Adelaide Assistant Coach Scott Burns believes the group is in a better space, both physically and mentally, than it was 12 months ago.
The Crows are preparing for their second-straight finals series, and will be hoping to better their efforts from last year, when they lost to Collingwood and Hawthorn in back-to-back weeks.
Speaking to the media on Friday, Burns said the players had benefited from last year’s experience and were fresh and ready to give a good account of themselves against the Western Bulldogs on Saturday night.
“Well, we’ve got the finals experience under our belt now which I think will help us, and I think we're a fitter team (this time around) too,” Burns said.
“We limped into it last year a little bit, we were struggling towards the end (physically), so I think we've done most things right in terms of resting, and getting players available for this time of year.
“It's been good to have the week off and get that break over the Wildcard Round. There's a few boys that needed a bit of extra training and others that probably needed to pull back and freshen up.
“We know we're coming against a team that's fantastic with contested ball, and they’ve certainly got a star-studded midfield, so we've just got to get it done.”
Adelaide will welcome some critical finals experience to its lineup this weekend, with Callum Ah Chee named to return after being managed for the Crows’ Round 24 clash against Greater Western Sydney.
Burns said the presence of the two-time premiership player would be important.
“It's huge (to have Cal back), having him and Neal-Bullen in our forward line is very important as they’ve both had a fair bit of finals experience,” Burns said.
“Cal’s been there, done that, and he’s felt the atmosphere of finals footy, but the other thing he does bring is just quality too.
“He's one of those players when he does get the ball in hand, something happens, so we're really happy and excited to have him.”
The Crows will have their work cut out for them when it comes to quelling the influence of the Bulldogs’ prime movers.
Burns highlighted the key players Adelaide would need to stop.
“(Bailey Dale) is a player that's exceptionally dangerous, and we know about (Marcus) Bontempelli, we know about (Ed) Richards, (Joel) Freijah had a terrific game against us last time here when he played us,” Burns said.
"(Aaron) Naughton's playing as well as has probably in his career, he's certainly taking the ball and judging the ball as well as he has, and they've got some small forwards that are pretty damaging.
“So the reality is, when you get to this time of year, there's two or three very, very good players on each line that you've got to be wary of.”
Adelaide takes on the Western Bulldogs at Adelaide Oval on Saturday at 7.05pm.
General ticketing is exhausted, with hospitality packages now among the final opportunities to experience our home Elimination Final live.
Hospitality packages can be purchased here.
The game will be broadcast live on Channel 7 Adelaide, Fox Footy and Kayo.
