EBONY Marinoff may be in career-best form, but there's another Adelaide midfielder quietly producing some outstanding footy this year.

An argument could be made that a small part of Marinoff's improvement this year has been due to the silver service delivered by ruck Jess Allan out of the contest.

Allan was a star junior, named All-Australian under-18 ruck back in 2017. 

But the 25-year-old also had her heart set on serving in the Australian Defence Force, and played just 18 games for Adelaide and Greater Western Sydney over six years, as she had stints away from the game for study and training.

Now back in Adelaide, Allan has 26 games under her belt from the past two seasons, and is averaging career-best numbers in hitouts (19.9 to 34.5, following the departure of Montana McKinnon this year), disposals (9.9) and hitouts to advantage (6.8 to 10.9).

She leads the in-form Mim Strom in hitouts to advantage by 32, despite having attended 198 fewer ruck contests this year.

"This is the first year I've played consistent footy, and full games. It's been a bit of a whirlwind, but I'm definitely feeling a lot stronger and a lot more confident. It's a good feeling coming into a finals series," Allan told AFL.com.au.

"For me, the more time I get to work with people, the better connection you build. It's not just on the field, but off the field, the more time you get to spend time with people and bond, that just builds the connection. It's been really good to be able to fully commit this year."

Allan was a crucial part in Adelaide's 37-point semi-final victory over Fremantle, arguably splitting the points with Strom.

She joked on the Channel 7 broadcast post-match that it was great to see rucks get greater recognition among the footy public.

"For me, it's the same as every week. Every ruck has a technique and personality you have to prepare for. This week hasn't been too different, been a lot of media about her," Allan said.

"But it's always fun coming up against a really skilful ruck, so it was a good challenge. It probably brought me into the game more, because I was a lot more focused. It was a good battle."

"I thought it was a really good battle. They got us in the centre, we got them in the around-the-ground stoppage. Then probably the aerial battle was about square," coach Matthew Clarke said.

"Jess has had a really, really strong season, and I know she was really looking forward to the challenge of playing against a strong opponent. I don't know who got the points, but it was significant that Jess had a strong game."