Adelaide defender Max Michalanney needs help, his coach says.

Michalanney is set for one of the toughest tasks in the AFL when his Crows meet Hawthorn in Launceston on Thursday night: curtailing Nick Watson.

The Hawk goalsneak known as the Wizard has loomed large in the pre-match planning of Adelaide coach Matthew Nicks.

"He's so hard to stop," Nicks said.

"His craft is incredible, just the way he plays the game - he's smart, and then he just finishes his work off."

The coach said Michalanney was best suited for the job of stopping Watson.

"We rate Max highly, as far as his ability to do a job - and we actually think it helps him, we think it really focuses him in," Nicks said.

"He has played some of his best footy this year with a job."

But Michalanney was unlikely to succeed without help from his teammates.

"You have got to do it as a team," Nicks said.

"If there's too much footy going into our D50 (defensive 50m arc), there are going to be times where you can't stop him, so it's really about team footy.

"Of course we'll put a lot of attention into him ... we want to be able to work as a team and see if we can limit their opportunities in that forward half."

While the eighth-placed Crows have won five of their past six games, the Hawks, in sixth spot, are on a three-game winless stretch.

Hawthorn drew with Collingwood, before suffering losses to Fremantle and Melbourne.

"We're playing a Hawthorn side that has played some very, very good opposition in the last three weeks," Nicks said.

"And we know they can bounce really quickly and we're expecting them to come out breathing fire ... we see Hawthorn as one of the best sides in the competition."

The Hawks recalled Mabior Chol, Conor Nash, Bailey McDonald and Cameron Nairn, while dropping Calsher Dear, Henry Hustwaite, Harry Morrison and Max Ramsden.

Adelaide replaced injured pair Luke Pedlar (knee) and Isaac Cumming (hamstring) with Riley Thilthorpe and Callum Ah Chee.