It might not have been as "complete" as last week's win over North Melbourne, but Saturday's triumph away from home has helped Adelaide earn some respect, says coach Phil Walsh.

The Crows' 27-point victory over Collingwood at Etihad Stadium came with a defensive endeavour that pleased Walsh, although some offensive errors frustrated him.

It wasn't a pretty spectacle, nor a great game for forwards, but the fact the win came away from home meant plenty to the rookie coach.

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"I think every time you win in Melbourne … the competition is very Melbourne-centric and this is where nine of the 18 teams are, this is where the majority of the media are going to report on footy," Walsh said.

"Unless you win here, I don't think you get rated.

"I don't think they would have thought it was a great performance, but we were tough in the contest and I thought we competed really well.

"There were elements of the game I really liked; defensively the guys were really strong but I didn't think it was our best game offensively.

"I walk away really happy to beat Collingwood in Melbourne but we've still got a bit of work to do."

The Pies outscored the Crows six goals to one in the last quarter and turned what could have been a landslide loss into a modest defeat.

But Walsh wasn't concerned with the sudden flurry of goals, given the Pies managed just three in the first three quarters.

"I actually liked the last quarter because we won the ground ball and we won the tackles; something Collingwood matched us with for most of the game, and they actually beat us in ground balls, which is something we rate highly," he said.

"I challenged our group at three-quarter time to win the tackle, to win the ground ball differential and they did.

"The scoreboard wasn't quite a concern for me."

Brodie Smith was able to join in the Club song after a brutal collision with Travis Varcoe's shin in the last quarter.

He was assessed as having suffered concussion, and is no guarantee to face the Demons next Saturday.

"It didn't look great," Walsh said.

"He's up and about now, I haven't spoken to him yet but we're hopeful he's ok.

"We'll stick to the protocols, whatever the doctors tell us we'll go by so we won't take any risks with our players."

Rory Sloane was one of the side's best despite lingering soreness, and said Walsh's focus on team defence had helped shape the Crows’ style and been influential in results so far.

"It's been a solid start to the season but we need to keep winning games," Sloane said post-match.

"We just wanted to play the same footy we did last week … that's the style we want to play.

"Walshy's really been pushing the team defence and in that first half we saw some quality efforts in the team defence.”

Forward James Podsiadly will have a lower back problem assessed in the next 24 hours after hurting it in the SANFL earlier on Saturday.