JOSH Rachele is sore but in "good spirits" despite being subbed out with a rib injury during Adelaide's 36-point win over North Melbourne on Sunday.

The goalsneak copped a stray knee to the chest from Roos ruck Tristan Xerri late in the first quarter and took no further part in the match.

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He will be assessed during the week before it can be determined if he will be fit to face Gold Coast on Saturday.

"He's a little ginger," coach Matthew Nicks said of Rachele post-game.

"He's a little bit sore. We don't know exactly [the diagnosis] as yet but it was quite a collision, probably the biggest bloke on the ground coming at speed. So we'll have to wait and see on that."

The incident had some similarities to the serious collision involving Christian Petracca in the King's Birthday clash last year, which left the Melbourne star with a lacerated spleen, punctured lung and fractured ribs.

Nicks confirmed Rachele hadn't been taken to hospital and backed the club's medical staff in making that call.

"He's in the rooms, he wasn't singing quite as loud as the rest but he's in good spirits," said Nicks, who was asked about the Petracca comparison.

"We've got some really good people in that [medical] space that know that stuff and will make the decisions around that."

Xerri copped an injury of his own, spending time on the bench during the game with a hamstring issue, which coach Alastair Clarkson said wasn't a major concern.

"He just had an awareness from stretching out of a ruck contest, he came to get assessed but the docs assessed him and he ended up playing the rest of the game, so he should be OK," Clarkson said post-game.

For Nicks, there was beauty in his side's relatively ugly defeat of the Kangaroos.

The Crows remain unbeaten after a 36-point win over the Kangaroos when Nicks' side kicked more than 100 points in a third consecutive triumph.

Nicks said Adelaide's scoring return - 17.12 (114) to North's 12.6 (78) - came despite his side being unable to hit the heights of their opening two victories.

"We played some of our best footy in the first two rounds where we weren't doing a lot wrong, especially with the ball in hand," he said.

"Today was one where we didn't get it right.

"So there needed to be another way - we found it and we did that. That is the most pleasing part.

"It's interesting in the rooms, our players are showing a much higher level of maturity at the moment - the understanding of it wasn't necessarily our best, but what a great win."

The second-placed Crows have kicked a league-high 410 points in their three wins, with unbeaten ladder leaders Hawthorn scoring 363 points from four games.

But Nicks, in his sixth year as coach but yet to take Adelaide to the finals, said their recent lack of success ensured his club wouldn't get carried away.

"We have to go to the Gold Coast (next Saturday) and play another team that's playing high level footy," he said.

"From our point of view, it's just heads down and we do the work.

"When you've had lessons like we have across the last few years, it's not hard for us to stay focused.

"Might be famous last words, but it will be what we're trying to do."