ADELAIDE coach Neil Craig has stuck to his selection criteria by leaving highly-rated 2007 draftee Patrick Dangerfield out of the 26-man team to play West Coast in Alice Springs on Friday night.

Dangerfield, 18, played two AFL games while based in Victoria to finish his year 12 studies last season and was widely expected to be a walk-up starter for the Crows' round one clash with Collingwood on March 28.

But the dashing midfielder has kept under wraps, receiving limited game time against the AFL Qantas Indigenous All-Stars in Darwin early this month after a knock to the head.

He hasn't played since but will line up in an intra-club match for West Adelaide this weekend.

Craig said his decision not to play Dangerfield against the Eagles was based on the teenager's preparation, which has been hampered by hamstring and whiplash injuries.

"At the moment, in talking to Pat this morning, the reality is that he’s missed four weeks of training that the other guys haven’t and that’s put him behind in some areas," Craig said on Thursday.

"I’m just looking for a slightly improved performance on the track in terms of game knowledge. What I mean by that is the way we want to move the ball, which if you’re not on the training track you can’t get and that’s where he’s been disadvantaged. And there are just some other aspects of his training performance we need to improve on.

"Pat’s attitude is outstanding and I’m sure he’ll play some NAB Cup footy pretty soon."

Craig said Dangerfield’s selection last year – when he wasn't even training in the same state as his teammates – was also based on performance.

"Last year we did play Pat from afar because he wasn’t training here and that selection was based on his playing performance in the under-18s," he said.

"You could argue that it was a tough call from the club to do that – to select him from afar – but the information we were getting back from the under-18 competition was that he was playing really well and I liked some of the things that he was doing.

"The two games he played in were in Melbourne, so it was minimal disruption to his year 12 studies in terms of travel and a good opportunity then."

Craig also asked for Crows fans, who have questioned the club's decision not to play Dangerfield, to 'be fair' to the promising teenager.

"In the end, I’ve just got to keep pulling back to performance and that’s why Rory Sloane comes into our 26," Craig said.

"He's performing on the training track and in an internal game with North Adelaide last week.

"My definition of performance and someone else’s definition might be different and that’s where you get debate about who should and who shouldn’t play. But in the end I have to make that decision, so I have to be true to my definition of performance.

"What I would say to the people is that I have a very high regard for Patrick Dangerfield. I’m sure he’s going to be an outstanding AFL player, but we have to be true to the way we go about selection."

Sloane, 18, is the only addition to the side that lost to Geelong by 35 points last week. He replaces defender Aaron Kite.

Dream Team watch – Patrick Dangerfield is rated a $115,400 midfielder in Toyota AFL Dream Team 2009.