ADELAIDE co-captain Taylor Walker has been warned he's not an automatic selection as he struggles with inconsistent form.
But assistant coach Ben Hart says Walker isn't alone among Crows players experiencing concerning form fluctuations.
"No one gets automatic selection," Hart told reporters on Monday as the Crows grapple with fallout from three losses in their past four games.
Walker was in pain after exacerbating an elbow injury against Essendon. Picture: AFL Photos
"He is doing some really good things for us and he's doing some things inconsistently at the moment - and he is not alone, we will work through that.
"It will be a discussion through match committee. He's the captain of the club, we will back him in for what he can bring.
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"He just needs to do it on a consistent level for us ... if we believe that he can do that and we see that in him, then he will continue to play.
"He just needs to get back to playing his really strong footy which we know he has got in him."
Key forward Walker has kicked 29 goals in 17 games while averaging 13 disposals a game this season.
Walker sprained his right elbow a month ago and exacerbated the injury in a collision in last weekend's loss to Essendon but was expected to be fit for Saturday's MCG fixture against Carlton.
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The Crows fielded a side with the oldest average age in the League last Saturday night but Hart said promoting youth wasn't a simple solution.
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"You can't just bring youth in just to make our team younger, they have got to be ready to play and play to the level that we require," Hart said.
He insisted the Crows could rapidly turn around their fortunes in the run to the finals.
"We're sitting eighth," Hart said.
"There's five weeks to go before finals - we're a massive chance to play finals.
"If we can turn this around, which we believe there's the ability for us to do, it's there for us. But we have got a lot of work to do starting with this weekend against Carlton.
"We don't see our season as over but we do have to do a lot of hard work."
