Coach Brenton Sanderson billed the battle between NAB Rising Star contenders Daniel Talia and Jeremy Cameron as a “game within a game” ahead of Adelaide’s clash with Greater Western Sydney on Sunday.

If that was the case, then Adelaide claimed another victory at Skoda Stadium, as Talia added heralded Giant Cameron to his growing list of scalps this season.

The inexperienced Crows defender limited Cameron - a popular pick to take out the prestigious Rising Star award - to eight possessions, holding him goalless for only the second time in the last two months.

Talia also collected 13 disposals of his own, helping him to shake the tag ‘Presti’ (after former Collingwood stalwart Simon Prestigiacomo) given to him by his teammates.

The mature 20-year-old, who has played every game this season for a career total of 24, said he was keen to challenge himself against another budding young player of the competition.

“I always look forward to taking on someone younger than me. There aren’t too many blokes I play on, who are,” Talia told afc.com.au after the game.

“Cameron’s a quality player. He worked really hard and is a good, young talent. He got a shot on me early. Fortunately, he missed it and didn’t get another one.

“I was happy to keep him goalless and I’m sure we’ll be playing on each other for years to come.”

Talia has also played on and beaten proven opponents, including St Kilda captain Nick Riewoldt, and premiership players James Podsiadly and Chris Dawes, in his 2012 breakout season.

It was after his performance on Riewoldt in round 12 that he earned a nomination from the NAB Rising Star judges.

Reigning Club Champion Scott Thompson said the former first-round draft pick had the trust of his teammates to play on the best forwards in the game.

“Talz is in great form. He just gets better every week,” Thompson said.

“He’s a human glove and he shut down another good opponent today in Cameron.”

Following in the footsteps of mentor Ben Rutten, who slotted his first goal of the season against the Giants, and emerging defender Sam Shaw, Talia had a rare stint in attack in the final quarter on Sunday.

He took a mark inside50m in the dying stages, and lined up for his first goal at AFL level but sprayed his kick as the final siren sounded.

A centre half-forward for the Calder Cannons in 2009, Talia isn’t a stranger to the forward line, but admitted he needed some goalkicking practice after a long absence from the goalsquare.

“Sando has been joking around with me the last few weeks that he wanted to put me forward, so that hopefully I could kick a goal,” Talia said.

“I had my chance on the siren, but absolutely shanked it. I don’t know if I’ll be going forward again.

“It was my first time there in a while. I should probably practice a few shots at goal if Sando’s going to put me there in games.”

The Crows defence, minus veteran Michael Doughty, conceded only eight goals on Sunday.

“We had a different look back there today, with Luke Brown in his first game, Brodie Smith and D-Mac (David Mackay), who has played back the last few weeks,” Talia said.

“We had a few younger blokes. It was only Truck (Rutten) and Radar (Brent Reilly), who had a bit of experience, and it took us about a half to gel together as a defence, but we were good in the second half and GWS hardly scored.

“It’s exciting to have other young blokes back there.”

In contrast, Adelaide piled on 18 goals-to-four after half-time to record an emphatic 119-point win.

Talia said it was important his team finished the game strongly heading into Saturday’s clash with top-four fancies, West Coast.

“We were a bit slow out of the blocks today and a bit sloppy. We were trying to be a bit too cute and weren’t hitting any of our targets,” he said.

“In the second half we were a bit more direct. We took the game on and kept the foot on the throat. It was good to get some goals late and improve our percentage.

“Next week’s going to be huge. Sando mentioned a few times in the second half today, that we had to keep the momentum going and have good form going into next week. That was in the back of our minds in the second half.

“Fortunately, we were able to kick a few goals and take a bit of confidence into a big game next week.”

Adelaide hosts the West Coast Eagles at AAMI Stadium on Saturday at 1.40pm. Click here  for tickets and match day information.