ADELAIDE ruckman Sam Jacobs was singled out at half-time by coach Brenton Sanderson as the player to lead the Crows to victory in Showdown XXXIII - and boy, did he deliver.

The 24-year-old's 61 hit-outs set a new AFL benchmark - the most since Champion Data began registering official statistics (although North Melbourne's Gary Dempsey was attributed 63 in a game during the 1982 season).

Click here for Jacobs' career stats

Jacobs was simply unstoppable in the middle of the ground, with his counterpart Matthew Lobbe made to look fourth-rate, registering just 12 hit-outs for the game.

Jacobs' 36 second-half hit-outs earned him the Showdown Medal and lifted the Crows to a memorable victory, pleasing his coach greatly.

"Showdowns are special, they require special efforts from individuals and the team, and I did put it on 'Sauce' in front of the team that we did need something special from him in the second half," Sanderson said.

"To his credit he stayed on the ground the whole time, didn't come off, they tried going third up against him as well and that didn't work.

"I don't want to embarrass him because he's sitting right next to me, but it was a pretty special game from the big fella."

Jacobs was voted best on ground by five of the seven judges but the man himself said the job wasn't as easy as it looked.

He said he was exhausted by the end of the match having played 98 per cent of the encounter - something he hadn't experienced since his junior days - and insisted there were areas of his game that needed improvement.

"At the end I started cramping everywhere and was struggling to cover the ground," he said.

"[I haven't rucked for that long] probably since my junior days but, like 'Sando' said, he put it on me and I loved the challenge.

"My next progression will be my follow up work ... I want to keep working on my defensive transition, I think I can just sharpen up a bit and try to be a bit smarter."

Sanderson said, while his No.1 big man was improving on a weekly basis, the club had to be mindful of overplaying him as September loomed.

Adelaide's big man stocks took a hit on Saturday night with injuries to Kurt Tippett and Shaun McKernan.

Both played no part in the contest after half-time, with McKernan admitting he heard a crack in his jaw and Tippett sustaining a second concussion in as many weeks.

But Sanderson remained confident Jacobs could be used heavily and also kept fresh to ensure he would play a big role in the finals.

"We understand it's an incredibly long season and it's challenging to keep him fresh every week," he said.

"At this stage we're certainly managing his workload during the week and he won't do much this week after his efforts tonight.

"We're still at the stage where we can manage players during the week and get the best out of them."

Harry Thring covers Adelaide news for AFL.com.au. Follow him on Twitter: @AFL_Harry.

The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily of the AFL or the clubs