PATRICK Dangerfield and Dustin Martin both sit comfortably among the AFL's elite, and it's a toss of a coin who is the better player. 

While their devastating form has been evident to see during this finals series, while not easy, there are ways you can limit their impact in this weekend's preliminary finals.

Patrick Dangerfield

Adelaide is going to need to put as many strong bodies on Dangerfield as possible, like Richmond did in the qualifying final. 

As a power athlete, he doesn't try to evade opponents, he'll try to run in straight lines through them and that can tire him out and cause him to suffer small injuries. 

Those tactics can also lead to him having a poor disposal efficiency, like he did against the Tigers. 

He's not an elite handballer who can put teammates into space, and he tends to spray the ball by foot when he's pressured.

I think he'll start forward for the first 15 minutes or so to see how the game pans out, but when he does push into the midfield, I would get his opponent to follow him in there and play as an extra on baller. 

Then he's got a defender on him who has a defensive mindset, so that is one way the Crows could get an advantage.

It's an unenviable task, but I think versatile defenders Jake Kelly or Daniel Talia are the best equipped with the help of a high half-forward, who could drop back without hindering the forward structure.  

Or Chris Scott could turn the tables on Don Pyke by starting Danger forward but playing him in the midfield, and that would open up the forward line while giving them another number around the ball. 

But if he plays the majority of the game in the midfield, which I think he will in a 70-30 split, I'd send Rory Sloane to go head-to-head with his great mate Danger.

Rory has a strong body, can crash into Dangerfield and then try and work off him - and it would be a contest worth the price of admission by itself. 

>> Watch: Rodney Eade joins the team on AFL.com.au's The Final Say program on Sunday morning from 10am AEST.  

Dustin Martin

Like Danger, Martin is virtually un-taggable, and all you can hope for is to minimise his influence.

He's so strong, and with his ability to push away opponents, you need to assign one player to mind him with some help from teammates. 

Dusty has improved his aerobic capacity considerably in recent years, and it has made him an even more dangerous because it means he spends much longer in the midfield.    

I expect Leon Cameron to send Stephen Coniglio to him, as he has got size, speed, he's an elite runner, and he can limit his effectiveness while still getting plenty of the ball himself. 

I think the Giants will focus on Martin's running patterns and how he exits stoppages, so the they'll have to someone bodying him to limit his ability to burst free and get into space.

Don't argue Dusty has GWS mids on high alert

Then you can get your wingers or half-forwards to push up to the stoppage to block his exit.

But they wouldn't want to focus on Dusty too much as that would free up Trent Cotchin, so that's the advantage of having two A-grade midfielders. 

When I was coaching, Dangerfield and Martin were always two players you put a lot of time in trying to stop, but I think Danger just shades Dusty on degree of difficulty, because of the threat he poses in the air when he plays up forward.

Dustin Martin at training on Thursday. Picture: Getty Images