ADELAIDE ruckman Sam Jacobs might have been overlooked for this year's Four'N Twenty All Australian side, but his season certainly hasn't been ignored by his teammates.

The 24-year-old was surprisingly left out of the representative side on Monday night, in favour of West Coast's Nic Naitanui and Dean Cox.

Crows midfielders Scott Thompson and Patrick Dangerfield were the only Adelaide players selected and said they had Jacobs to thank for "making us look like better players".

"It was a bit of a surprise (to see Jacobs miss out on selection), he's had an outstanding season and certainly we wouldn't be here if he didn't have as good a season as he's had," Dangerfield said.

Thompson agreed.

"Our season's probably a reflection of what he's been able to do to make us look like better players, he's very stiff to miss out on (All Australian) selection," he said.

Jacobs admitted he was a little bit miffed on missing out.

"Naturally you do get disappointed, especially when you hear a lot of people saying 'you should have been in there'," Jacobs told AAP on Tuesday.

"But I guess the best thing for me is, I'm playing in a prelim this week. It puts it in perspective - I'm here to win a premiership, I'm not here to be All Australian."

Dangerfield said Jacobs' exclusion from the team wasn't a talking point among the playing group ahead of facing Hawthorn in Saturday's preliminary final.

Adelaide has lost its past three preliminary finals, to Collingwood in 2002 and to West Coast in 2005 and 2006.

Thompson played in the last two losses and said it still hurt to think about them.

"It's going back a while, '05, '06, the last two prelims we played in and I guess the '06 one where we were five, six goals up at half-time against West Coast [and lost] is one that really sits in the guts," he said.

"To be in that position (in a preliminary final) ... they don't come round too often and we've got every chance now to go over there and have a win against Hawthorn.

"This is my 12th year in the system and I've never played in a Grand Final, so it's important that we get ourselves up and about on the weekend and in prelim finals who knows what can happen."

The Crows are desperate to play in their first Grand Final since the famous victory over North Melbourne in 1998.

Standing in the club's way is arguably the most damaging player in the competition in Lance Franklin and Dangerfield admitted 'Buddy' was a real threat.

He said it would take a team effort to negate his influence, but added the Crows had a genuine forward threat of their own.
 
"The same questions were asked last week, 'how are we going to stop 'Pav' [Matthew Pavlich]' ... and Ben Rutten took care of him and did a terrific job on him," he said.

"Once again the defenders will have to work together to stop him, but at the same time I think they [Hawthorn] will be thinking 'how are we going to stop Taylor Walker'."

Harry Thring is a reporter for AFL Media. Follow him on Twitter: @AFL_Harry.