Adelaide coach Matthew Nicks says the proverbial lid is off in South Australia - except at one location.
The Crows' headquarters.
"The lid is not on in South Australia," Nicks said after Adelaide's plucky three-point win against Collingwood on Saturday night.
"The lid is on inside the four walls of our footy club because we know we have to stay in that space."
The ladder-leading Crows will enter the finals in top spot if they beat 17th-placed strugglers North Melbourne on Saturday.
And even with an upset loss, Nicks' charges can't slip lower than second and will play two finals at home.
Nicks said the Crows, despite snapping an 11-game win-less streak against the Pies, were not firing at peak form."We want to find our best form again," he said.
"We know we're going to have to be better when it comes to finals footy."
Veteran on-baller Matt Crouch, who suffered a hip injury in round eight, appears unlikely to feature in the finals.
The 30-year-old returned for the past four games at state league level but missed this weekend's SANFL game.
"He will just take it easy for a little bit now ... he's getting a little bit of soreness which is disappointing," Nicks said.
"We don't know exactly where that's at."
Adelaide's victory - before 54,283 spectators, the second-largest AFL attendance at Adelaide Oval - leaves Collingwood in fourth spot amid a jam of clubs.
The Magpies have lost five of their past six games but coach Craig McRae took heart from their display.
"We didn't get the four points but, internally, we know we're headed in the right direction," he said post-match.
"There was a lot more pride in the way we went about it.
"We turned the narrative around internally again.
"We think that stuff will stack up, there's an energy to that, that will stack up."
Collingwood meet Melbourne at the MCG on Friday night: win, they'll play finals and could finish as high as second; lose, and there's a remote chance of missing the playoffs.
McRae, the 2023 premiership coach, noted the Adelaide fixture was his club's third game in 12 days.
"I don't make excuses," he said.
"But we do the maths, three games in 12 days - there's going to be a cost somewhere.
"We have had performances well below par and we don't want to use excuses.
"But when we have more time to prepare, we like to think we can get the type of performance we had tonight.
"But that's not always going to be the case. We have got to turn up.
"We got we got six days now to get ourselves ready to play Melbourne and control our own narrative."
