ADELAIDE will take confidence from its sole win over GWS in 2017, despite last facing the Sydney club in the opening round of the season, according to Crows coach Don Pyke. 

165 days will have passed when the teams next meet for the first qualifying final on Thursday, September 7.

Pyke said the 56-point round one drubbing of the Giants at Adelaide Oval was still relevant, but the club would have to assess later matches as a more accurate gauge for form. 

“We’ll look at that and have a view of what worked for us on that day, but there’s been a lot of water on the bridge since then,” he said. 

“We’ll look at their most recent games – they played West Coast two weeks ago and Geelong (on Saturday).

“We’ll do our normal opposition scouting on them and see what we can take and glean.

“They’re a strong side. They’re a very strong side, as all teams are in the eight.

“We’ve got to be on our mettle to get the right result.”

Despite finishing on top, the Crows rounded out their home-and-away season on the back of consecutive losses to finalists – first in a three-point thriller at Adelaide Oval against the Swans, and then by 29-points on Sunday against West Coast at Domain Stadium. 

During both encounters, Adelaide was uncharacteristically inefficient in attack and spurned favourable inside 50 counts with wayward goal-kicking and poor delivery.

“I thought we just missed some chances to connect,” Pyke said after the loss to the Eagles.

“I thought we didn’t take the most of our opportunities when we had them.

“Generally our forward efficiency is a lot better."

But the Adelaide coach insisted the club was unfazed by its wavering form line.

“We finished on top of the ladder,” Pyke said.

“The new season really now starts. That’s the beauty.

“The reality is across the body of evidence we put forward, we finished on top."

Pyke endorsed the SANFL form of Harrison Wigg and Kyle Cheney and wouldn’t rule out veteran midfielder Scott Thompson for one last game before retirement at season’s end.

“That’s the nature of the game; you’re only an injury or two, or some form loss away from creating opportunity and Scott’s one of the players in that bracket or group that are looking for a chance,” Pyke said.

Key defender Alex Keath was concussed in the second half and finished the game on the bench, while Luke Brown spent time off the ground with a migraine. 

The Crows will also monitor the fitness of crucial pair Taylor Walker (toe) and Daniel Talia (ankle) over the next fortnight.