Chris Knights was the stand-out performer among Adelaide's newer players as the depleted Crows beat Norwood by 66 points - 19.7 (121) to 8.7 (55) - in a physical practice match at Norwood Oval on Friday night.

Classy left-footer Knights, 19, was a prolific ball-winner with Woodville-West Torrens in the SANFL last season - and played two AFL matches with the Crows - after being drafted from Eastern Ranges.

His prominent display across half-forward, through the midfield and across half-back drew qualified praise from Adelaide coach Neil Craig, who said: "Chris, in conjunction with all the first and second-year players … we will be really strong on the defensive side of their games, and I thought after half-time Chris picked it up to the standard we're looking for.

"Certainly, in the first half, (he was) offensively very good, defensively nothing, so we've got to make sure our first and second-year players really need to understand the defensive side of football."

And Craig made a similar observation about versatile Richard Douglas, 19, the Crows' first pick in the 2005 NAB AFL Draft (from Calder Cannons) and already being mentioned at West Lakes as 'special'.

"His pre-season has been exceptional," Craig said. "He's been able to handle the workloads. This is probably the first time he's played against men. He's come out of the under-18 competition.

"He did some good stuff, but, as I spoke earlier about the first and second-year players, the defensive side is really important they pick up on. They've all got very offensive skills but it's the defensive side that we need to develop."

Of Jason Porplyzia, 21, from West Adelaide, Craig said: "I like Jason's hardness around the ball. He looked like he could certainly handle the physical side of AFL football. It's yet to be determined whether he'd handle the pace and speed of the game, but certainly there were very good signs from Jason - very good."

Craig said young ruckmen John Meesen, 19 (ex-Geelong Falcons), and Ivan Maric, 20 (Calder Cannons), still had 'a long way to go', and added: "But John has improved enormously over the summer break, so he needs to be complimented there, and Ivan has had a huge improvement, but, in reality, a lot more is going to be required for those guys to step up and be able to play in that position to create winning footy."

Adelaide was without many experienced players - Mark Ricciuto (groin surgery), Andrew McLeod (hamstring/glute), Ben Hart, Matthew Clarke and Tyson Edwards (all with leg soreness), Jason Torney (ill), Scott Welsh (leg stress fracture), Michael Doughty (knee), Graham Johncock (gastric upset), Nathan Bassett and Scott Stevens (shoulder surgery) and Ben Hudson (knee surgery) - the only player on the long-term injury list - although he moved freely as a runner in the Norwood match, watched by a crowd of more than 6000.

Craig said the Crows were 'streets ahead' of where they were this time last year - 'in terms of developing some youth and giving them a real opportunity'.

And he described the practice match as 'much better than an internal trial … and while the game didn't reach any great heights, it was really positive and fitted in really well with what we wanted to do'.

"I thought out handball, in particular, was really shabby," he said. "In the last quarter when we did put some plays together, we had a better chance to assess what was happening down forward.

"But when it's shabby coming from half-back through the midfield, it's really hard to assess what's happening down there. So we just need to tidy that up on the training track and do that a lot better because it's nowhere near the standard we're looking for."

Craig said the Crows were 'developing more versatility', and he added: "Hopefully in the next four weeks we'll see a bit more because, as the senior players start to play - and I'm talking about Edwards, McLeod, Ricciuto and Goodwin - we need to have a look at those guys up forward and, if they can fit into that structure and do it really well, that will give us enormous flexibility all over the ground."


ADELAIDE 4.0, 9.4, 13.6, 19.7 (121)
NORWOOD 2.2, 2.3, 4.6, 8.7 (55)
GOALS - Adelaide: McGregor 5, Hentschel 4, Perrie 3, Burton, Bode, Meesen, Vince, Knights, Skipworth, Bock. Norwood: Vidic 2, Hill 2, Bartemucci 2, Sandery, Aish