Defender Luke Brown says trust is the key to the maniacal defensive pressure underpinning Adelaide’s game plan under new coach Phil Walsh.

On the back of strong team defence, the Crows recorded their second win of the season against Collingwood at Etihad Stadium on Saturday evening.

For the second week in a row Adelaide kept its opposition goalless in a term, with the Magpies failing to register a major until the nine-minute-mark of the second quarter.

The Pies only had three goals on the board at three-quarter time and trailed by 56 points. The home team didn’t kick consecutive goals until the last term when they piled on five unanswered majors to reduce the margin to 27 points at the final siren.

The Crows pinned the Pies in their defensive half and forced them into error. Of Adelaide’s 30 scoring shots, 16 were created from turnovers.

Brown said there was an expectation amongst the playing group to defend as a team.

“It’s all about team trust. If one person does it, everyone has to do it – that’s what we expect,” Brown said.

“We trust in our teammates to get the job done in that area and it’s working well for us at the moment.”

Walsh praised his team for ‘buying in’ to the plan he wanted to implement, but said the key would be maintaining the “exhaustive” style of play for the duration of the season.

“From the players, I’ve had great buy in. They’ve got some trust in what I’ve asked them to do, and now I’ve got a lot of trust in the fact that they can do it,” Walsh said.

“(But) this is like a heavyweight fight … there are 22 rounds and you’ve got to come out punching every round. We’ve been good for two, but now our focus is solely on Melbourne.

“You can’t take your foot off the pedal. This is a very exhaustive game to play. You need commitment and you need guys who a prepared to sacrifice for the team. When you’re getting success, that’s easy. If you start to lose, that’s when it becomes a little bit harder to convince the guys that this will get us the result.”

Walsh also emphasised the importance of a strong pre-season.

“We got the players really fit. They’re extremely fit,” Walsh said.

“I have great confidence in that and the work put in by our strength and conditioning staff, Nick Poulos, Matthew Bode and Jarryd Wallace – they’ve done an outstanding job this pre-season.”

Brown, who was subbed out in the third quarter of Adelaide’s Round One win over North Melbourne, overcame a corked thigh to play against Collingwood.

The unassuming 22-year-old had an ice machine attached to his leg for most of the week in a desperate bid to be fit for the Club’s trip to Melbourne to play the Pies.

“I didn’t do a whole lot this week! I just tried to ice my leg a lot, pretty much 24/7. I iced throughout the night to try and get up for the game,” Brown said.

“It was a very low-key week for me, just resting up and trying to recover in time.”

Brown’s diligence paid off and he was able to line up against Collingwood.

For the second straight week, the small defender didn’t concede a goal to his direct opponent.

He kept dangerous Pies forward Jamie Elliott quiet until he was shifted into the midfield in the second half. In Round One, Brown nullified North Melbourne livewire Lindsay Thomas, who only hit the scoreboard after the quiet-achieving Crow was injured.

The modest backman said pressure up the ground was helping Adelaide’s developing defence.

“The mids and forwards have been doing a great job putting pressure on up the ground, so the ball is often coming in high to the opposition’s forward line,” he said.

“We’ve been able to hold the ball in our forward half a lot, which makes life easier too.”

A full-time member of Adelaide’s defence in 2014, Brodie Smith has spent more time up the ground this season.

The All-Australian half-back amassed 29 possessions, eight inside 50ms, three clearances and kicked a goal before being concussed and taken from a stretcher in the final quarter on Saturday. Smith also gained more metres (633) than any other player to be the clear best on ground.

Brown accepted the Crows defence might’ve lost Smith forever.

“Brodie seems to find the ball wherever he plays,” Brown said.

“We love his kicking ability, so the higher up the ground we can get him probably the better because he’ll be able to impact more scores. It was a great performance by ‘Smithers’ today and it was good to see him up and about after that nasty head knock.”