Adelaide’s recent form: lost to St Kilda by 48, beat Essendon by 50, beat Richmond by 63, beat Carlton by eight and beat Sydney Swans by 24.

Recent results against the Western Bulldogs:
Round one, 2008, Western Bulldogs 19.12 (126) d Adelaide 18.15 (123), TD
Round 20, 2007, Adelaide 15.17 (107) d Western Bulldogs 11.7 (73), AAMI
Round two, 2007, Adelaide 16.14 (110) d Western Bulldogs 11.6 (72), MCG
Round 20, 2006, Western Bulldogs 16.9 (105) d Adelaide 14.14 (98), MCG
Round five, 2006, Adelaide 20.12 (132) d Western Bulldogs 7.13 (55), AAMI

Strengths:
St Kilda used favourite son Robert Harvey’s imminent retirement to advantage last week and Adelaide fans will be hoping (what could be) Nathan Bassett’s final home game will generate a similar response from the Crows on Saturday.

The Crows, who could be bolstered by the returns of Bernie Vince and Jason Porplyzia, must overcome the Western Bulldogs to secure a home final the following week.

The Bulldogs haven’t beaten Adelaide at AAMI Stadium since round 11, 2001 and Neil Craig’s Crows, who experienced a hiccup last week, will be keen to re-establish their good form ahead of the September action.

Potential weakness:
Just three weeks after topping the competition for tackles in a single round, the Crows fell away in the intensity stakes and the result was a 48-point thumping at the hands of the Saints.

From quarter time onwards, the visitors copped a dose of their own medicine as St Kilda out-harassed, outmuscled and outworked the Crows at their signature style of play.

Coach Neil Craig has long maintained that competitiveness and intensity are the keys to his side’s success and Adelaide will need to rediscover its passion for the contest if it’s a chance of toppling the third-placed Dogs on Saturday.

They’re sweating on:
There are always concessions made at the main training session when a team only has a six-day-break between games, but seeing Scott Thompson and Tyson Edwards leave the track early and not seeing Simon Goodwin at all can’t be a good sign for the Crows. The unlucky Jason Porplyzia was another casualty on Wednesday, but Adelaide needs his presence up forward this week and is likely to take another punt on his suspect shoulder.

Dangermen:
Brad Symes: Symes has really come to the fore in the past three weeks averaging 25 touches and an impressive five tackles per game. The Crows struggled at the clearances after quarter time last week and Symes, Nathan van Berlo, Brent Reilly, and retuning duo Vince and Porplyzia, will need to contribute strongly for Adelaide to get over the star-studded Western Bulldogs midfield on Saturday.

Andrew McLeod: McLeod usually attracts a heavy tag when Adelaide tackles the Dogs as the sons of the west still try to come to grips with successive preliminary final losses in 1997-98 orchestrated by the Crows’ magician. The classy veteran racked up 26 touches and three inside 50ms against St Kilda last week and Adelaide will need his ‘big stage’ presence in the must-win game this week.

Kris Massie: Brad Johnson almost single-handedly wrenched the game from Adelaide’s grasp in round one this season finishing with 22 touches, nine marks and a return of 5.3, including the match winner. Massie, who was moved onto Stephen Milne late last week, watched on from the sidelines as Johnson brushed aside several Crows defenders to steer his team to victory earlier this year and is likely to get the gig on Saturday. The Western Bulldogs’ attack is jam packed with medium-sized forwards like Johnson, Scott Welsh and Mitch Hahn, and Adelaide will need to increase its defensive effort and get its match ups right to prevent a repeat of round one.

It’s not generally known…
The Western Bulldogs have played Adelaide more times (11) than any other team in the competition, besides Port Adelaide (12), over the past 11 years.

The views in this story are those of the author and not necessarily those of the club.