Across five games and four seasons, Adelaide have repeatedly seized the right moment to wrestle an AFL contest from the grip of the hard-bitten Sydney Swans.

The question for coach Neil Craig is whether a new generation of players can repeat that dose on Saturday against a Swans side inspired by the retirement announcement of popular veteran Michael O'Loughlin.

Adelaide have not lost to the club coached by Paul Roos since 2004.

"We go in with a degree of confidence but we certainly are a long way from being over-confident because of the closeness of the games," Craig said on Friday.

"There's been a pattern in that (seizing the moment), whether we're capable of doing it again with this squad, what you're talking about is history, and a lot of the players in this team haven't experienced that history.

"They've always been really tight, tough games for long periods of time, which you expect against Sydney because their record shows in a whole range of games, particularly against West Coast as the best example, no lead is insurmountable for them.

"You think they're out of the game and all of a sudden they've kicked 3-4 quick goals.

"They're a legitimate AFL club, they've got hardened players, highly respected players, so for (Taylor) Walker, (Patrick) Dangerfield, (David) Mackay, (Kurt) Tippett, (Andy) Otten type players it's going to be, not a new experience but an experience they need to face."

The Crows are returning after their mid-season break while Sydney lost last Saturday in a slogging affair against Collingwood.

After entering the holiday with a great deal of momentum, Adelaide have attempted to maintain it with an altered training pattern, following poor returns to action in the past two years.

"We just thought giving them training on a Thursday then going Friday, Saturday, Sunday was just too long, and we didn't get back into playing mode until the following Wednesday," Craig said.

"So we made it different this year, from Tuesday afternoon until Saturday the guys had time away from the club, then we really stepped into it on Saturday at Adelaide Oval with a long, intense session."

Nathan Bock will play after the completion of legal proceedings related to the assault of his girlfriend, while young ruckmen Brad Moran and Ivan Maric will need to be on their toes against league's leading tap merchant Darren Jolly.

"Jolly is probably the dominant ruckman in the competition. I've spoken to Ivan and Brad on the training track this morning and they're looking forward to coming up against that," Craig said.

"They'll have to be really good, otherwise Sydney will get a huge advantage right from when the first contested ball goes up, and that's probably going to happen 100 times in the game."

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