ADELAIDE is a ‘definite’ premiership contender this season, according to young midfielder Chris Knights.

The Crows, who had fourth spot stolen from under them by St Kilda on Sunday night, will have to take the long road if they are to win the premiership this year - but they’ve done it before.

In 1998, Adelaide came from the exact same spot on the ladder (fifth) at the end of the home-and-away rounds to claim the club’s second flag.

The Crows will take on Collingwood in an elimination final at AAMI Stadium on Saturday and Knights said his team would head in full of confidence after a hard fought win over the Western Bulldogs.

“Once you make the finals you never know what’s going to happen,” Knights said on Monday.

“We’ve worked hard all year, we’ve improved as a team and as a group and we’re really excited about the finals campaign.

“Geelong has got a really good track record and they’ve definitely been the best-performed in the 22 rounds, but there are seven other teams in the finals, and you never know what’s going to happen on the day.”

In contrast, Collingwood’s finals preparation hit a stumbling block on Friday night when it went down to Fremantle by 24 points at Subiaco.

The Pies also have several injury concerns ahead of Saturday’s knockout clash at AAMI Stadium with captain Scott Burns (calf), exciting youngster Dale Thomas (calf) and veteran defender Shane Wakelin (groin) all rated only a test.

The Crows reported no new injuries from the thrilling nine-point victory over the Dogs and have no players ready to come off the club’s official injury list.

Collingwood has endured a draining past month, having lost key duo Alan Didak and Heath Shaw to internal suspension, but Knights said Adelaide was preparing for a fight.

“Collingwood was a little bit down last week and they’ll be looking to respond,” he said.

“It’s a finals game, so you never know what’s going to happen. We’re definitely preparing for a really big game and we look forward to it.

“We had a really gutsy win on Saturday. It was a tough day with the conditions prevailing, but it holds you in really good stead because the boys got to feel the strong bodies and it was a finals-like atmosphere out there.

“We were pretty happy with how we performed over four quarters against the Bulldogs.

"They are a good team and they are looking forward to a big finals campaign as well, but if we can continue the sort of form we showed against the Bulldogs against Collingwood this week, I think we’ll be pretty happy with that.”