This is the year Adelaide returns as a flag force.

That's the prediction of footy fans who have tipped a fourth-placed finish for the Crows, who crashed to 12th last year on the back of a nightmare pre-season.

The Crows are the 2018 non-finalists most widely expected to re-enter the eight by fans giving their predictions in AFL.com.au's pre-season survey.

Eighty-five per cent of fans say Don Pyke's men will play finals. Sixty per cent are also backing Essendon to make the eight, following another off-season recruiting spree that landed star Giant Dylan Shiel.

To create the predicted ladder we ranked fans' expectations for their own team's performance this year.

Taken individually, many fans were bullish, with 12 sets of supporters confidently tipping their team to play finals.