Adelaide Crows coach Matthew Nicks says they won’t tag Caleb Serong but they have ‘Plan B’ up their sleeves

Adelaide coach Matthew Nicks has flagged that they won’t start with a tag on Fremantle superstar Caleb Serong, but says they have a “Plan B” ready to go should he get off the leash.

The Dockers vice-captain was restricted to 16 disposals in round two under heavy attention from Melbourne’s Koltyn Tholstrup, as rival teams continue to attempt to lock down the three-time All-Australian.

Serong responded with a near best-on-ground performance in the win against Richmond on Saturday, gathering 32 disposals, nine clearances, eight inside 50s, six tackles and two goals.

“Every week we’re going to have the conversation around a player who is, I guess, you would call elite or an A-Grader, and do you tag?” Nicks said.

“You’re looking at results across the league, it’s mixed. It’s all about the win; it’s not necessarily just that individual player and how they perform.

“What gets the job done for the team so you win the game of footy rather than stopping Serong having 30 possessions.

“It’s how potent those possessions are, but we’ve always got Plan B ready, and that’s the ability for someone to go and give that player a lot more attention.”

The Crows will also have the tough task of trying to stop an in-form Josh Treacy, who took an equal career-best 12 marks to go with four goals against the Tigers.

And they will have to do it without their best lock down key backman with Jordan Butts to miss the next two games because of a delayed concussion he sustained in the loss to Geelong on Thursday night.

Nicks said it would take a team effort to stop the “specimen” that was the 23-year-old power forward.

“You’ve got to do it as a team. If we try to go one-on-one, he’s dominant at this point; he’s so confident with his hands,” he told reporters on Tuesday.

“He’s a specimen when it comes to his size, so trying to get him done one-on-one is going to be pretty tough.

“Every team has proven that to this point ... it’s nothing new for us, it’s the way we play our footy, it’s team defence.”

Nicks said he was hopeful captain Jordan Dawson (calf), veteran spearhead Taylor Walker (managed), and backman Rory Laird (leg) would be fit to return after they missed last week’s loss to Geelong.

“We’re confident we will (get them back). We don’t over promise on that one and then not deliver,” he said.

“Both were close last week, so they’ve done everything they possibly can. Laird is in the same boat... they haven’t been able to the intensity needed to prove 100 per cent that they’re ready but we’re pretty confident.”