DEFENDER Ben Rutten says the Crows will look to Collingwood, the last team to beat Geelong, in a bid to upstage the reigning premiers at AAMI Stadium on Friday night.

The Pies dismantled the Cats in round nine this season with a fierce, hard tackling and high-pressure performance, which, unfortunately for the rest of the competition, jolted Geelong into action in 2008.

“I watched a bit of that game [in round nine] and just the way Collingwood pressured the ball and the way they tackled was outstanding,” Rutten said.

“That was probably a benchmark level for the whole competition, regardless of who you’re playing, and that’s something we’ll be trying to emulate.”

The Crows, who have not beaten Geelong since round 13, 2006, are coming off two narrow losses to top six teams Hawthorn and the Brisbane Lions, but after a three-day mental and physical break, Rutten said the Crows were raring to go.

“The last couple of weeks have been hard, tough tests for us, but I suppose playing Geelong is as tough as it gets at the moment. I think we’re ready for it as a group and we’ll be looking forward to it,” he said.

“They are arguably the best team going around and on form, I suppose from their last performance, they are travelling really well. It’s a good challenge for us and especially at home.

“We’ve had a good record at home so far this year, so we’ll be looking forward to putting in a good show against them.”

The Crows have averaged just 81 points per game over the past five weeks after starting the season with a 108-point average. Better ball movement has been high on the agenda at West Lakes in the past fortnight and Rutten said it was important Adelaide adopted the right, attacking mentality on Friday night.

“We’ve trained for it [attacking football] during the pre-season and we had some good results in the early part of the year. It’s as much a mindset [as it is a physical ability] to play with speed,” he said.

“Geelong has a really strong midfield with the likes of Gary Ablett, Joel Corey and Joel Selwood, who are all really good around the stoppages.

“A lot of games are won or lost in the midfield and that [the ability to win in the midfield] has an impact on their forwards and our forwards.

“If we can get on top there and improve on last week by being bit more attacking and getting a bit more power going into our forward line, then hopefully we can post a good score.”

The Crows will train at AAMI Stadium on Tuesday night where utilities Brad Symes and Kris Massie will fight it out to replace injured superstar Andrew McLeod. Ruckman Jon Griffin (hip) has been cleared to make his return on Friday night and is expected to line up alongside Ivan Maric, who has shrugged off a knee complaint.