Rory Sloane failed to shake a hard tag yet again on Friday night, but coach Don Pyke isn't ready to hit the panic button yet.

For the fourth time in six matches, Sloane had minimal impact, comfortably shut out of the contest by St Kilda's Koby Stevens.

Pyke, though, said he was happy with Sloane’s 14-possession, one-goal contribution and said the player remained high in spirits and welcomed the challenge of stoppers.

"He (Sloane) enjoys the challenge," Pyke said. "He's a competitor. He loves it…

"I still thought he had impact on the game."

Pyke defended Sloane's teammates despite several commentators including Cameron Ling and Matthew Lloyd making observations they felt the Crows star wasn't getting enough protection.

"We want to have a presence with whoever is running with Rory but it's also not all about Rory," Pyke said.

Pyke was also proud of the way his side responded to a week of fairly heavy criticism.

The Crows shrugged off a four-goal loss to Geelong last Friday and moved back to the top of table at least temporarily.

Pyke said the Crows' contested football was back at the level the club demanded, as it held the Saints to just three goals to three-quarter time, en route to a 57-point win.

"I think it was important after last week to respond," Pyke said.

"That's generally what better teams do. They don't dwell.

"I'm really proud of the players in terms of the response and the effort they brought and the effort was there all night."

The win improves the Adelaide's record to 9-3 entering the break and Pyke said the club was satisfied with its "body of work" to this point in the year but would demand it continued to improve in the back half of the season.

"We've reached the half way point of the season with nine wins, in a good position," he said.

"But we don't sit here completely content and satisfied. The response tonight was fantastic. We were able to achieve a really good result.

"We go into the break and the bye looking at our body of work saying there's enough there to suggest that when we can come and play at our standard we're going to be a strong side and we have to take confidence from that."

The game saw Jono Beech kick a goal in his first match for the Crows and have a strong impact, and Pyke praised the 26-year-old for years of perseverance.

Beech was twice narrowly overlooked at drafts by Adelaide but continued to play strong football for West Adelaide and got his chance this season after being taken in the 2015 rookie draft.

"It was a great night for Jono and his family," Pyke said.

"Jono has spent a long time striving for this moment and again he committed himself really well to the contest."

The Crows got through the match with a clean bill of health. Pressure will continue to increase for spots at West Lakes post-bye with Paul Seedsman and Mitch McGovern returning through the SANFL this week.