Adelaide midfielder Matt Crouch says backing in Crows’ forwards during one-on-one contests is a driving force behind the side’s Showdown 55 win.

The Crows led from start to finish against Port Adelaide in front of more than 52,000 fans at Adelaide Oval on Thursday night, and eventually stormed to 12.6 (78) to 5.18 (48) win

It capped a special week for Adelaide, with Club legend and former Captain Rory Sloane announcing his retirement, Crouch celebrating 150 games and recruit Dan Curtin making his AFL debut.

Speaking to the media on Friday morning, Crouch said the connection between the midfield and the forward line was solid and players had full confidence in each other when it came to winning the one-on-one battles with their opponents.

“We want to give our forwards the best chance, we know if you get Tex (Taylor Walker) or Fog (Darcy Fogarty) one-on-one they’re pretty dangerous,” Crouch said.

“To be able to give them a good chance to play one-on-one, I thought we were able to do that and to move the ball pretty quickly towards them.

“Every time we see Tex or Fog or Ranks (Izak Rankine) one-on-one, we actually kick it to them and see what they can do and it puts their defender under pressure, that’s how we want to play all the time.

“We were confident that if we got the ball in there, we would score.”

Crouch said sharing his 150th match with good mate Sloane’s retirement was a moment he would not forget and it meant a lot to give the former Skipper a strong send off.

“You don’t play for milestones, you play to win games of footy, but I am really proud to play 150 games for this footy Club and it means a lot,” Crouch said.

“I had family and friends who came over for it (the milestone game) but it moves pretty quick, footy these days, so it’s probably something I’ll reflect on long-term but it was good to have family and friends over for it. It was awesome to get the win.

“It was a great tribute to Sloaney, to send him off the right way and we played a great brand of footy, it was good fun.

“It was a big build up in terms of the way Sloaney went about his career and some of the things he contributed to this footy Club were huge (and) it was probably in the back of everyone’s minds that we wanted to get the win for him.”

Adelaide has a 10-day break ahead of its Round Nine match against Brisbane at Adelaide Oval on Sunday, May 12.

Crouch said it was important to continue the momentum for the second half of the season.

“It was good to have a win against them last night and get a bit of momentum going,” Crouch said.

“(That momentum) was pretty important, especially with where we are sitting at the moment, ladder-wise. We wanted to come out and play our brand of footy.

“We took a step forward against the Kangaroos last week and then we were able to come out last night and do that again.

“I think they’ve been playing some decent footy without getting wins on the board, lately, so it will be another big challenge for us coming up against Brisbane.”