Adelaide will persist with their captain Taylor Walker in the AFL, confident his form will soon return.
Walker has only kicked 11 goals this season and Fremantle defender Alex Pearce kept him scoreless as the Crows won last weekend.
One of the game's top forwards suffered a foot injury this year and that means he is yet to reach proper fitness.
"Any player who's not able to train regularly, it takes a bit of a toll," Crows coach Don Pyke said.
"He's through that now and I'd expect he's going to get better and better from here.
"That said, in my eyes, he's not playing poorly.
"He's probably just not playing to the standard we would expect and we've seen in the past, but he's contributing in a lot of other ways."
The Crows will also be mindful that Walker's lofty reputation means he demands close attention from the opposition defence, no matter what his form.
That eases the pressure on fellow Adelaide forwards such as Tom Lynch, Mitch McGovern and Josh Jenkins.
The Crows will play the Western Bulldogs this Saturday night at Etihad Stadium.
Walker's quest to regain form is a long way removed from the last time these teams clashed.
He starred in Adelaide's seven-point elimination final win last year, remembered as probably the game of the season.
The new Adelaide coach noted a lot had changed since that game.
"It's a completely different situation - different ground, different coach and different teams," he said.
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