VENUE & TIME: Etihad Stadium, Saturday 29 August, 4.10pm (AEST)
HEAD TO HEAD: Carlton 14, Adelaide 13
LAST TIME: Adelaide 15.14 (104) def Carlton 8.12 (60), Round 9, 2009 at AAMI Stadium

WALKING WOUNDED: For the Blues, Richard Hadley (broken forearm) and Jordan Bannister will miss 2-3 and 1-2 weeks respectively. Closer to selection are Dennis Armfield (ankle), and Shaun Hampson (back) who face fitness tests. The season is over for the remaining players on the Carlton injury list - Jarrad Waite (knee), Michael Jamison (groin), Rhys O'Keeffe (OP) and Luke Stanton (back). For Adelaide, Robert Shirley's hamstring strain picked up against West Coast will keep him sidelined for 1-2 weeks. Nathan Bock (foot) has already been ruled out while Brett Burton (glute), the most important of the remaining players on the Crows' official injury list, will need to pass a fitness test to be considered.

FORM: The fifth-placed Blues (13-8) are on a roll, having won seven of their past eight games including last Sunday's 57-point thumping of Melbourne at Etihad Stadium. Only percentage separates Carlton from the Crows who have bounced back from losses to Geelong and Collingwood to register strong wins over Hawthorn and West Coast in the past fortnight.

WHO'S HOT: While the usual suspects - Judd, Gibbs, Murphy and co. - got the job done in the midfield against the Demons last Saturday, Brendan Fevola finished brilliantly with seven goals straight to take a mortgage on the 2009 Coleman Medal. The Crows had a match-winning forward of their own in Jason Porplyzia whose six-goal haul against the Eagles was a career-best tally.

WE THINK: Adelaide has a great recent record against Carlton, having won the past six head-to-head clashes and eight of the past nine. These teams have met at Etihad Stadium only once previously, in Round 9, 2007 a match the Crows won by 19 points. The Blues are far more settled now and have much more to offer than the line-up that went down to Adelaide by 44 points in Round 9. Brett Ratten copped a hiding for his tactics that day and will be wiser for the experience. With fifth place and the right to host a final in the first week of the finals on the line, the stakes couldn't be much higher. That makes the Blues' decision to suspend Eddie Betts, Jeff Garlett and Cameron Cloke for failing to make it to recovery on time all the more courageous. The short-term trade off is the sacrifice of some sharpness up forward. The Crows are entitled to believe they have Carlton covered. In a tight one it's Adelaide by 6 points.