Adelaide may be the one club in the AFL not overly concerned about the threat posed by Brisbane Lions spearhead Jonathan Brown.

As the Crows shift focus towards their forthcoming match-up with the Lions at AAMI Stadium on Saturday night, it is midfielders Nigel Lappin, Luke Power and Simon Black that will cause Adelaide more serious headaches.

Brown, it seems, is a near-automatic match-up for burly Crows fullback Ben Rutten, as midfielder Brent Reilly stated on Monday.

Rutten has beaten Brown on both occasions they have met, limiting the Lions star to one goal in Adelaide in 2005 and two at the Gabba earlier this year.

So long as the midfield supply is limited, Adelaide will be confident Rutten can do the same again.

"He's played on him the last few years and done a good job - Brown's a key player for them and if we can stop him we'll go a long way toward winning the game," Reilly said.

"(Nathan Bock) could go down and play on him maybe because he's pretty athletic and if (Ken McGregor) can get back into the side maybe him too, but I think (Rutten) will be the main point down there."

Black, Lappin and Power have been in fine fettle during the Lions' finals push and Reilly spoke admiringly of their quality.

"The midfield's so good, they've got Lappin, Power, Black and (Jed) Adcock is playing some good footy as well," Reilly said.

"It's up to our midfield to get on top, shut them down and we'll go a long way towards winning the game."

Reilly was widely considered the best afield in Sunday's slogging win over the Western Bulldogs, collecting plenty of the ball and more importantly winning a host of important clearances.

In a year where his inconsistent fitness - thrice ruled out with an ankle complaint while also missing a game with a corked buttock - has mirrored the Crows up and down fortunes, Reilly is hoping he and the team have got it together at the right time.

"The first time I did it, I thought it was just a normal injury, then it hung around for weeks and weeks and wouldn't heal," Reilly said.

"It was very similar to (Mark Ricciuto's) ankle and it's been a bit frustrating.

"I missed a game through a corkie, which was even more frustrating and its just good to play footy like I did last night and hopefully I can do that in the coming weeks."

© 2009 AAP
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