The Crows switched skipper Simon Goodwin from up forward to down back on day one of pre-season and have also experimented with the highly skilled Brent Reilly in a similar quarter-back role.
And when you add in names like All-Australian half-back Andrew McLeod, Tyson Edwards, Michael Doughty, Brad Symes and emerging trio Andy Otten, Jared Petrenko and Myke Cook you can see why Craig thinks his back six will be difficult to predict in 2009.
“Goodwin, McLeod and Reilly in the back line could pose some problems. I wouldn’t like to be playing against that sort of back line and that could be a real possibility,” Craig told afl.com.au.
“Simon can play on a tall player and so can Brent from what I’ve seen in the NAB Cup. It wouldn’t be unrealistic at any stage for those three players to play back there at the one time, but because of their flexibility, none of them might be there either.
“For a side trying to plan against us, that flexibility could be a huge bonus for us.”
Goodwin, who started his AFL career at half-back, finished second behind injured star Brett Burton in Adelaide’s goalkicking last year.
But the recent explosion in rolling zones and the new, youthful profile of the Crows’ list has seen the triple best and fairest winner become a greater asset in defence.
“Simon’s not only there (in defence) for his playing ability, but for his organisational skills and his leadership,” Craig said.
“We’re just trying to tinker with our defensive action, so it’s really important to have guys in that area of the ground who have a good knowledge and can help the other players.”
Teams scuttled to implement more complex zones over the summer in the wake of Hawthorn’s premiership success.
But Adelaide, who has been using a form of zone in defence for years, has been able to spend more time figuring out ways to move through the opposition’s wall of players.
“Zones are the flavour of the month at the moment. It’s just a more sophisticated form of defence and each team will juggle it according to their needs,” Craig said.
“Already, there’s talk of how you’re going to beat the zone, but first of all most clubs need to get good at setting the zone because it takes a bit of time to organise. It’s not such a big change for us. All we’ve done is be a bit more aggressive with it in certain areas of the ground.
“Everyone talks about zones from a defensive point of view, but what it also gives you is a good attacking weapon.”
So far, three generally accepted ways of beating a zone have emerged; going wide around the boundary if players are protecting the corridor, going wide and then cutting back into the middle as you approach the forward line and, lastly, going through it.
Geelong brought opposition sides undone during the NAB Cup with bold, fast movement through the corridor.
But Craig said not all sides had proven they had the ability to take that shortest route to goal.
“That’s yet to be seen,” Craig said.
“The decision you have to make, if you’re playing against a zone, is whether you go through it or around it. I think that will be the real interesting part of the season to see how that unfolds.
“We’ll see which is the most successful method, but you’ve got to be good to go through it."
Simon Goodwin is rated a $395,300 forward/midfielder in the Toyota AFL Dream Team 2009.
