Head to head: Adelaide 14 wins, Carlton 14 wins, no draws
Last time: Adelaide 27.14 (176) d Carlton 16.8 (104), round 22, 2009 at Etihad Stadium
MISSING IN ACTION
Adelaide
Nathan Bock (hamstring) - 2-3 weeks
Trent Hentschel (knee) - TBC
Patrick Dangerfield (neck) - TBC
Kurt Tippett (ankle) - TBC
Nathan van Berlo (hamstring/back) - test
Rory Sloane (ankle) - 4-5 weeks
James Sellar (hamstring) - 1-2 weeks
Graham Johncock (broken thumb) - test
Scott Stevens (concussion) - test
Sam Shaw (shin) - 2-3 weeks
Brad Symes (knee) - indefinite
Brad Moran (knee) - indefinite
Brodie Martin (knee) - indefinite
Andy Otten (knee) - season
Carlton
Rhys O'Keeffe (hip) - 2 weeks
Mark Austin (groin) - test
Paul Bower (leg) - test
Brad Fisher (knee) - 8-9 weeks
Brock McLean (hip) - test
FORM
Adelaide: LLL
Carlton: WLL
SUMMARY
With so much of the season to play out it sounds silly to label this a crunch match for both teams, but a loss to either here will set alarm bells ringing. Adelaide is struggling to find team cohesion after a wretched finish to the pre-season and just can't catch a break on the injury front. Kurt Tippett, Trent Hentschel, Nathan Bock and Patrick Dangerfield all went down during last week's horror loss to Melbourne. The Blues aren't travelling much better but can at least count on skipper Chris Judd's return to add a bit of spine to a team that looked lost at times during the loss to Essendon. There's a lot on the line here and the rumblings of discontent among the teams' respective supporters will intensify ten-fold with a loss given the pre-season finals aspirations of both.
PLAYER TO WATCH
Star Crows veteran Andrew McLeod has been performing below his best in the early part of the season and has been uncharacteristically wayward with his disposal. The Crows need their champion to dig deep if they are to break their run of outs.
Will Chris Judd need a game or two to get back to his best or will he don the cape straight off the bat? The Blues have performed disappointingly in his absence, but his return should make a few young midfielders walk a little taller.
QUESTION MARKS
Can the Crows go a half of football without losing a player to injury? They have angered the football gods somewhere along the line.
Can Carlton reverse a run of seven losses against Adelaide? They haven't come away with a win since Fev put the final nail into Gary Ayres' coaching tenure at West Lakes with the game winner late in round 11 of 2004.
WHO WILL WIN AND WHY
For Adelaide, a season filled with so much promise is already circling the drain at 0-3 so it's not hard to imagine what 0-4 would mean to the team's chances of finals football. The Crows have been made to look lethargic through the middle and they don't have master tagger Robert Shirley to blanket Judd any more. Despite the Blues' historical issues with the Crows and their developing forward line, Judd looks set to be the difference here.
PREDICTION
Carlton by 21 points
Follow the inside view of Adelaide v Carlton at #aflcrowsblues on Twitter.com from 3.10pm AEST Saturday
The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL.
