Head to head: Adelaide 16 wins, North Melbourne 14 wins
Last time: Adelaide 9.14 (68) d North Melbourne 3.6 (24), round 12, 2009 at AAMI Stadium
MISSING IN ACTION
North Melbourne
Liam Anthony (shoulder) - indefinite
Aaron Black (groin) - test
Matt Campbell (ankle) - test
Luke Delaney (broken wrist) - 6 weeks
Levi Greenwood (hamstring) - test
Drew Petrie (broken foot) - 2-3 weeks
Ben Ross (groin/hip) - indefinite
Ben Speight (broken jaw) - test
Gavin Urquhart (knee) - 1 week
Adelaide
James Craig (hamstring) - 3 weeks
Patrick Dangerfield (hand) - test
Ricky Henderson (hamstring) - test
Trent Hentschel (knee) - 4 weeks
Jarrhan Jacky (hamstring) - 2-4 weeks
Graham Johncock (shoulder) - test
Chris Knights (foot) - indefinite
Brodie Martin (knee) - indefinite
Andrew McLeod (shoulder) - test
Brad Moran (knee) - indefinite
Andy Otten (knee) - season
James Sellar (hamstring) - test
Sam Shaw (shin) - test
Brad Symes (knee) - 1-2 weeks
FORM
North Melbourne: WLWWL
Adelaide: LLLLW
SUMMARY
Adelaide finally broke its duck and seemingly consigned Richmond to the wooden spoon last weekend with a 50-point win at AAMI Stadium.
The Crows appeared in trouble in the first three quarters, but pulled away courtesy of an eight-goal final term.
In contrast, the Roos found themselves on the receiving end of a hefty defeat, going down to an in-form Collingwood by 66 points.
Adelaide has won the past eight games played between the two sides but North Melbourne will be confident of ending the hoodoo after an encouraging month of football.
The Roos need a win to keep touch with the top eight, while another loss for the Crows would spell the end of their disappointing season.
PLAYER TO WATCH
North Melbourne livewire Lindsay Thomas was held goalless against Melbourne and Hawthorn, but returned to form with a bag of three last weekend. Thomas is also averaging four tackles a game this season and has the pace to trouble the Adelaide defence, especially if Johncock fails to come up.
Adelaide forward Kurt Tippett also played his best game of the season last weekend. The imposing Queenslander managed just one goal in the opening four rounds, but booted 4.3 against Richmond to take his tally to 10 goals in the past three weeks. Tippett loves the Etihad Stadium surface and will only get better as the team does.
QUESTION MARKS
Has Adelaide turned the corner? The Crows were less than convincing for three quarters against Richmond and will need to reproduce their impressive, final-quarter performance against a quality side to silence their critics.
How will the Roos respond? Skipper Brent Harvey told his charges not to drop their heads following the hefty loss to Collingwood, but it might be easier said than done for the young, developing team.
WHO WILL WIN AND WHY
The fence might be the best place to sit on this one. Adelaide played just 30 minutes of decent football to get over the line against the Tigers, but that’s unlikely to be enough to topple North Melbourne.
With the exception of blow-out losses to top-four fancies Collingwood and St Kilda, the Roos have proved to be tough opponents this season and will punish the Crows if they can’t compete for four quarters.
PREDICTION
North Melbourne by five points
Follow Mark Conway's inside view of North Melbourne v Adelaide at #aflkangascrows on Twitter.com from 1.10pm Saturday or @AFL_MarkConway#aflkangascrows
The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL.
