Priorities for tomorrow's AFL top eight-shaping encounter between Adelaide and the Western Bulldogs can be summed up simply.
The Crows need to win, the Bulldogs need to practice.
A victory for Adelaide would place them no lower than sixth on the ladder after 22 rounds, guaranteeing them a home final, but defeat could see them slide as far as eighth.
The Bulldogs will finish third and face Hawthorn in a qualifying final regardless of the weekend's results, so coach Rodney Eade is concerned primarily with "getting the process right" ahead of next week.
He readily agreed that Adelaide, with their penchant for hard football and extensive use of zones, would be an ideal preparation for finals in general and the Hawks in particular.
"Whether we win or lose we're going to be in the same position on the ladder, so it's more about us getting our processes right and certainly the style, but more importantly we thought we turned the corner a little last week as far as form for some individuals, and as a team we'd like to keep that going," Eade said today.
"We've got a lot of respect for the Adelaide football club, they really are a good honest side who just work hard for each other and even if they weren't playing for a home final you know you're going to get a great contest from them, so it's a great lead-in for us for finals there's no doubt."
Much has changed since the two sides last met in round one, when a narrow and emotion-charged Bulldogs victory at Telstra Dome provided the catalyst for much of the barnstorming play that followed.
"I think in the belief factor (we're better), I think after last season's disappointment we had a fairly solid pre-season and it was a matter of getting some wins on the board to cement some belief," Eade said.
"There was a bit of anxiety amongst the group going in to round one, but having a victory early I think was a catalyst for us to get a good roll-on to the next seven or eight weeks."
Adelaide's desire to win is matched by a strong yearning to make amends for last week's 48-point defeat to St Kilda, which in the context of the season was arguably the Crows' worst loss for 2008.
Coach Neil Craig said his side would be annihilated in finals if they reprised their Saints effort in September.
"We want to see a response from last week with the way we went about our footy," he said.
"We were very disappointed and we should be because the way we went about it after quarter time was so far away from the way we want to play, the way we want to be perceived and our desired style of play.
"We need to correct that really quickly because it won't be anywhere near good enough in finals."
The Crows' inclusion of Kurt Tippett ahead of Brad Moran is designed to get Tippett involved ahead of the finals, when Craig is likely to play all three talls against teams with more height than the free-running Bulldogs have at their disposal.
