Adelaide skipper Nathan van Berlo concedes it's time for his team to harden up as the Crows attempt to end a worrying form slump in Saturday's AFL clash with West Coast at AAMI Stadium.

The Crows were blown off the park by a more desperate North Melbourne outfit last week, losing the clearance count 52-34 as the Kangaroos cruised to a 47-point win.

Adelaide (3-7) are now two games and sizeable percentage adrift of the top eight and van Berlo admitted the team needed to apply a tougher edge in the clinches if they were to save their season.

"Our contested side of our game certainly needs improving," van Berlo said.

"That's been one of the areas we've addressed strongly over the last couple of weeks.

"And this week in particular (we've talked about it) with the way we were belted around stoppages last week by the Kangaroos.

"We've been put on notice in terms of our contested side of our game.

"We need to make sure we fix that up quick smart.

"If you look through our list - I know what our players are capable of and we are certainly capable of winning the contested footy."

Adelaide have shown glimpses of their best form this year but van Berlo said their inconsistency was a major problem.

"It's frustrating for us at the moment," van Berlo told Perth radio station 6PR.

"... To play the way we have in the last two weeks is so far away from what we expect of ourselves and what we know we're capable of.

"We certainly can't be accepting the fact our best is so good and our poor is so much worse than that.

"We need to at least get our not so good performances up to a level that at least we're still in the fight and playing competitive footy."

Adelaide recalled Andy Otten and Shaun McKernan at the expense of Brad Moran and Ricky Henderson, while the Eagles welcomed back Daniel Kerr, Sam Butler and Brad Ebert in place of Tom Swift, Brad Sheppard and Andrew Strijk.

Van Berlo said teammate Scott Stevens was still battling to overcome a mystery illness that has sidelined him since round three.

"Stevo's taking things very slowly at the moment," van Berlo said.

"He's managed to get a few more tests done in the last couple of weeks, which has come back really well from all the neuro results he's had.

"He's been trying to get a bit of running or skill work under his belt, and then doesn't feel too well the next day.

"It's concerning for Scott and it's concerning for us as his teammates ... we just hope he gets better sooner rather than later, it's pretty distressing for him."

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