Sloane is one of 10 players, who were part of the Adelaide team that beat Gold Coast, yet to play in an AFL final. Ian Callinan, Matt Jaensch, Tom Lynch, Jared Petrenko, Aidan Riley, Brodie Smith, Sam Shaw, Daniel Talia and Matt Wright are the others.
The 22-year-old made his debut in Round 20, 2009, but was squeezed out of the side after only one match and watched the Club’s finals campaign of that season from the sidelines.
Sloane said he would seek out experienced finals campaigners, including Graham Johncock (13 finals), Michael Doughty (11), and Ben Rutten and Scott Thompson (nine each) as part of his preparation for the clash with the Swans.
“There are guys like myself who will learn from the older players. We’ll take in a lot of their knowledge this week,” Sloane told afc.com.au.
“Finals are probably played under a bit more heat and the contested footy is right up. Hopefully, we can learn from their experiences and that will help the guys, who haven’t played in finals, prepare better.
“We’ve tried not to let everyone know externally, but we’ve been speaking about finals internally for a few weeks. I think you’ve got to talk about it because you have to know what you’re up for. We’ve got to be very well prepared this week.”
Sloane returned to the Crows team on Saturday after a week out with an elbow complaint.
The popular midfielder collected 22 possessions in his comeback game, and while he would’ve preferred not to miss a match, said he was likely to benefit from a week on the sidelines.
“I got nailed in the first tackle and I thought, it’s going to be a long day, but my elbow pulled up well and the rest of my body is fine too,” he said.
“I think that week off will hold me in good stead for the next few weeks. Just having one week without any bumps and bruises, I think I’ll feel a lot better for it.”
The Crows have an impressive record against Sydney, having won 12 of the last 14 games played between the two sides. Adelaide’s most recent victory - a thrilling five-point win at the SCG - was in Round Six this season.
“We will take confidence out of our record (against Sydney) and the win at the SCG earlier this year. We’ve come a long way since that game as well,” Sloane said.
“But the Swans have been fantastic all year. They’ve played some awesome footy and we know it’s going to be on this week.
“We probably didn’t play the way we wanted to in the first half against Gold Coast today, but we played a very good style of game in the second half. We could’ve quite easily let the game go, so to finish off strong and win by 91 points it will also give us good momentum going into next week.”
