THE ASTERISK that must be written next to Adelaide's 81-point thumping of Collingwood in Abu Dhabi can be erased on Sunday if the Crows follow through with a strong display against Fremantle.
For all the hype surrounding the AFL pre-season cup fixture in the United Arab Emirates, and the wide margin, Adelaide have been unsure exactly how much weight to give their beating of the Magpies.
As coach Neil Craig notes, Collingwood were a tired and ailing bunch, not exactly fresh from three weeks overseas, altitude training in
So to face up to a Fremantle side that has just beaten West Coast in a first round local derby, and that also boasts beanpole Aaron Sandilands as a searching test of the Crows' young ruckmen, is more of what the Crows require if they are to gauge where they stand in 2008.
"It needs to be said and it has been said, Collingwood were a very tired football club they'd been away for three weeks, they'd been at altitude and had some sickness," Craig said.
"What we'll get out of the game on Sunday, Fremantle will be rested, the intensity will be higher, their reactions will be quicker, so in terms of the competition it will be stronger.
"That's not taking anything away from Collingwood's competition, it's just that's where they were as a footy club."
The extent of Adelaide's experimentation on Sunday will relate largely to their choice of team positioning, as older heads Andrew McLeod, Tyson Edwards and captain Simon Goodwin continue to moonlight in the forward line.
That leaves room for a new-look midfield to stake a claim for regular season duty, while also meaning there is a wealth of experience around younger key forwards such as James Sellar and Kurt Tippett.
"There's a fair degree of experimentation but probably not quite as much as some clubs because we are playing Goodwin, McLeod, Edwards, and if Nathan Bassett were available he'd probably play as well," Craig said.
"What we aren't doing, those guys we're not playing them in the midfield, we want to have a look at them in different positions, and with the squad of 26 there's still six or seven if not brand new faces then relatively new faces as well.
"We need to keep experimenting up forward with some personnel there and structure, midfield we need to make sure we continually give Richard Douglas, Nathan van Berlo, Chris Knights, Brent Reilly, Scott Thompson, that type of player, time and responsibility in there."
