GOOD people make good football clubs. That's because they set the standards for others to follow. And one of the best football clubs in the AFL is Adelaide.

Its coach, Neil Craig, is the sort of bloke you would want to coach your son. Decent, modest, thorough and decisive. He's an academic, yes, but he's vastly experienced as a player and coach of several South Australian clubs. A few years back, I had the pleasure of touring Ireland with the Australian international rules team. Two of that party were the former Crows captain Mark Ricciuto and the current leader Simon Goodwin. They trained hard. Played hard. And partied hard. And they treated everyone with respect. Their teammates loved being in their company.

And on Sunday morning, I saw another example of why the Crows are a good organisation. Walking my dog through Fawkner Park, I noticed in the distance a mass of kids wearing the Crows colours doing a variety of training drills. On closer inspection, there were half a dozen Adelaide players, who had played the previous day on the MCG, giving these youngsters the time of their life. All kinds of games and activities were taking place as happy and proud parents watched on with coffee and snags in hand. And no one was having more fun than Andrew McLeod, one of the most decorated players in the land. You would think the morning after playing his 294th game he would have liked some time out to himself but no, he chose to share. Young teammates such as Chris Knights and Bernie Vince, who were helping out, will learn from that.

These Crows have surprised most of us with their performance in the first half of the season. Being 8-3 puts them in the top four. The doubters will say that seven of these wins have been against bottom-eight teams, but you can beat only who you play against. The next month will test the value of those wins, with games against Hawthorn, the Brisbane Lions, Geelong and Collingwood.

There can be no disputing that improvements have been made in certain areas. Last year, the Crows defended well but just didn't score enough. In 2007, they averaged 85 points a game to be ranked 15th in the competition. This season, the average score is up by three goals a game to 103 points.

Brett Burton has been kept inside the forward 50, and Goodwin pushed forward. Newcomer Kurt Tippett provides a 201-centimetre target in the goal square, and Jason Porplyzia, with only 37 games to his credit, looks like being a star.

The midfield is full of strong, skilful players. Tyson Edwards is getting great support from Brent Reilly, Knights, Richard Douglas, Robert Shirley, Vince and Nathan van Berlo. They are not big names but they are quick and disciplined, knowing when to attack and defend. Three young ruckmen are making their marks, too. Jonathon Griffin, Ivan Maric and Tippet combine to rank third in the game for hitouts to advantage — a super effort when their total games played is less than 60. The scope for further improvement is massive.

But step aside McLeod, Edwards and Goodwin. The new star of the midfield is Scott Thompson. The 25-year-old came of age last year when he finished third in his club best-and-fairest award and received 18 Brownlow votes. In 2008, he has gone up another notch. He leads the way with disposals. On Saturday against Richmond, with leading goalkicker Burton out suspended, Thompson stepped up to be best afield and kicked a career-best six goals.

The coach has also bolstered his defence, having Nathan Bock return from the forward line to centre half-back. Ben Rutten is an All-Australian full-back, and another All-Australian defender, Nathan Bassett, is ever-reliable. The dashers are McLeod and Graham Johncock.

By playing with a bit more dare, the Crows are now on the verge of becoming genuine premiership contenders. The coach has the best success rate of them all, with 64%. But unlike Leigh Matthews, Mick Malthouse, Mark Williams, John Worsfold, Paul Roos and Mark Thompson, the all-important premiership eludes him.