Adelaide battled gallantly against Fremantle in their clash at Optus Stadium on Friday night, but went down to the ladder-leaders by 24 points.

Star midfielder Izak Rankine helped keep the Crows in touch, but it was a final-quarter surge from the Dockers that helped secure them the victory.

Adelaide Senior Coach Matthew Nicks delivered the following key takeaways post-game.

Rankine’s rise continues

Crows midfielder Izak Rankine backed up his previous career-best performance of 36 disposals against Richmond last week, by recording 39 possessions in Friday night’s match against Fremantle.

Rankine was at his dynamic best, and finished the game with 10 clearances, 13 score involvements, 710 metres gained, and a goal.

Nicks said he wasn’t surprised by Rankine’s strong performances over the past few weeks, as it followed a mountain of work the 26-year-old has put in.

“To his credit, he's locked in this season, we've been able to keep him around the footy and play him on-ball, and he's just outstanding with the way he's gone about it,” Nicks said.

“He’s probably at his best right at this point in time, where we're starting to see it now, especially from a game impact.

“But he's been doing stuff for months that we've reviewed as a team and celebrated, that maybe doesn't get seen because of a stat sheet, where it's not necessarily 39 (possessions).

“There's a lot of stuff he does that doesn't actually get out on the stat sheet that we rate really highly, and he's done it all year. We're playing better footy off the back of some of the things he's doing."

Reasons for managing Taylor Walker

Veteran forward Taylor Walker was managed for the game against the Dockers, but travelled to Perth with the team.

Nicks said the decision to leave Walker out of the game was made to ensure the 36-year-old, who announced he would retire at season’s end, was fresh for finals.

“Our planning was a 14-day break for Tex, we're off two six-day breaks, if we played Tex this week, that would have been four in a row,” Nicks said.

“He's a damn good player, Tex, but it's one of those ones where we know what he needs to play his best footy, and we're going to need his best footy to win finals footy.”

Nicks said having Walker travel with the team was a way to provide extra support for the players.

“Now (to) bringing him across, he's got a fair bit of experience, Tex. It's like bringing another coach with us, and he was fantastic tonight pre-game,” Nicks said.

“The experience that he brings in that space and the connection he has with our playing group, and we played a pretty young forward line down there, it was great to have him there just to support them. 

“There's no issue for Tex flying as far as we did on a 14-day break. He'll be prepped and ready to go next week.”

Crows to rue costly mistakes

Adelaide levelled the scores early in the final quarter with a goal to key forward Riley Thilthorpe, before Fremantle surged and ultimately sealed the win.

Nicks said the Crows took the game on in the final term and, as a result, made some costly errors, which allowed the Dockers to pounce and punish them.

“I think if you said what we're after coming in, it was to take it to them, (and) I'd say we did that,” Nicks said.

“Now we're extremely disappointed that we didn't execute, especially to start that last quarter. When it's (the game) in the balance, we just made some crucial errors, well they turned out to be crucial moments in the game.

“Some of that was execution, just skill, handballs missed, and we got punished, which the best teams in the competition beat you in those moments. We are looking at those moments though that are skill errors when the game's on the line. 

“I thought it was a really great contest. We got the game where we wanted it, and unfortunately (we were) just found wanting just in that last quarter.”

Nicks on the ruck set-up 

Nicks said Adelaide would continue to evaluate its ruck mix, as the club works through its long-term plans.

He said finding the right support around No.1 ruck Lachlan McAndrew would be important, after using forwards Thilthorpe and Toby Murray as second rucks at stages throughout the year.

“That’s one we are going to keep looking at,” Nicks said.

“We’ve had some great results with Toby as the second ruck this year when Tex hasn’t been in the team.

“Tex is in our best side, especially once we’ve been able to give him the break that he needs to perform at his best, and if that’s the case, it makes it harder for us to play two rucks and we would look at playing Riley as our second ruck in that instance.

“In saying that, things change quickly, and we want to be ready for both. We've looked at both throughout the year. We've had some great results with Toby as the second ruck this year. When Tex hasn't been in the team, I think we might have won six out of eight over the last two years without him in the side, so we have to look at that as well because it's part of the future and where we're heading.”

Focus to quickly shift to GWS

Adelaide will quickly shift its focus to its final minor round home game against Greater Western Sydney at Adelaide Oval next Saturday night.

Nicks called for calm despite the loss to Fremantle, with the Crows’ finals destiny in their hands.

“I think we're going okay, tonight was a great contest, it was in the balance against the best team in the competition by far this year, away from home,” Nicks said.

“But I think we all know deep down that was a little bit more back to us. Last week we didn't play a game that was anywhere near the way we play, and we had a win. 

“I'll take last week, however, we played better footy tonight, so we're confident we're going to bring that again. 

“We've got a challenge against GWS to finish our season off - we don't know yet where we'll play finals - and we're not even worried about that at the moment, because we've got to find our form and beat GWS in the last round.”