Star Adelaide Crows forward Eddie Betts will use Indigenous Round guernsey as inspiration in Round 9 clash with Fremantle

POCKET rocket Eddie Betts says the Crows will come out hard against the Dockers this weekend to overcome a bad habit of slow starts this season.

Eddie Betts of the Crows (right) takes a mark in front of Darcy Gardiner of the Lions. Picture: Getty Images

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EDDIE Betts hopes Adelaide will unleash the inner warrior from its specially designed indigenous round guernsey to stop a first-quarter slump against Fremantle on Saturday night.

“We’ve got the spear, the shield, the boomerang, the stuff that you use to go to war, to go to battle,” Betts said.

“And we’ve got the crow behind it which represents us as a playing group.”

The Crows have been slow out of the blocks for the past three weeks and Betts said it was related to mindset.

“Everything we are doing before the game is switched on but when we get out there it’s mindset in the first five minutes.

“Being 6-0 at the start teams come out and they want to hunt you, and it started with North Melbourne and Melbourne, and we weren’t ready in that first quarter.

“We looked at the last couple of weeks and we’ve been reacting instead of acting.

“Teams are getting their hands on the ball first, winning the contested ball, tackling harder.

“You’ve got to have the right attitude and be in harder, get it forward and lock it in our half and hopefully score.”

While Betts is Adelaide’s leading goalkicker this year with 28, he has also been quick to give plenty off including helping debutants Hugh Greenwood and Jordan Gallucci kick their first goals in last week’s win over Brisbane.

“I had Jordan Gallucci running at me with his eyes wide open, he wanted that ball, so I had to give it to him.”

Eddie Betts of the Crows attempts to take a spectacular mark against the Lions.

Betts said indigenous round was important to him because it used football as a platform to stamp out racism and to educate people about indigenous culture.

“It’s a great week to learn about it and I’m still learning too because there are a lot of tribes and a different story to each jersey in the AFL,” he said.

The Crows will hold a smoking ceremony and eat kangaroo after training this week in a celebration of indigenous culture.

Charlie Cameron has spent less time in the midfield in the past two weeks but said it was not related to a groin complaint from a month ago.

“These days teams are putting more numbers behind the ball and if Charlie goes into the midfield as a forward that leaves five forwards against seven defenders,” Betts explained.

Their teammate Curtly Hampton will miss indigenous round after injuring his ankle against the Lions.