ADELAIDE isn't buying talk from Melbourne pest Bernie Vince that he will be leaving Crows club champion Rory Sloane alone in Saturday night's encounter at TIO Stadium.
Vince restricted Sloane to just 11 possessions in a tagging role when the Demons staged a second-half fightback on their way to a 41-point thumping of the Crows at Adelaide Oval in round eight.
Crows forward Josh Jenkins was adamant the Demons would repeat the tactic, despite Vince's denials this week.
Match preview: Melbourne v Adelaide
"I would suggest he's foxing, he's known to be a bit of a fox, Bernie," Jenkins said.
"It worked last time so it would be foolish to go away from it, and I'm sure Rory can expect Bernie next to him.
"He saw a close tag for probably six weeks, none closer than Bernie.
"He's more equipped and we're more equipped to help him as well."
The Crows could regain forward Tom Lynch after missing the past two games with viral meningitis, however, the warm conditions in Darwin combined with a six-day turnaround ahead of a Friday night blockbuster with Geelong will be taken into consideration.
"It will be a touch-and-go type decision," Jenkins said.
"Lynchy has assured me he is pushing his case as much as he can, but at the end of the day it will be out of his hands, and it will probably be out of (coach Don Pyke)'s hands as well.
"If our doctors and the doctors that treated Tom say he's ready to go, they will play him.
"He's only done individual stuff on the track so far.
"He's a very fit guy, so it shouldn't have knocked him around too much, but we've got to take into account where we're playing and a short turnaround next week."
The temperature in Darwin is expected to be 24 degrees at 8pm on Saturday night, with humidity of 61 per cent.
The Crows are on top of the table on 44 points, ahead of Greater Western Sydney (44) on percentage, Geelong (42) and Port Adelaide (36) with seven games remaining.
"We sit first, so we don't want to be going backwards from here," Jenkins said.
"We want to continue going forwards and winning games.
"We'd like to be able to finish top two and we currently sit in first, so let's stay in first."
The Demons are sitting fifth on 36 points and showed great resilience in holding off Carlton without co-captains Jack Viney and Nathan Jones last week.
"They've got a really strong midfield, even missing their two co-captains," Jenkins said.
"Vince is a physical guy inside, Dom Tyson is a player I really like and they've got some dashers, particularly Jayden Hunt off half-back who swings forward as well."
Crows expect Demon won't leave Sloane alone
Adelaide prepares for Bernie Vince to tag key playmaker again