old, who booted two goals, was helped off the ground in the third term after jarring his left knee in a marking contest.

He emerged from the rooms in the last quarter and the club is confident Tippett's injury is not serious.