Adelaide champion Andrew McLeod says the Crows are using the bitter memories of losing two of their three finals last September as extra motivation for this season.

"It was very disappointing the way we finished off," McLeod said before a weights-training session at AAMI Stadium on Wednesday.

"We weren't very happy with it. The style of play we played last year and our game plan … we were pretty far away from it in that last game (the preliminary final against the West Coast Eagles).

"That sort of sits in the back of your mind while you're pounding the pavement and doing all this work over pre-season. We certainly remind each other that we didn't do it quite right against the Eagles, but that gives us an opportunity when the season comes around to do it right again and just improve our game."

McLeod declined to make any predictions about the Crows, who won 17 of their 22 home-and-away matches to finish on top of the AFL ladder before losing to St Kilda (eight points), beating Port Adelaide (83) and losing to the Eagles (16) in the finals.

"We can't afford to get too far ahead of ourselves," he said. "Last year is last year and this year we'll find we'll be a bit more hunted. Teams will do a lot more homework when they come to play us.

"But it's a challenge, something we look forward to. Certainly the way Craigy has got us playing, it's nothing we'll shy away from. We'll be looking forward to teams attacking us.

"But I'm not looking that far ahead and being that optimistic about how our season will go. We'll just - clichés - keep playing one week at a time."

The 29-year-old McLeod, who has played 240 AFL matches over the past 11 seasons, described Adelaide's pre-season work as 'pretty solid', and added: "We're just looking to going on camp (to the Victor Harbor area for the AFL Community Camps program next week). That'll be an easier week for us. We've been in a pretty solid mode for the last month, so we're looking forward to finishing up this week and getting ready for the games.

"It's just one of those times of the year where you have a really solid block, and we're going through it at the moment. A lot of the guys get sore at this stage. We're pretty lucky we've had most guys still out there doing something, except for probably Roo (Mark Ricciuto) and Robbie Shirley, who have had little ops.

"You'd think your body would adjust over the years and you'd be able to get ready and prepare yourself a bit better, but it just doesn't happen like that. Every pre-season is different and they're just as tough, no matter how much work you do.

"But the end is in sight now, which is great, and we're obviously looking forward to playing against some opposition. We play against (SANFL club) Norwood in two weeks (Friday night, February 17) and that'll give us something to springboard our season off with, which will be good."

Asked if there were different parts of his game he was still trying to improve, the dual Norm Smith medallist said: "Every year you play you try to get better. There are obviously different parts of your game you'd like to improve.

"Something for me this year, and I suppose for Roo and Goody (Simon Goodwin) and these guys … it's about playing and training in different positions.

"I know I've trained in the midfield and up forward and down back this year, with a lot of the drills we've done. Over a lot of the pre-seasons you tend to just train in the midfield, but I suppose when you're getting in the older years of your career you've got to adapt and adjust.

"It's also a good opportunity for us to rotate a lot of guys through (the midfield). We saw a lot of guys last year who got a chance to play in the midfield and were pretty impressive.

"And we've also got some other guys who we can hopefully push through this year, like (Nathan) van Berlo, (Chris) Knights, (Richard) Douglas, (Jason) Porplyzia - and Matthew Bode coming back from injury.

"They're all in pretty good nick at the moment, as well, so it's good to be able to have a number of guys pushing for spots and to be able to rotate through the midfield."