ADELAIDE is hoping the club's week off will help star forward Taylor Walker recover from a host of niggling injuries.
Walker returned to the AFL in round nine against Collingwood having spent a year rehabilitating from a knee reconstruction.
He has played every game since and booted five goals against Gold Coast in round 11, but his form has tapered off in recent weeks as he has battled calf, hip, glute and hamstring complaints.
Assistant coach Mark Bickley said that such injuries and soreness were typical for a player who had missed 12 months of football and that the break would prove hugely beneficial for Walker.
"When Taylor first came back I thought physically he looked magnificent – he covered the ground really well and his work rate was enormous," Bickley said.
"He has been a little bit sore the last couple of weeks and whilst he hasn't been our worst performer he certainly hasn't been (performing) to the level that he would expect.
"He offers great on-field leadership, he also draws the best defender… Taylor's a vital cog in our wheel and he's playing an important role, but he'll be better after the break I'm sure."
Bickley also hoped the bye would allow veteran midfielder Scott Thompson to avoid missing any football, revealing a back issue is causing hamstring tightness for the 31-year-old.
Thompson has been in sensational form this season but, like Walker and several of his teammates, has endured niggling injuries of late.
"It's been scanned multiple times and there's no tear or anything like that," Bickley said.
"We're hoping it won't keep him out at all to be quite honest… with a break and some treatment, [hopefully] he'll be able to take his place."
Bickley insisted the Crows' sights remained focused on finals football and, more immediately, their next opponent Collingwood, a game which will be played at the MCG on 27 July.
Adelaide sits a game behind the eighth-placed Magpies, and with superior percentage could sneak into the top eight for the first time this year with a win.
Bickley said the Crows had the quality and the game to cause some damage during the finals if they were able to make the eight.
"Some of our games this year we've been able to play good footy against top-eight sides and that's basically what finals is about – being able to produce against the best sides at the right time," he said.
"Our top end is very good, you know who those players are – (Patrick) Dangerfield, (Rory) Sloane, Walker, (Daniel) Talia – all those guys.
"They're certainly more than capable.
"Firstly we've got to be able to get there and then you've got to be able to produce when it matters most."
Meanwhile captain Nathan van Berlo is accelerating his desperate bid to play again, but remains unlikely to feature this season.
Van Berlo ruptured an Achilles tendon when a sled carrying weights crashed into him at pre-season training in mid-January.
The Crows skipper has started running again but remains a long-shot to play this year according to Bickley.
"Nathan, being the professional he is, he's training hard and wanting to get back because if we do make finals, he wants to give himself an opportunity," Bickley said.
"But you would have to say the odds are slim at this stage.
"A ruptured Achilles is really major. There's a whole lot of things, there's match fitness, the conditioning of your legs - you're deconditioned totally when you can't walk for whatever it was, probably three or four months.
"There is a whole range of issues, not to mention touch and game sense."
Adelaide had sorely missed van Berlo's leadership and playing smarts, Bickley said.
"Nathan's leadership experience is undoubted. But certainly there's some footy stuff as well... he's our most elite runner and whilst he does some tagging jobs, he still does carry the ball as well and gives us that running capacity.
"That is probably an area, particularly early in the year, that we missed."
