ACTING co-captain Rory Sloane is urging his Adelaide teammates to continue their form into this weekend's game against Melbourne in the hope of carrying momentum into the latter half of the season.
The Crows have turned their year around by winning their past three games, after a winless start had them near the bottom of the ladder.
A win against the Demons at Adelaide Oval on Saturday could see Sloane's team sneak into the top eight before their round eight bye.
With a number of star players expected to return after the week off, including full forward Taylor Walker and midfielders Richard Douglas and Brad Crouch, Sloane told AFL.com.au it was crucial to keep the side's "momentum rolling".
"These guys are coming back in good form as well – Tex was in some good form straight up [in the SANFL], Andy's (Otten) in good form. We expect the same with Brad (Crouch) and Ricky (Henderson) will come back and 'VB' (Nathan van Berlo) will come back later this year," Sloane said.
"As long as we keep building and keep a bit of momentum rolling, we've still got a lot of work to do, but we've got to keep a bit of momentum rolling into the later half of this year."
Douglas and Crouch would prove valuable additions to a midfield beginning to click, Sloane said.
Inexperienced players like Mitch Grigg, Sam Kerridge and Matt Crouch have all gained invaluable midfield time in the season's opening rounds and Sloane is delighted that the group is starting to gel.
"The last few weeks have been really settled in there. Scotty Thompson's back playing some good footy, Dangerfield’s up and about again as well and I love pinch hitting in there also," he said.
"Unfortunately we missed 'Dougy' (Richard Douglas) on the weekend. It'll be good to get him back but we've had a few young guys – Matty Crouch has come in and played some really good footy for us.
"We know it's still a bit of a work in progress for us. We haven't played super footy, we're still learning in there and we've still got a few young guys trying to find their feet."
Saturday will also mark the return of Crow-turned-Demon Bernie Vince to Adelaide.
Sloane said it would be good to catch up with his former teammate.
"Everyone misses Bernie, all of our supporters, our players – he was a very loved man at our footy club," he said.
"As much as he'd like to have a great game, we can't afford that.”
Twitter: @AFL_Harry