Adelaide wingman Brodie Smith believes the bye has come at the perfect time for his team.

The Crows held onto seventh spot on the AFL ladder with a hard-fought win over Carlton at the MCG on Saturday. In further good news, best-and-fairest winner Richard Douglas and Rising Star runner-up Brad Crouch made successful returns in the Club’s first SANFL win of the season on Sunday.

The weekend off will also give defenders Jake Lever (ankle) and Ricky Henderson (back) more time to overcome their respective injuries ahead of Adelaide’s next match against reigning premiers Hawthorn at Adelaide Oval on Thursday, June 18. The players will train at West Lakes on Tuesday before starting four days of leave.

Smith stressed the importance of the mid-season break, but said the Crows would also use the extra time between games to try and improve their worrisome kicking.

“(The) Freo (game) last weekend, I think took a bit out of the boys. It was a really high-intensity game. The game is getting really hard, so it’s important to have a mental break and a physical break as well,” Smith said on Monday.

“We’re 6-4, so it’s good to be ahead of the ledger. It’s really set us up for a good second half of the year. We’re in the eight at the moment and we’re happy with that, but going forward we need to fix up a few areas and play the way we want to play.

“The main thing is getting our skills right. We don’t have a game this weekend, so we’ll train pretty hard tomorrow. We’ll try and get that match simulation right and improve our kicking.”

The match between Adelaide and Carlton was riddled with skill errors.

Disposal efficiency has been an ongoing issue for the Crows, who have operated at 69.8 per cent in the opening 10 rounds – well behind league leaders Fremantle at 76.3 per cent. The Club is also bottom five in goalkicking efficiency after kicking a wasteful 14.15 (99) on Saturday.

“Our skills have been letting us down a little bit this year,” Smith said.

“We’re a bit of a kicking side with the way we like to move the ball and pierce through (the opposition) defence … but we’re making some really poor errors at the moment and (with) our goalkicking as well.

“If we can fix up those areas, we’ll make things a lot easier for ourselves.”

The Crows held off the brave Blues, who hit the front early in the final quarter, to secure only their second win from the last six matches against Carlton.

Smith praised his team for finding a way to win the scrappy affair.

“It was a good sign for us,” he said.

“In the last quarter, I think they (Carlton) got ahead a couple of times, so (it was pleasing) for us to be able to turn it around and really scrap the game out. We weren’t playing the way we’d like to and weren’t hitting our skills.

“We had to fight to the end. We were able to do that and hold onto a win.”

In his first game back after recovering from a second bout of concussion this season, Smith collected 20 possessions, five marks, five inside 50ms and four rebound 50ms.

“I felt really good on the weekend. I’d like my performance to have been a bit better, but it was really good to be out there again,” Smith said.

“It (the concussion) is not going to change the way I play or anything like that.”

Adelaide will need to reverse another poor recent record to upset the Hawks in Round 12.

The Crows have lost five of their past six matches against the formidable team. However, the last three games between the two sides have been decided by an average of only nine points.

“The last couple of games that we’ve played them (the Hawks), we’ve pushed them but haven’t been able to get over the line. Hopefully, we can change that,” Smith said.

“It’ll be a massive game for the Club. I think they (Hawthorn) are 6-4 as well, so it’s an important game for where we’re both at in our seasons. It’s Thursday night footy, so hopefully we’ll get a massive crowd for the 25^th anniversary (celebration)

“It’ll be a big night and we’re looking forward to it. We’ll come out really fresh and give it our all.”