ADELAIDE will let Sam Jacobs fly solo in the ruck for one more week, before bringing in either Josh Jenkins or promoted rookie Reilly O'Brien for support.
Jacobs was forced to ruck on his own last weekend against Gold Coast when Jenkins was ruled out of the game with a hip injury.
In individual contests the star big man was too good for Suns pair Tom Nicholls and Zac Smith, but with the Crows entering the game without anything close to a second ruckman, Gold Coast was able to square any hit-out advantage.
Jacobs and Adelaide will be faced with the same issue on Saturday against St Kilda's Billy Longer and Tom Hickey.
With Jenkins' return imminent and O'Brien continually impressing in the SANFL, Crows coach Phil Walsh said a second ruckman would be inserted to take on Greater Western Sydney and Fremantle in rounds eight and nine.
"Ideally I'd like to give him a little bit more support … there's probably one more week where we'll go down this path and then next week we'll definitely give him support up against (Shane) Mumford, then we've got (Aaron) Sandilands," Walsh said.
"It'd be really difficult to just do one ruck against those two guys.
"It looks as if Jenkins will be available for us next week, but I'm also not against playing Reilly when you come up against Mumford and Sandilands."
Walsh said it was a balancing act when selecting two genuine ruckmen, like Jacobs and O’Brien.
“We debated the ruck situation a little bit. Reilly’s form has been really good. Probably the only thing with Reilly is that he’s more a ruckman than a ruck/forward,” Walsh said.
“Without getting too much into the machinations of interchange, the ability to play two rucks if they’re both really just ruckmen is difficult.”
Walsh said midfielder Sam Kerridge, who has had two strong performances in the SANFL after recovering from a hamstring injury, was also close to selection.
“It’s always frustrating when you’re not in the team, but we’ve had a number of players like that,” Walsh said.
“Mitch Grigg, Matt Crouch and Jarryd Lyons’ form in the SANFL has also been really strong and they had to wait as well. Sam knows exactly where he sits.”
The Saints are coming off the back of a thrilling come-from-behind win over the Western Bulldogs.
Walsh said St Kilda’s form throughout the season was better than the club’s 2-4 record suggested.
“It was a great game on the weekend … we saw what they’re capable of,” Walsh said.
“Apart from the second half against Carlton in New Zealand, I think their form has been really strong. I’m expecting a pretty exciting game tomorrow. I thought they played a really exciting brand on the weekend and I’m on record as saying that’s how I want us to play as well.
“It’s a funny timeslot (1:15pm) and makes it hard for our country fans to get to the game, but maybe it’s an opportunity for some people who normally aren’t able to get to our games to come and watch a really exciting game of footy.”
A couple of Saints in particular, defenders Sean Dempster and Sam Fisher, were on Walsh’s mind.
Walsh denied his team had been too indirect in attack against the Suns but insisted long bombs into the forward line wouldn't work against St Kilda's defensive pair.
If the Crows had Geelong star Tom Hawkins on their books Walsh said long and direct attack could be an option, but without him the side would look to craft its way inside 50.
"You've got to understand our personnel at the moment…we've got (Tom) Lynch and (Taylor) Walker; so you cant just bomb the ball inside your forward line," he said.
"Both Dempster and Fisher – they're very good at rolling off and then being the third man in to mark the footy.
"You've got to be careful with that; I'd love to have a Tom Hawkins or someone who we could just kick the ball too but at the moment we haven't got that player."
