Adelaide coach Brenton Sanderson has labelled Saturday’s contest against Fremantle at AAMI Stadium as a classic attack versus defence battle.

Freo has conceded the fewest points in the AFL this season, and Sanderson said the Crows could not afford to sit back and allow Ross Lyon’s side to dictate the tempo.

The Crows’ coach added that his side would take confidence into Saturday’s game after it beat Freo three times last season, including a sudden-death semi-final.

“I guess we’re one team that does take them on… we back ourselves in. We'll have to be at our best to beat them," he told afc.com.au.

“Freo will try to lock us away but we can’t just cop that … we’ve got to try to take the game on. As well as they set up, we can’t allow them to turn the game into a defensive battle.

“This week will be a really good test of our attack against a really good defensive side.”

Freo will be without captain Matthew Pavlich, ruckmen Aaron Sandilands (hamstring) and Jon Griffin (knee), and in-form small forward Michael Walters (ankle).

However, Sanderson expected midfielder Stephen Hill to return from a quad injury, which he said would give the Crows’ coaches “another headache”.

The Adelaide coach said Fremantle under Lyon was a very tough side to play against, regardless of who was in the team.

“They’re so well structured. We really rate Fremantle. They are so well coached and are a very disciplined outfit,” Sanderson said.

He also guaranteed ruckman Sam Jacobs would lead the Crows on-ball division on Saturday.

Jacobs was subbed off in the third quarter of Adelaide’s incredible comeback win against North Melbourne last Sunday, but Sanderson said the club still had full faith in the 25-year-old.

“He didn’t have his best game on the weekend and, yes, we subbed him out,” he said.

“I thought he’d turned the corner a bit with his form the previous two weeks. We’ll back him in this week. He’ll certainly play and he’ll be the first ruck at the first centre bounce.

“We need ‘Sauce’ at his best for us to play well and I’m sure we’ll get a much-improved performance this week.”