Defender Daniel Talia says a frustrating fortnight of injury and illness has been a blessing in disguise coming into the business end of the season.

Talia sat out the majority of Adelaide’s Round 16 Showdown win after being concussed in the first quarter, and was a late withdrawal from the team to play Gold Coast the next week because of an unrelated illness. Prior to that, he hadn’t missed a game since the 2012 finals series.

The All Australian and reigning Crows Club Champion was still battling the effects of illness against Sydney in Round 18, but has returned to fitness and form in the past two weeks. He held Richmond spearhead Jack Riewoldt to one goal from a season-low seven possessions last weekend and kept Essendon’s leading goalkicker, Joe Daniher, goalless from a mere five touches on Saturday.

Talia said he felt “fresh” approaching the crucial last three rounds of the home and away season.

“It was pretty frustrating at the time. I’m not used to missing too much football,” Talia said.

To get knocked out in the Showdown and then miss the next week with illness was a bit strange for me. It’s almost freshened me up, though. I’ve got a big few games coming up, with Brisbane, then Josh Kennedy from West Coast and Tom Hawkins (Geelong) and these blokes.

“Those games are going to be massive and I’m actually glad I got the rest now. I can go fresh into the next three weeks and, hopefully, push towards September.”

Talia was part of a defence that held the Bombers to only eight goals at Etihad Stadium.

He praised Adelaide’s young back six, adding that pressure up the ground had made their job easier.

“I thought our guys (defenders) were really impressive today,” he said.

“Rory Laird’s had a fantastic season and just keeps getting the ball. We put Kyle Hartigan on Cale Hooker, their No.1 forward, and even in the last quarter when Hooker was pretty dangerous at the start, Kyle fought back and played a really good role for us.

“We’re really young back there, with Brodie Smith and Luke Brown as well … I don’t think anyone has played 100 games yet. Jake Lever has stepped in amazingly well to the level. He’s a fierce competitor as well.

“It’s really enjoyable back there, leading that back six. Hopefully, we can continue to improve in the next few weeks.”

It was friendly fire from Lever that led to Talia’s concussion against Port Adelaide.

The aggressive 19-year-old, who showed courage to go back with the flight of the ball in a marking contest, also collided with Laird for the second time this season on Saturday. Both players lay motionless on the ground for a few moments after the clash, but fortunately both recovered.

“Jake’s cleaned me up and cost me two weeks. I reckon he’s got Lairdy twice and cost him two weeks as well. He’s cleaned everyone up,” Talia said of Lever.

“He’s got gangly arms and he’s really aggressive. When you see Jakey run towards you, you probably just try and get out of the way!”

After conceding four of the first six goals of the game, the Crows piled on 12 unanswered goals either side of the half-time break to lead by 58 points at the last change.

Adelaide’s brutal onslaught continued in the final quarter. The visitors kicked 11 .1 in the last term – a Club record for the fourth quarter – to record an emphatic 112-point win.

“It was a bit shaky early. I think they (the Bombers) were two or three goals in front in the first quarter, but from there on we really got into our game style and played the game in our front half,” Talia said.

“We really brought the pressure and I thought our skills got better as the game wore on. We found a bit more run after the first half of the first quarter.

“It was really pleasing to win by that margin. Percentage is going to be huge come the end of the year. We just need to keep playing the way we want to play and keep winning. That’s all we’re focused on at the moment.

“We can’t look too far ahead. If you do … you can get ahead of yourself and you’ll lose a game.”

The victory saw the Crows move back into the top eight and gain nearly seven percentage points.

Adelaide has now won four of its last five matches, with three minor-round games to go.

In an extremely difficult period, the brave Crows have remained focused on the task at hand.

“The attitude of the whole Club has been first class this year,” Talia said.

“Phil (Walsh) brought in that hard working, team ethos and everyone is trying to carry that through. ‘Campo’ (Scott Camporeale) and ‘Woosha’ (John Worsfold) have stepped in and really helped drive that.

“Our group is really focused. We know we’ve got to work hard and we know where we’ve got to get to. There’s still a lot of work to do, so we’ll just keep improving week-by-week and hopefully get better as the year goes on.”