CROWS coach Neil Craig believes the winner of the midfield match-ups will hold the key to victory in Friday night’s blockbuster against Geelong at AAMI Stadium.

Brownlow Medal favourite Gary Ablett has been in scintillating form over the past month, but Craig, although wary of Ablett’s match-winning capability said it was the Cats’ onball depth that posed the biggest threat.

“The midfield is the main one [match-up] for us. Our back six won’t change much. Kris Massie and Brad Symes come up for selection and both of those guys can play in defence, which would release Scott Stevens.

“Scott has a lot of flexibility. He can play forward, some areas of the midfield and also in defence, so there will be some changes for us.

“Most of our thought processes this week have been around, one, Geelong’s style and whether we are able to handle that with what we’ve got at the moment and, two, the depth of their midfield, which is very good.”

Adelaide’s premier stopper Rob Shirley, who held Simon Black to a mere 19 possessions in Brisbane a fortnight ago, is the frontrunner to stand Ablett. Part-time taggers Nathan van Berlo and Michael Doughty are also in the mix and could be given equally as important jobs on Brownlow Medallist Jimmy Bartel or ball magnets Joel Corey and Joel Selwood.

Craig said the Crows needed to find a balance between shutting down Geelong’s prime movers and also generating enough attack to be able to kick a winning score.

“The way it unfolds normally is that Shirley will take someone and Cameron Ling will take someone for Geelong,” Craig said explaining the on field dynamics.

“It would be very unusual for that tagging-type situation to unfold on the wings, so you’ve got attack v attack there, which leaves you a neutral midfielder.

“You have your ruckman, one of your players being tagged and one of their players being tagged, so there you go and that’s where it tends to unfold.

“Where you can get bogged down is when that neutral midfielder gets out of control a bit like Luke Power did when we played the Brisbane Lions.

“We had Simon Black under control, but then all of a sudden Power bobs up. Then you are faced with a decision from a coaching perspective in terms of do you try and shut that down? That can put you into negative mode or do you say ‘no, we need to be able to put up with 35-40 possessions’ because we’re still getting some forward movement.

“They are all the decisions you get faced with in the coaching box and, sometimes, if you make a decision and you lose, you get criticised for it.”