IT'S NO easy job, staying with Andrew McLeod for a full game.

Jake King had the job on Saturday as the Tigers lost by 50 points to the Crows, and although King kept the 31-year-old to 15 possessions during the match, while getting it 19 times himself, the veteran's five third-term disposals were an integral part of the Adelaide resurgence after the Tigers controlled the first half.

King said that, an hour after the match, he was still feeling the immediate pain of running with the dual Norm Smith medallist.

"He's such a good player – he just didn't stop running. My legs are still throbbing at the minute," he said. "He works that hard, it's unbelievable.

"But it doesn't matter how good you go, or who you stop, you'd much rather the four points for the win more than anything."

Despite the lapse of the last couple of weeks, when they were smashed by the Eagles and went within a goal of losing to Essendon, the Crows are a side seemingly destined for the top four or six, and King admitted as much.

"They've got a lot of good players – they're pretty good all over the ground. They're solid up back, up forward they can throw blokes around – (Luke) Jericho kicked five, I think.

"Like everyone knows, you can hold a good side for so long, but they're going to turn it on eventually. It just depended on how much we wanted it, and it wasn't enough.

"We came out after half-time and they just hit us pretty hard and we were like a rabbit in the spotlight – we just froze."

The views in this story are those of the author and not necessarily those of the club