ADELAIDE coach Neil Craig has denied his side’s pre-season has been all doom and gloom, but admits he’s jealous of cross-town rival Port Adelaide’s success in the NAB Cup competition.

Last month the Crows stated their intention to go all the way in the NAB Cup, but fell well short against the Power in the opening round.

On Wednesday, West Coast assistant coach Peter Sumich declared it was good for West Australian football that Fremantle had made it through to the NAB Cup semi-final.

Craig stopped short of echoing a similar sentiment about the Power, instead using the opportunity to lament his team’s inability to progress deeper into the competition.

“I wish we were there [in the semi-final]. It’s more jealousy on my behalf than what Peter [Sumich] is suggesting,” Craig said on Friday.

“We [Adelaide and Port Adelaide] are arch-enemies and it remains that way. I’m jealous of Port getting that far because that’s what we wanted to do.

“In the end they were good enough to do it and we weren’t, so for us we’ve got to get better.”

The Crows started pre-season as top-four fancies, but a lengthy injury list and indifferent form has hardly provided the club with an ideal preparation for a tilt at a third flag.

Adelaide’s lack of intensity against Port Adelaide made it hard to gauge where the team was at and the club gained little from last weekend’s rain-soaked hit-out against Collingwood in Alice Springs.

Craig said Saturday’s game against Melbourne at Elizabeth would be vital for his side approaching round one.

“We haven’t [ticked] as many boxes as we would’ve liked over the last two weeks because of the circumstances,” Craig said.

“It’s been an outstanding pre-season for us and in the next two weeks hopefully we’ll get the weather conditions, so we can tick some boxes that we need to…but I can’t help the conditions.

“I’m sure Collingwood would say they got nothing out of last week. It was a dead week for both clubs. The next two weeks are really important for us to get a bit more information about where we’re at and what areas we need to spend a bit more time on.”

Adelaide has given game time to a number of young players this pre-season, with another three in line for a debut against the Dees.

Prized No.13 draft pick Daniel Talia has been named in the 29-man-squad alongside rookie Ricky Henderson and second-year defender Will Young.

Henderson is expected to play and Craig said there was a good chance Talia would also make his first appearance for the club.

“Daniel had a slow start to the pre-season because of some nagging injuries he came to us with, but he’s now settled down and he’s been on the track for about a month,” Craig said.

“We may get to see him tomorrow and initially I’d probably play him down in defence.

"I’m not sure what [he’ll play permanently] yet, but he’s a great athlete. He ran an exceptional time in the 3km-time-trial last week for a guy his size, like a midfield time and he loves training and playing, so hopefully our supporters will see him fairly soon.”