ADELAIDE skipper Simon Goodwin says the side's early run of injuries has not dampened its hopes of breaking into the top four.

Brett Burton, Andrew McLeod, Tyson Edwards, Nathan van Berlo, Bernie Vince, Chris Knights and Ivan Maric are among the first-choice players that have been nursed through certain sections of coach Neil Craig's post-Christmas preparation. 

The Crows have finished fifth in the last two home-and-away seasons, losing to the eighth-placed side in an elimination final on both occasions.

"Our challenge for this year is we know we can play some good footy and we've got some great kids coming through, but it's time to now start playing well against top-four sides," Goodwin told afl.com.au.

"We want to be able to put ourselves in a position to do that and really challenge those teams and if we can do that we'll give it a real shake.

"I think it's great to have that sort of expectation. To be in an environment where you've got that sort of expectation means you're doing a lot right.

"From where I sit we've had a pretty ideal preparation with the way we've gone about it. We've obviously had some injuries late, but in saying that we feel that we've got the depth in the squad to be able to perform no matter who we play.

"I think most of the guys that are on the injury list now have had solid pre-seasons, but have had some niggles late."

Despite the optimistic assessment, Goodwin admits the 22 players picked to take on Fremantle in next week's season opener will have played little football together.

"That's probably the only negative with [regard to] that cohesive style of play that you want to [be able] to play with," he said.

"Sometimes it does take a bit of time to develop, but the season is a long year - it's a bit of a marathon - so we're hoping that we'll get a lot of these players back within the first couple of weeks and we'll be gelling towards the end of the year."

Goodwin pointed to the improvement expected out of younger players like Kurt Tippett, Patrick Dangerfield, Taylor Walker, Richard Douglas and Vince to support the Crows' claims on a top-four berth.

The pre-season form of Tippett, who the skipper labeled the "future of the game", is a key factor behind the bullish attitude of last year's beaten semi-finalists.  

"From what I've seen Kurt has improved probably 25 to 30 per cent over the pre-season," he said.

"I think he's a better mark than he was, he's certainly fantastic at ground level and the pressure that he can put on the opposition with his presence is enormous. He understands the game a bit better, he comes from a basketball background, so he's understanding the game more and more each year and he's only going to get better and better.

"It's really exciting to have a guy like that up there. It's the first time we've probably had a forward like that since Tony Modra."