It's also the perfect opportunity for the Crows to show what they are made of as the season enters its second half.
The Hawks dismantled Adelaide by 44 points in Launceston in round four – after pipping them in the 2007 elimination final – and Goodwin said it was hard to assess his club's potential on the back of that performance.
"Our contested footy, our hardness around the ball and our tackling was really ordinary that day [against Hawthorn in round four]," he said.
"We hope we can get those things in order this week because they will be very important in us winning the game. They’re the sort of things we’re looking at this week and looking for an improvement in, so we can actually assess where we’re at.
"If you want to play winning footy and winning finals footy, you have to be good in that [contested ball] area. It’s something we pride ourselves on. We were poor that day against Hawthorn and we want to address it this week."
The Crows held a closed training session at AAMI Stadium on Wednesday, its first since the 2006 finals series.
Goodwin said the lock-out had nothing to do with playing the league-leading Hawks and everything to do with perfecting the team’s ball movement, which stagnated in their last clash.
"We’ve had closed sessions in the past and other clubs have them all the time. We thought it was appropriate now because we have a really important 11 weeks to go," Goodwin said.
"We like the way we move the ball, but we want to keep tinkering with it, get better at it and we wanted to do it behind closed doors because there will be some things we do over the next 11 weeks that will be slightly different."
Ruckman Jon Griffin joined in the main session and is a chance to return on Saturday night after one week out with a hip complaint.
Hawthorn has not beaten Adelaide at AAMI Stadium since 1994, but the Hawks did conquer the Power on the road last season.
"We are playing some really good footy at home and we enjoy playing in front of our supporters," Goodwin said.
"We’re expecting a big crowd this week and against the top side you want to play well. We have had a good record over Hawthorn in the past, but they are a completely different side now and we want to show what we’re made of this week.
"There’s no doubt we’ve had a hard 11 weeks and we’ve put ourselves in a really good position. Three is no better challenge than playing the top side and we want to play them.
"We want to put on a good performance and make sure we can compete and play well against the top sides."
