THEY share nine All-Australian crowns and six best and fairest awards. And in 2008, the Crows are hoping Andrew McLeod and Simon Goodwin can create more success stories, only this time in Adelaide’s attack.

Both McLeod and Goodwin were among the goalkickers in the Crows’ NAB Cup win over Collingwood last week in Dubai and, if everything goes to plan, the duo will call the forward line home for a large part of the season ahead.

“It would be a bit of a luxury to have guys like Goody and McLeod rolling through the forward line,” defender Ben Rutten said after training on Thursday. “But that all depends on how the other guys go.”

The “other guys” Rutten is referring to include established midfielders Scott Thompson and Brent Reilly, plus developing youngsters Nathan van Berlo, Chris Knights, Bernie Vince, Jason Porplyzia and Richard Douglas.

Thompson and Reilly, both 24, took their respective games to new levels in 2007 and will have to move up yet another gear if they are to replace the run of Goodwin and McLeod.

Talented forwards Porplyzia and Vince have spent the summer months working on their fitness so they, too, are capable of shifting into the midfield. Porplyzia, who has been cruelled by injury in the past, starred in Saturday’s win over the Pies, while Vince also looked up to the challenge.

“We saw some good signs from Jason Porplyzia and Bernie Vince in Dubai, while Brent Reilly and Thommo [Scott Thompson] keep taking steps up in the midfield,” Rutten said.

“Goody and Bunj [McLeod] are obviously great players, so if you take them out of the midfield you’re going to need guys to step up. Hopefully we’re heading in that direction and our players can keep on improving and taking on that responsibility. We don’t want to have to rely on any individuals or on McLeod and Goodwin being in the midfield for us to play well. The greater spread of players we’ve got who can play through the midfield and perform, the better off we’re going to be.

“We’re always looking for more goalkickers and I suppose we haven’t had a permanent small forward for a while,” Rutten added. “If we can have guys like Goody and Bunji, who kick an accumulation of 40 or 50 goals rotating through there, that would be ideal for us.”

Twin talls James Sellar and Kurt Tippett were two other success stories to emerge from the 81-point win over Collingwood. Sellar and Goodwin spearheaded the Adelaide attack, which was aided by the fast and free flowing style of footy the Crows adopted.

“Only time will tell [if Sellar and Tippett are the real deal]. Kurt and James have both put on a bit of weight and I know through training against them that they have developed a fair bit during the pre-season,” Rutten said.

“It will be interesting to see how they go, especially during the pre-season competition. As a team we’ve worked pretty hard on the way we want to play the game with some attacking footy and I think we saw some of that come through on Saturday.”

The Crows will train on Saturday morning before having the weekend off ahead of next Sunday’s clash with either Fremantle or West Coast.