WITH Adelaide's finals destiny finally in its own hands, coach Brenton Sanderson wants his side to grasp the chance to seal a top-eight berth.
The Crows moved into eighth position on the ladder on Sunday with a hard-fought 16-point win over Collingwood, seeing the Magpies shift down the ladder to ninth place.
It was a win that pleased Sanderson on a number of levels: the Crows won at the MCG having lost 10 of their previous 11 matches at the venue, they fought back having been challenged by the Magpies, and featuring in September is now up to them.
The Crows have a good draw for the final five rounds of the season, facing West Coast (home), Brisbane Lions (away), Richmond (home), North Melbourne (away) and St Kilda (home), but Sanderson is not getting carried away.
"Internally we're just talking about our next opponent. I know that's clichéd, but ultimately our objective is to beat our next opponent. We won't look too far ahead," Sanderson said post-game.
"I know externally there'll be a lot of talk now of 'can you stay in the eight? Who replaces you?' but our objective is to beat our next opponent."
After a match dogged by skill errors and inaccuracy near goal as both sides fought hard for the important win, the Crows coach said it was up to his side to keep its hands on a finals position.
"It's been a long way to get here, I must admit. Losing the first three games of the year, we've really been chasing the competition," Sanderson said.
"I know it's round 18 and the season's quickly coming to a close, [and] tonight we're in the eight.
"We've got to enjoy this win tonight … but then get home and prepare for West Coast. That's the reality of this competition, it's ruthless.
"We've been working our backsides off to get in the eight. Now that we're there, we have to make sure we try and stay in there."
The Crows were wasteful against Collingwood, who snatched a lead early in the last quarter having trailed for most of the match.
However, Adelaide's response was a positive sign for Sanderson, who has seen his side go the other way at similar stages during games this season.
"This group's really hungry and we can frustrate our fans at times with some of our ball use. We didn't kick accurately today and once again we didn't handle the pressure well at times," he said.
"But the rewards of just scrapping and grinding out a hard-fought win from such a young group … [we're] really happy."
