If Adelaide's midfield fails to exert enough defensive pressure on Greater Western Sydney on Sunday, there will be no stopping the Giants' 'scary' triple-threat forward line featuring Tom Boyd, Brenton Sanderson says.
Boyd will make his long awaited AFL debut against the Crows on Sunday at Adelaide Oval after being selected at No. 1 at last year's NAB AFL Draft.
The 200cm, 104kg 18-year-old will team up with fellow No. 1 draft pick Jonathon Patton, 20, and one of the most dangerous forwards in the game, Jeremy Cameron, 21.
In their four games together in 2014, Cameron and Patton have booted 16 goals.
Crows coach Brenton Sanderson said the Giants' three towers in attack would soon strike fear into every opposition.
He said the only way to stop the trio from booting a match-winning score was to cut off their supply.
"That's really scary. I know those boys are all still very young – Boyd in his first season, Patton in his third and obviously Jeremy Cameron's already one of the best key position players in the competition – on paper that looks like a real challenge for us," Sanderson said.
"If they can hold that forward group together, it's going to be the envy of every team in the competition.
"We have to limit their inside 50 efficiency, so if they have 50 inside 50s but they're all rushed and they're sort of bombing on their forwards' heads, that makes a big difference.
"But if they have time and space and we allow their midfielders to get efficient inside 50s, no one's going to be able to stop them – it doesn't matter which defence you put out there."
Sunday's game will be Crows veteran Scott Thompson's 250th at AFL level and Sanderson said the side would lift to ensure it was a milestone to remember for the two-time Club Champion.
Adelaide was overrun by Geelong in round one, which was Cats legend Jimmy Bartel's 250th match.
Sanderson said he expected the same sort of effort from Thompson's teammates when the going gets tough against the Giants.
"We look to reward our milestone players with an extra effort," he said.
"We certainly call upon our players to remind them that it's a really special game for one of your champions, but Scotty won't be front and centre saying 'Do it for me', it'll be more driven by his teammates.
"We'd love to get a win for him … 250's a really special one too for a guy who's a two-time club champion; it's important that we do play really well for him."
Twitter: @AFL_Harry http://afl.to/harrythring
