Izak Rankine looks like he is regaining his mojo, delighting coach Matthew Nicks as Adelaide try to find consistent AFL form.
One of the highlights for Nicks out of Thursday night's 17.12 (114) to 12.14 (86) win over Carlton at Adelaide Oval was that Rankine played better.
Their star utility is yet to find his best form this season. Rankine has played the last three games after serving a four-match ban for a homophobic slur.
The suspension meant Rankine missed last year's finals, when the Crows crashed out in straight sets.
Rankine spent time in the middle against the Blues, going toe-to-toe with Carlton captain Patrick Cripps, and kicked a goal late in the last quarter.
"We saw his energy, didn't we? That was the one," Nicks said.
"The main thing we've been looking for is our ability as a team to inject Izak into the game.
"We just love the fact that he has that smile back on his face.
"When he's a happy footballer, we're a very happy team."
But Nicks was most unhappy at quarter time after the Crows had another sluggish start and their midfielders struggled.
"It looked a little bit rougher than maybe I thought it was," Nicks said of his animated discussion with the midfielders at the quarter-time break.
"I think I started the conversation with 'I'm not going to yell'. I may have gone there.
"To their credit, they turned it around instantly in the second quarter."
Overall, Nicks said the win was unquestionably a step forward for Adelaide.
"We found patches of ourselves again," he said.
"It was a really positive step for our group. We started slowly again, which is going to be a work-on, but to turn that around ... we got a glimpse.
"Some of our best footy was back tonight.
"Our best, we believe, is at the level it needs to be. We're just dropping away a little bit too much."
One setback was a hamstring injury to defender Mitch Hinge, who was taken out of the game at halftime.
"We think hamstring - to what grade, we don't know yet," Nicks said.'
"It didn't seem that good."
