HAWTHORN coach Alastair Clarkson has lauded the recent form of the Adelaide Crows ahead of tomorrow night’s clash, which will kick off ANZAC Round.

Speaking to the media at Waverley Park today, Clarkson said the Crows were one of the competition’s in-form sides.

"They (Adelaide) have been playing some really good footy, we’ve got a lot of regard for Sydney, they’ve been a significant challenger of ours for a long period of time," he said.

"For the Crows to knock off Sydney last week tells us that they’re in pretty good form and playing a good brand of footy."

The four-time premiership coach said despite Hawthorn’s recent good record over the Crows, winning the last six encounters, the Hawks were not taking the match lightly.

"We’ve had really great contests with Adelaide over the last little while – despite the fact that we’ve won a lot of those games, they’ve been really torrid contests,” Clarkson said.

The Hawthorn coach said Adelaide’s ‘slingshot style’ of football was causing problems for opposition teams, and the Hawks would have to put significant work into containing that.

"There’s a lot of other sides playing in a similar fashion to Adelaide and sides haven’t been able to defend that as well as they have in the past," Clarkson said.

"We haven’t been great with our form this year so far, but we have been able to defend those sorts of plays quite effectively – hopefully we can do that again tomorrow night."

The Crows’ potent forward line is regarded as one of the most powerful in the competition, having kicked 71 goals in their opening four games this season.

Clarkson said that while Adelaide’s forwards were dangerous, their supply had to be cut off further afield.

"Adelaide have been scoring really heavily, but our view is they’ve been able to get really quick rebound off half back as well," he said.

"If they get that same sort of supply of half back tomorrow night then their forward line is going to cause us some damage.

"We need to limit the supply in terms of the way they get their forward 50 entries and where they get them from."

Clarkson added although the form of Sam Mitchell has been outstanding in the first month of the season, he would prefer to distribute the midfield load more evenly.

"As much as Mitch has been playing well for us, we’re more concerned that we haven’t been spreading the load," he said.

"If he’s getting 44 touches, then others aren’t holding their own in that part of the ground, so we need a more even contribution from all our players, which makes us harder to play against."