THREE goals and 38 disposals was Melbourne midfielder Christian Petracca's final tally against Adelaide, but don't expect that to be a flash in the pan.

Demons coach Simon Goodwin credited Petracca's efforts in expanding his running power as the catalyst for the X-factor's outstanding game.

"I certainly haven't seen him play a better game," Goodwin said after his side's Marsh Community Series win over the Crows at Casey Fields.

"He's done a hell of a lot of work to get his (fitness) base to a point where he can do what he's doing now."

Goodwin said Kysaiah Pickett and Luke Jackson "earned their right to play" as each showed athletic flashes at various stages of the game.

Jackson backed up Sam Weideman in the ruck and caught the eye with his huge leap at centre bounces, but don't expect the West Australian to just play in one spot.

"We're going to use Jacko in a variety of roles – forward, second ruck and inside mid," Goodwin said.

Former captain Nathan Jones kicked three goals from half-back but didn't play out the game after copping a corkie to the shin.

The Demons should see an injection of more top-line players for the second Marsh Community Series game, as some key players return from injury.

"Steve (May) will be ready for the last Marsh game. We've got a few guys coming back around the same time with Max, Angus Brayshaw and Bayley Fritsch," Goodwin said.

The Demons were coy pre-game about Fritsch's late withdrawal, saying he was out with an illness, but Goodwin set the record straight.

"He (Fritsch) had a little infection in his knee, he's been on the antibiotics so if that's a sickness then that's a sickness," he said.  

While the Crows were outclassed later in the game, new coach Matthew Nicks was proud of his side's effort in the first half.

The Crows' relative lack of midfield depth was exposed by Petracca's midfield masterclass, with teammates Clayton Oliver and Jack Viney providing excellent support.

"We might have put a little bit more time into him (Petracca) if it was a during-the-season game, but at this point we were working on team defence," Nicks said.

"They've got some real quality on the inside that probably gave us a touch up late in the game.

"In the end they beat us. I think we were minus 20 in that post-clearance contested ball."

The positive for the Nicks was the game of small forward Tyson Stengle, who has inherited Eddie Betts's No.18 jumper.

"I'm trying to keep him a secret," Nicks said.

"Today there were some amazing passages of play that not many would look at, where he was pressuring the ball, working on his defence and causing goals, helping us with that turnover game."