ADELAIDE coach Neil Craig has praised his team’s persistence after the Crows ended a five-game losing streak with a 24-point win against the Sydney Swans at the SCG on Saturday night.

Craig said the Crows set a new benchmark for themselves after an even team effort – punctuated by a brilliant display from five-goal forward Jason Porplyzia – catapulted the team back into the finals race.

“[In] four out of the last five weeks, we’ve been ahead at half time but haven’t been able to maintain the level of effort, for the want of a better word,” Craig said.

“Tonight, it was there for the whole game against a side that’s also recognised for that part of their game. To do it against Sydney, with our circumstances, with our squad that we’ve got at the moment – I’m sure our supporters would have a smile on their faces, as they should have.”

The Crows coach had revealed that Porplyzia’s damaged shoulder had popped out during the game, but he played through the discomfort.

“The easy option for Jason would have been to opt out and have an operation [after the initial injury]. The decision was not to do that,” Craig said.

“It says a lot about Jason Porplyzia and it says a lot about his feeling that he has for the playing group.”

The win returned Adelaide to the final eight and, with five games remaining, Craig said the club was not putting any limits on its goals – even agreeing that the competition was still “up for grabs”, despite Geelong’s apparent superiority.

He said the team would simply focus on repeating the effort that reaped a positive result against the Swans.

“I think all we need to worry about is that we haven’t been disastrous for five weeks, even though we didn’t get the results we wanted,” Craig said.

“Tonight we saw a level that we need to play at. The challenge for our group now will be to continue to play at that level for that length of time.”

“You saw Bernie Vince tonight play at it and he needs now to continue to do that, a [Richard] Douglas-type player; now that they’ve got a feel for it, they understand the level of it. It’s consistency, not just from quarter to quarter but from week to week.”

In injury news, Nathan van Berlo is likely to recover from a concussion for next week’s game against Carlton, while Kris Massie, a late withdrawal with a virus, will also be available.