ADELAIDE insists there's no pent-up animosity towards Essendon ruckman Sam Draper ahead of Friday night's clash.

Crows coach Matthew Nicks says his club rapidly moved on from the final-second flashpoint involving Draper in the Bombers' three-point win in Adelaide in April.

The AFL admitted an umpiring error when Draper wasn't penalised holding the ball, which would have given the Crows a post-siren shot at goal.

The big Bomber theatrically re-enacted his flop while celebrating with teammates on Adelaide Oval.

"We move on pretty quick from that sort of thing," Nicks told reporters on Thursday.

"We look at a lot of games where we've played against teams in the past ... what we did well and what we didn't do well, areas we've got to be better at.

"And the last couple of games versus Essendon we got a few things wrong, especially last season at Marvel ... they put us to the sword last time early."

The Crows have lost their past four games against Essendon at Marvel Stadium in a stretch dating to 2017, the last year Adelaide played finals.

Adelaide has lost six of its past eight games to all clubs at the Melbourne stadium.

But Nicks said he took valuable lessons from last year's encounter with the Bombers which started as a shootout: the hosts booted seven goals in the first term en route to an 18-point win.

"We were passive last time," Nicks said.

"It's an interesting ground to play because a lot is talked about the ball movement side of things and offensively the ball can move fast under the roof.

"But realistically it all comes back to contest and so we've really focused on that this week.

"Maybe in the past we have lost our way a bit in what's important when you're playing Marvel Stadium.

"So our intent is to come out and really bring a contest, take it up to Essendon.

"Because if we don't, they are far too good. They have shown this year if you give them room and space, they're very fast with the ball, they'll move it from one end to the other reasonably quickly."

Essendon (42 points) hold sixth spot and while it is two premiership points shy of second-placed Carlton, it is also only six points ahead of 13th-placed Hawthorn.

The Crows' finals hopes are shot, in 14th spot with 26 points, though Nicks described the Friday night feature as "a big game" for his club.

"We've enjoyed playing some of these key games across the season, we have had a number of them where we've played Friday and Saturday night," he said.