ADELAIDE assistant coach Darren Milburn says the Crows' defence can hold up against the best in September despite a lack of practice against the competition's offensive guns.

A favourable draw has allowed the side to escape pre-finals showdowns with clubs like Hawthorn, Geelong and Collingwood and power forwards such as Lance Franklin, Jarryd Roughed, Tom Hawkins and Travis Cloke.

Fans might have felt a little panicked last Sunday against lowly Melbourne when, in the second quarter, the Demons took five contested marks in their forward line - four of them inside 50.

But Milburn said the issues Adelaide faced in that game were more to do with a lack of pressure coming from higher up the ground rather than a defensive problem.

He said he was confident the side's defence could hold the best big men at bay in the finals.

"The hardest kick in footy to defend is the one going over the back, especially if the bloke with the ball's got no pressure on him," Milburn said.

"It did happen a couple of times last weekend, but I'm not real concerned about it going forward.

"I've seen things throughout the year, I think we've played some good footy on those type of players and those types of forward lines.

"We know we can do it but as I said earlier, it can depend on the pressure through the midfield and from our forwards."

From the outside looking in, Adelaide's defence looked the area most likely to be its weak link in 2012.

With the departures of Nathan Bock and Phil Davis to expansion sides in consecutive years, Adelaide's backline, lead by veteran Ben Rutten, had the potential to be exposed.

It hasn't been yet.

Youngsters Daniel Talia and Sam Shaw have both taken their games to new levels and have been recognised with NAB AFL Rising Star Award nominations, with Talia a strong favourite to win it.

Having only joined the Crows as defensive coach after he retired from a distinguished playing career with Geelong at the end of the 2011 season, Milburn admitted he didn't know what to make of Adelaide's defence before he arrived at West Lakes, but he likes what he sees.

"I was an outsider too, so I wasn't sure what to expect," he said.

"I knew we had some quality players still there, some experienced players, but we obviously had to bring in some younger ones too to compliment that and they've shown that they've been able to step up to the mark.

"I'm not sure if they've exceeded [my initial expectations] but I know what they're capable of."

Milburn said the club had the right mix of talls and smalls and of experience and youth.

"[Our] strength is being flexible on who you can play on, I think that's a strength of most defensive sides," he said.

Harry Thring is a reporter for AFL Media. Follow him on Twitter: @AFL_Harry.