The prospect of a having a fully-firing engine room at his feet has Adelaide ruckman Sam Jacobs excited for what’s to come in 2019.

The two Crouch brothers, Matt and Brad, along with co-captain Rory Sloane were the three most prolific midfielders on the field in Saturday’s JLT Community Series win over Port Adelaide, combining for 89 disposals between them.

The opening bounce was the first time Jacobs stepped into the centre square with Brad Crouch since the 2017 grand final and with Bryce Gibbs still to return, signs are positive for the Crows’ midfield group.

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“I’ve really missed playing with Brad, I’ve played a fair bit of footy with him and I know how hard it was for him last year missing the footy,” Jacobs told AFC Media post-match.

“Matt’s an ultra-consistent player and brings his best every week, so it’s really exciting for the team [to have the Crouch brothers back together]… and to think Gibbs and [Brad] Crouch haven’t even played together yet…”

Along with getting plenty of the football, the trio of Crouch, Crouch and Sloane combined for 33 contested possessions, 15 clearances, nine centre clearances and 11 tackles.

Jacobs said he was confident the coaches would be pleased with what they saw.

“I think a lot of our key indicators were pretty strong, our contested ball, tackling and clearance numbers were strong for the majority of the game,” he said.

“Sloaney’s playing really well at the moment… his multiple efforts and putting his head over the ball is really good.

“He’s a really strong leader, it’s great that he’s captain, and he’s a teammate that I love playing with.”

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Gibbs missed Saturday’s game with a minor shoulder injury but is expected to return for Adelaide’s second JLT game against Greater Western Sydney on Friday night.

“[Gibbs will slot in] pretty seamlessly, he had a good year last year, bit of a sounding out kind of year,” Jacobs said.

“It’s always hard when you come across to a new system and last year things didn’t go as well as we wanted as a Club, but he’s a real luxury player for us to have as his skills are really high level.”

The Club’s JLT opener was also the first time the 30-year-old got a taste of the new 6-6-6 set up rule at centre bounces.

“I like it, especially as a footy head… in the game it’s a lot more free-flowing,” he said.

“It’s going to put a lot more pressure on the ruckman and the centre bounce team so hopefully I don’t have too many challenges through the year.

“I definitely think it’s a better visual, you can see the scoring is a lot higher already and you can see those one-on-one contests.”