Adelaide coach Matthew Nicks has lauded captain Jordan Dawson's response amid a host of criticism over the past few weeks.
Dawson conceded his impact on the field hasn't been at the standard he expects of himself, but his outing against Carlton on Saturday proved the doubters wrong.
The smooth-moving left footer gathered 22 disposals, three goals, eight tackles, six clearances and nine score involvements, resulting in a season-high 24 ratings points.
"That's why he's the captain," Nicks said.
"I'm hard on him, too. My expectations on Daws are increasing every time we play.
"But tonight, he had a huge impact in a couple of areas, on-ball, and then went forward.
"It's a really good sign - I think he's done it off the back of an area we've worked on this week - tackles, our intensity - I thought he was part of that that started through the middle of the ground early and it set the scene for the game."
Last week, Dawson was held to a measly 2.5 ratings points in the loss to Fremantle, mainly due to running at 42.9 per cent disposal efficiency from 21 possessions.
"If you look at last week, our whole team struggled a bit and there's talk around about (Dawson's) execution by foot and these things," Nicks continued.
"But this is a guy who sits right up towards the top of the coaches' votes, and there's a reason for that - he's a very good player.
"There's a lot of stuff that Jordan does even when maybe the perception is he hasn't played well. There is a lot of things he does do well ... off-ball, his work-rate.
"I can't ask for more, really. Just to continue to improve."
The Crows jumped to fourth position on the ladder after securing the fifth victory of the season.
Nicks praised the club's ability to fill the void left by a host of players missing from the senior side.
Adelaide was missing defenders Mitch Hinge (suspension) and Nick Murray (knee), as well as midfielder Matt Crouch (hip), while draftee Sid Draper was omitted.
"We had four changes this week, Jordan Butts was one who came in who we were really confident was ready to go," Nicks said.
"That's an even better sign for us at the moment, the squad depth that we have talked about.
"We have confidence if we have some injuries or are forced to make changes."
Now their attention turns to arch rivals Port Adelaide, with Showdown 57 set for Saturday night in Round 9.
The Power are coming off a 90-point thrashing from the Western Bulldogs and will be looking to respond, making for a mouth-watering clash.
“Intentional” call anyone?
They appear to be “for sale”….