Injuries will force greater responsibility onto the shoulders of Adelaide's Richard Douglas in 2010.

Fortunately, his shoulders and hips are noticeably broader this year, as evidenced by four goals in the slosh of the AFL practice match against Collingwood in Alice Springs.

Now into his fifth year on the Crows' list, Douglas must do more with his talent in an unimpeded run at selection in the early part of the season due to injuries to Jason Porplyzia, Chris Knights and Brett Burton.

"With a few guys missing there's probably a bit of added responsibility," said Douglas on Monday.

"It was pretty disappointing for me with the way it ended last year.

"I've trained hard over the pre-season and am taking a bit of a different approach this year."

That involves a less cluttered mind and determination not to let negative thoughts put Douglas off-course during a match - he admits to frustration if minutes go by without a possession.

So far it appears to be working as Douglas was one of few Adelaide players to impress in his two matches so far.

"It is early days, two practice matches don't mean a lot at this stage," Douglas said.

"On the weekend we saw a lot of improvement from the game against Port, our mindset was a lot better and our attack on the ball was heaps better.

"We've still got things to work on and I think we're still building towards round one, so hopefully we get better by the week."

The Crows meet Melbourne in the outer northern Adelaide suburb of Elizabeth on Saturday afternoon, and have already ruled out Ivan Maric, Bernie Vince from taking part after they missed the trip to the Northern Territory.

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