EVEN after six successive wins, Adelaide midfielder David Mackay has warned the Crows can still improve.

After an up-and-down start to 2009, the Crows solidified their spot in the top-eight with a hard-earned 17-point win over Richmond on Saturday night, and now have their eyes set on the finals.

Locked into fifth place after 14 rounds, 20-year-old Mackay said there were still things the Crows could develop.

‘’We’ve got a lot of work to do, but we’re improving. If we can keep improving at this rate, we’ll be pretty happy,’’ he said.

‘’Just trying to keep that form up every week is a pretty tough thing, trying to stay motivated, but the boys have been really happy with the way they’ve been going the last few weeks.

‘’(We’re) certainly trying to make the most of it while we can and build and get better and better. If we can keep doing that, then we’ll be right in it the next few weeks. Hopefully at the end of the year, that’s where we want to be, the finals, and playing good footy then.’’

Mackay said there was no one thing that turned Adelaide’s season around following a round eight loss to the Brisbane Lions at the Gabba.

‘’There wasn’t any switch that got flicked. I think we just gradually got better and better at our style of play and the way we want to play and settled down as a team in positions,’’ he said.

‘’The backline settled down; we got the same guys playing there every week and they understand each other’s games.’’

The blonde midfielder, now with 33 senior games under his belt, drifted forward for two goals on Saturday night to go with 13 possessions.

Like coach Neil Craig, he paid tribute to Richmond and said the Crows had to work hard to stop their running game.

Gold Coast product Kurt Tippett kicked five goals, adding another string to a Crows forward line looking more potent by the week.

‘’That’s what we pride ourselves on, having a multi-dimensional forward line. Any guy can bob up and kick three or four each week which is really handy, especially when guys like Kurt (Tippett) and Jason (Porplyzia) get heavily maned-up and we need other guys to step up,’’ he said.

‘’We’re really looking forward to the next few weeks; we’ve got a few challenges coming up against some really good sides.

‘’We’re going to try and meet them head-on and do our best.’’