Assistant coach Scott Camporeale says the Crows aren’t getting carried away with their form after climbing into the top eight for the first time this season.

Adelaide replaced Collingwood in eighth spot after beating the Pies by 16 points at the MCG on Sunday. However, the Crows, who are only percentage ahead of the ninth-placed Pies and Gold Coast (10^th), remain precariously placed.

Camporeale said it was dangerous for his team to look any further ahead than Saturday’s clash with the Eagles, who are still a mathematical chance of making the finals.

“Results will take care of themselves. It’s more about our attitude and the process we need to go into games with,” Camporeale said on Thursday.

“The boys have been working bloody hard to get in there (the top eight), so they’re pretty keen to stay there. They’re not dumb. They know where we’re at as a team and where the Club is at. They know where they need to get to.

“We’re definitely not looking any further forward than this week. West Coast has played some good footy in the last few weeks and they’ve still got some talent going around. It’s in our hands, really.”

Read the AFL.com.au preview of Saturday’s sold-out clash at Adelaide Oval

The Crows should be bolstered by the return of two-time Club Champion Scott Thompson.

Thompson was a late withdrawal from Adelaide’s win over Collingwood because of back/hamstring tightness. Fellow midfielder Patrick Dangerfield (knee) is also set to take on the Eagles on Saturday.

“Thommo and Patty both trained today. We’ll give them until tomorrow to see how they pull up. We haven’t had match committee yet, so we’ll discuss that but we like what we saw,” Camporeale said.

If Thompson and Dangerfield play, Adelaide will field arguably its strongest team of the season.

Camporeale said the availability of players and greater competition for spots had contributed to his team’s improvement over the past couple of months.

“I think we’ve been building for a little while. Now, we’re getting somewhere near our best 22, which we didn’t have earlier in the year,” he said.

“We’re not getting over excited about how we’re going. There’s still a lot of improvement in this group, but winning form is good form.

“We want to see consistency of effort, competitiveness and the (execution of the) strategy that Sando and the coaches want to implement. Our strategy hasn’t changed for a good part of the year. It’s more about execution under the pressure of an AFL game.

“We need to fine tune that and weed out the times in the games where we don’t do it so well, we’re going to be tough to beat.”

The Crows will celebrate another important milestone this week, with ruckman Sam Jacobs set to play his 100^th AFL game.

Jacobs will face a big challenge up against Nic Naitanui and possibly also Dean Cox, who will need to prove he’s overcome a concussion to play against Adelaide. Camporeale backed his big man to put in a strong performance, saying Jacobs was in the best form of his career.

“I think ‘Sauce’ is the best ruckman in the competition. I’m biased, but he normally has a good challenge against West Coast. He’s played well against them in the past and is in super form. He plays his 100^th game and most guys play pretty well in their milestone games,” he said.

“I think he’s going to be around the (All-Australian) mark again. I thought he was stiff not to get it (All-Australian selection) two years ago, but he’s elevated himself again. Not just with his ruckwork but his around the ground work has been critical for us. He models his game on Dean Cox as most young ruckmen coming through have probably done.

“I think he’d have to be right up there.”