After last Saturday's disappointing home defeat to Melbourne, defender Daniel Talia refuses to concede that the Crows' season is already sunk.

With three wins and four losses Adelaide's situation is far from ideal, but the key defender won't allow the thought of another wasted season to enter his head.

An underdog victory against Collingwood in Round Nine would even Adelaide's record up, and maybe, kick-start a unit strengthened by the returns of Richard Douglas and Taylor Walker.

"It's a massive game for the club; obviously at 3-4 you don't want to go to 3-5 and be two behind the count," Talia said.

"We're going to have to do everything right to prepare ourselves to start well … we can't look too far past that.

"Momentum in footy is a massive thing and that can swing at any point. If we work hard…come back and play well against Collingwood, all of a sudden you win that game and you're 4-4 and anything can happen.

"Just because we're 3-4, we're not giving up on the season. We're going to try and win the next game and then we'll take it from there."

Set to match up on the Magpies' monster forward Travis Cloke, Talia could play a crucial role in scoring that all-important win.

Despite a slow start to the year, Cloke's form has been building ominously over the last three games.

He has lifted his average number of marks from five to eight a game and has booted six goals, compared to the two from the opening four rounds.

Talia said the 27-year-old Magpie, who weighs in at close to 110kg, was one of the best forwards of the past decade.

"I probably will get Trav. I've played on him the last couple of times we've played them and I've been watching a few of his games - he's starting to find really good form," Talia said.

"He's always a great competitor and I think the first few weeks he just wasn't clunking those marks but he's really started to do that now.

"He's obviously one of the great forwards of the last kind of five, 10 years of the game … he's got that size but then he's really fit and can move well as well.

"It's going to be a massive job."