Adelaide Crows star Rory Sloane ready for persistent shadow from Scott Pendlebury

RORY Sloane is bracing himself for a difficult game against Collingwood - but coach Don Pyke says the Crow has learned from his tagging experiences last year.

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ADELAIDE vice-captain Rory Sloane has been asked to brace himself for a visit from the tagging ghosts of last season as he prepares for a potential dual with Collingwood captain Scott Pendlebury.

Pendlebury was successful in a run-with role against Carlton’s Patrick Cripps last weekend.

Sloane was successfully targeted last season and took some time to adjust to the situation.

Coach Don Pyke said Sloane was on the lookout for similar scenarios this season and would prepare to be shadowed – potentially by one of the game’s best players – in Friday night’s Adelaide Oval match.

Rory Sloane soars against Essendon. Picture: Quinn Rooney/Getty Images

“We’ll see how that pans out,” Pyke said. “He (Pendlebury) obviously did that job for them last week.

“I think the week before he spent some time in the ruck.

“They’re obviously looking at a variety things with their mids and they’ve got a high-quality midfield with Brodie Grundy in the ruck as well.

“We’re going to have our work cut out for us on Friday night against what is a good challenge.

“It’s a possibility (Pendlebury tagging Sloane).

“I think Rory prepares now for the eventuality that he might get a run-with.

“Last week, from looking at the game, it was more being accountable for Cripps at the stoppage, which is obviously one of his great strengths, his ability to win clearances.

“And I think he kept him down to five or six clearances on the night so he did a great job there. We’ll talk about the possibility of that happening for Rory.”

Sloane’s situation comes as Pyke singled out contested ball as the main area of improvement for the Crows.

Pyke will also be reluctant to employ a tag against the Pies, who are coming off a win and have most of their stars in the midfield.

Pyke said the first half against St Kilda – after which Adelaide was ahead by only 10 points – had been scrutinised closely and improvements around the ball had been singled out as a culprit.

“We look at every game and review every game in terms of what we did well and what we didn’t,” Pyke said. “And I think it was fair to say that from a contested ball viewpoint we were a little bit off.

“That’s taking nothing away from St Kilda – we knew they were going to come out and play really strong in that space.

“We want to make sure we start games right on in that space but we also recognise we’re going into a contest and you don’t get everything your own way all the time.

“To the players’ credit, they were really able to respond in the second half ... that gave us what we were after, which was access to the ball, field position and then we hit the scoreboard.”