Adelaide's fight to avoid undue "seduction" from the upset of Collingwood has been complicated by the loss of swingman Scott Stevens for their AFL meeting with St Kilda on Friday.

The Crows completed a stirring round one win over the Magpies at the MCG with a young side that rose to the occasion, but murmurs that the club is destined for a difficult year will grow with a home loss to the Saints, who ground out a 15-point defeat of Sydney.

Stevens slotted three goals against the Magpies while also proving useful at the back, and his withdrawal due to hamstring soreness is a significant blow to the Crows, despite welcome recalls for Scott Thompson and Graham Johncock.

St Kilda have added the skill and courage of club vice-captain Lenny Hayes to their 22, his inclusion coming at the expense of Raphael Clarke, who twinged a hamstring against the Swans.

Adelaide coach Neil Craig said he had been careful to ensure his players had not been overly "seduced" by the Collingwood result, a plausible problem for a squad composed largely of tyros.

"The excitement of a win can seduce people, and that can cover a multitude of sins if you don't handle it correctly," Craig said.

"The more senior the group is, the much easier it is because they've experienced it, so that's a coaching challenge for a younger list.

"We've made every effort to make sure they're not (seduced), through conversation, training, senior players making sure they're looking after each other."

Among the sins committed against Collingwood was a conclusive loss of the clearances, something obscured by the brilliance of Andrew McLeod, Simon Goodwin and youngster Andy Otten in mopping up and rebounding.

But against the Saints, Adelaide will be unlikely to get the same latitude, meaning there will be an onus on the midfielders and ruckmen to set-up more shrewdly.

"Our ruck work was okay, our clearance work was poor," Craig said.

"Not through a lack of endeavour or intent, but just at stages of the game how we were looking to go about it, to transition the ball, with stoppages, with the set-up on both sides and the positioning of some of our players in the stoppage.

"So we were poor and that was one area that caused us most concern last week.

Young forward/ruckman Kurt Tippett in particular is expected to do more than the nine disposals and 0.2 he notched against the `Pies.

"Kurt would want a better performance than that (round one), the week before he had six shots on goal," said Craig.

"Quite easily as a coach I could accept that, up and down, he's played 20 league games, not many, we accept that.

"We don't accept that, not that sort of gap, Kurt understands that.

"The good thing, and it's not a threat, is that with Jon Griffin in the wings playing outstanding football in the SANFL, that's internal pressure."

Johncock's return from a family bereavement is important, as much for the changes evident in Johncock since a spell out of the team late last year as for the value he brings as an aggressive, creative backman.

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