ADELAIDE coach Don Pyke has never seen ruckman Sam Jacobs play a better game for the Crows than the one he played against Hawthorn at the MCG on Saturday. 

The 28-year-old took six contested marks, including two inside 50s, and had 43 hit-outs to enable the Crows' midfield to dominate the game after quarter-time.

The performance was an enormous factor in the Crow enjoying his first win against Hawthorn after eight previous losses – one while at Carlton and seven at Adelaide.

"He (Jacobs) was fantastic today. His ruckwork was outstanding and his marking around the ground and his follow-up was probably as good as I have seen in my time at the footy club," Pyke said.

After a rushed start saw him straight into a team meeting after having his ankles strapped when the team bus took 40 minutes to get from its inner-city hotel to the MCG, he took a while to get into his work. 

But once Jacobs did get moving, he was too good for both Ben McEvoy and Ty Vickery, outmarking Vickery twice in the second quarter to give the team confidence after it lost Josh Jenkins to injury early.   

"It is always a tricky one because if I try to get forward I don't want to get in the way of the forwards but when he [Jenkins] went off it was obviously an opportunity to try to stretch their ruckman and fortunately a couple stuck," Jacobs told AFL.com.au. 

He received good support from Andy Otten who filled the breach and was confident that Kyle Hartigan could have stepped in also if he had been required. 

With the mobile Paddy Ryder his potential opponent in next week's clash against Port Adelaide, Jacobs is in good form. 

He is also building a good connection with the midfield that many questioned during the pre-season.

"I have confidence in these guys who have been around the system for a while," Jacobs said. 

"We feel we have really good depth there at the moment."