ADELAIDE has four wins and is firmly entrenched in the top eight after six rounds of the 2008 season.

That lofty position has caught a few people outside the club by surprise given the off-season departure of some highly-experienced players, but the ability of young Crows like Jonathon Griffin to step up and play significant roles is a major reason for the side’s early season form.

“Over the pre-season we knew that we were going to come into the season-proper strong and we had some pretty high expectations on ourselves,” Griffin said.

“We’re definitely on track and it’s no surprise to us; we just want to make sure that we keep winning.”

Griffin, 22, had 35 hit-outs on Saturday to be the dominant ruckman on the ground in Adelaide’s 30-point win over Cartlon in just his 22nd AFL game.

But while he was happy to be able to get his hands on the ball first, the former rookie wants more.

“You’ve got to be good enough to get the hit-out I suppose, but to get yourself from a good ruckman to a great ruckman you need to be able to hit targets,” he said.

“It’s going to be a focus over my whole career; to make sure that I’m winning the tap and then actually hitting a teammate on the body. I’m working towards that and I’m going to try and make it one of my strengths in the future.”

Griffin has won plenty of fans for the way he has gone about his game since being thrust into the lead ruck role following the off-season departure of Ben Hudson and the season-ending knee injury to Rhett Biglands.

He, along with other youngsters like Richard Douglas, Bernie Vince, Kurt Tippett and David Mackay, has thrived on the added responsibility given to him this season and he credits the coach for believing in the young talent at West Lakes.

“I think Craigy should get a lot of [praise] for putting some faith in the young blokes and they’re repaying him by playing some good footy,” he said.

“All the senior guys get a real buzz when the more inexperienced blokes are playing well and vice versa which really helps us to lift the level.

“It works both ways and it’s really good that the young blokes are stepping up.”