Coach Brenton Sanderson says he’ll resist the urge to look at the score in the game between Geelong and Sydney - which will help determine Adelaide’s fate in the first week of finals - until the completion of the Crows’ clash with Gold Coast on Saturday afternoon.

The Crows must beat the Suns to remain in a contention for a home qualifying final. They must also rely on other results, including the Cats beating the Swans, or West Coast toppling Hawthorn on Friday night.

While the football world will be eagerly anticipating the finals fixture, Sanderson said his team was focused solely on overcoming Gold Coast.

“As coach, I can’t afford to be looking anywhere else than on the field to see what our players are doing,” Sanderson said on Wednesday.

“We’ve got to make sure we play our hearts out and play a typical Adelaide Crows game against Gold Coast on Saturday. Then on Sunday, we’ll get ready for our upcoming opponent.

“By then, we’ll know who out opponent is and where the game will be played, and we can focus on that then. I’ll be really disappointed if our players and our staff get to the game this weekend with their focus somewhere else.”

If the Crows needed a reminder about the dangers of taking any team in the competition “lightly”, they got it in the form of Carlton’s shock loss to the Suns at Metricon Stadium last weekend.

“It was probably good for us that Gold Coast beat Carlton last week because it does show that any side … can beat anyone on any given day if you’re not physically and mentally prepared for the contest,” he said.

“We can’t take Gold Coast lightly. Their win (over Carlton) last week was good, and I think their last four weeks have been as good as they’ve played in their short, two-year history. They won’t be a pushover this week.

“We’ve got to make sure our focus remains narrow and that we do our very best to win and play well leading into finals.”

Adelaide received its own “wake-up call” against the Brisbane Lions at the Gabba a fortnight ago.

The Crows started the game in impressive fashion, streaking to a 38-point lead at the first change but fell away after quarter-time, eventually going down by two goals. Importantly, the team was able to respond with a 69-point win over Melbourne last weekend.

“We were very average up in Brisbane in the second, third and fourth quarters,” Sanderson said.

“I thought we were great last week at times. We probably didn’t finish the game off as we would’ve liked, but it gives us a bit of confidence that the Brisbane game was just a one-off for us.

“We need to play on the edge every week if we want to get the result.”

Sanderson said he expected to name a near-full strength team to play Gold Coast, with young midfielder Rory Sloane set to return from an elbow injury.