The Crows' list of leading possession winners from the 17-point victory over Freo read as follows: Chris Knights 25 touches, Brent Reilly 23, Scott Thompson 23, Jason Porplyzia 21 and Bryce Campbell 18.
Andrew McLeod, who racked up 17 touches and three goals, was the best of the elder statesmen as young onballer Nathan van Berlo said it was time the club's next generation of midfielders started taking charge.
"We can't sit back and rely on those guys like [Simon] Goodwin, McLeod, [Tyson] Edwards and Nathan Bassett, who have been around for a long period of time now, because in a few years they are not going to be here," he said.
"The sooner we get younger guys moving up and taking over their reins, the sooner we'll move forward as a club. We don't want to wait until those guys leave the club and create what you could class as a huge hole."
Following the 2007 elimination final loss to Hawthorn – the Crows' opponent in this Saturday night's NAB Cup semi-final at AAMI Stadium – concerns were raised over just who would take over from the 'Fab Four' of Goodwin, Edwards, McLeod and Mark Ricciuto when they retired.
Coach Neil Craig's response has been to give the core group of 21 to 24-year-olds like Thompson, van Berlo, Reilly, Porplyzia, Campbell, Richard Douglas and Bernie Vince greater responsibility in the midfield.
"The last two weeks have been really encouraging," van Berlo said. "I think on Sunday night we only had one guy, Scotty Thompson, in the midfield who had played over 100 games. The rest were a lot less experienced than that.
"It's pretty encouraging for us to know that we were able to match it against a pretty competitive midfield in Fremantle. Knowing that we didn't have Goody and Tyson out there with us gives us some confidence going into next week and beyond."
Craig said the group's strong showing against the Dockers had "reinforced the confidence" he had in their ability to "get the job done".
"I think there could be a strong argument that the younger guys haven't been given the responsibility prior to this year, but now they're seeing that the responsibility will be there and they're responding to it," he said.
"We'll keep it in perspective, it's NAB Cup football. The first quarter showed that clearly we've still got a lot of work and assessment to do but, in all, there were some pleasing signs."
The Crows won't have to wait for Goodwin, McLeod and Edwards to retire before they see the benefits of developing their youngsters this season. Already, van Berlo and company’s ability to perform in the midfield has allowed the star trio to play cameo roles up forward. On Sunday night, McLeod, Goodwin and Edwards combined to kick six of Adelaide's 14 goals.
"It will be really exciting for the club if we're able to start the minor rounds with the younger guys in the midfield and those senior guys playing up forward," van Berlo said.
"But we'll just have to see if we can become consistent in holding our own in the midfield. Hawthorn will be a great challenge for us this week again. They have been playing some really good footy and they have a pretty high-class midfield running around. It will be a good test for us young guys to see how we go against them."
