Craig expects the Crows to be challenged strongly by Essendon at AAMI Stadium on Friday night, despite the Bombers having lost their past eight matches this season.
Adelaide thrashed Essendon by 88 points (24.7 to 9.9) under lights at AAMI Stadium in round 11 last season. It was the Bombers' eighth loss in 11 matches against the Crows at AAMI Stadium, although they still lead 13-8 overall.
"If you look at their form - take a significant block - they haven't shirked the issue at all (this season)," Craig said. "In actual fact, their form's been pretty good, even though their win-loss ratio is not what they would want. But, clearly, they have played some really good football.
"We learned a fair bit from Richmond (two weeks ago) and we learned enough from Carlton (last week) to suggest those teams need a huge effort against them.
"And as players and coaches keep telling the media, it just reaffirms that in this competition you've got to be right on your game in every game to get the result you want. So it's another challenge for us."
Asked whether he would take 'at face value' Sheedy's recent comments that Essendon would not play 'basketball crap' or whether he would be prepared for a defensive style of game, Craig said: "I think we'll always be prepared for it. Just as we do it occasionally, opposition clubs will no doubt do it against us, so we've always got to be prepared for it.
"How would I take Kevin's comments? I'd take them on face value. I think Kevin's pretty true to his word. That's not saying he wouldn't do it.
"They (the Bombers) are going through a rebuilding stage. It's pretty exciting for them, really. I mean, you look at their squad and what they've got. Apart from last week, they've been (playing) really, really strong, competitive football - 10 points (down) at three-quarter time against West Coast (two weeks ago).
"And I would suggest the Essendon club are pretty lucky to have Kevin Sheedy at the helm just at the moment."
Asked if there had been a focus this week on the Crows' second-quarter fadeouts, Craig said: "We're focusing more on just being able to play consistently high-performance football for four quarters, and if we can do that, irrespective of what the scoreboard says - and if we can do that on a consistent basis - that would be an improvement for us."
Craig said he would not 'put a hard-and-fast rule' on the number of handpasses used by his players because opportunities would arise when a third or fourth handpass (in succession) was appropriate.
"But in today's football, I think in general terms, any more than probably two or three handballs in a row and you start to run into trouble because people can get to you very quickly," he said.
Asked what advantage former Adelaide coach Gary Ayres could be to Essendon, as one of Sheedy's assistant coaches, Craig said: "Gary wouldn't know (Nathan) van Berlo, (Ivan) Maric, (Chris) Knights, but, apart from that, he'd know the rest of them very, very well.
"How much that means to Essendon in their planning, I'm not quite sure, but he's certainly got a very intricate understanding of our players and the personality of our players. So that might be an advantage."
Asked how much Adelaide's game plan had changed since Ayres left the club after round 13 of 2004, Craig said: "Not a lot. You don't have to be inside a football club to look at styles of play and the trends and the way teams play. Yeah, I think it would be some advantage for Gary to give Essendon.
"We've had Paul Hamilton in our camp when we've played the Kangaroos, and did we really use anything that Paul brought? No, it's just information. We're not sort of saying, 'that was a gold nugget, that got us over the line'.
"So unless Gary's got some gold nuggets … he might have, I don't know. We didn't (get any) from Paul Hamilton."
Asked his views on the AFL playing a night grand final, Craig said: "You won't know 'til you try it. You can sit around and talk about it as much as you like, and you should, too - you should debate it. But I haven't got an opinion on it - whether you should or shouldn't (play it at night).
"But I can't see any reason why you wouldn't. At least try it. I mean, players love playing at night, they really do."
Craig confirmed ruckman Matthew Clarke would not play against Essendon because of a sore heel and Maric would be recalled - and he said Tyson Edwards was 'okay' after having to miss the game against Carlton last week with an ankle injury.
