ADELAIDE is in "total control" of its destiny after sprinting away from Gold Coast in the final term on Saturday to win by 45 points.
The Crows led by just nine points at the final break, but booted eight goals to two in the final term.
The performance entrenched them inside the top eight and coach Scott Camporeale spoke of "something tasty" waiting for his side if it can continue to build momentum as the finals close in.
Five talking points: Adelaide v Gold Coast
Adelaide faces a tough run home, having to travel to take on the Sydney Swans and Geelong as well as hosting Richmond and West Coast in the final six games of the premiership season.
Camporeale said Saturday afternoon's victory was crucial.
"What pleases me the most is the resilience of the group to be able to stick with it, when it wasn't necessarily going our way," Camporeale said.
“[We’ve] just got to try to keep winning to make sure we earn the right to be there at the end of the year.
"There's something pretty tasty at the end of the year for them if they want it – that's what we're driving for … they want to do something special.
WATCH: Scott Camporeale's full post-match media conference
"We're in total control [of our destiny]; we've got guys coming back, we've got all but three guys that are available to play and there's competition for spots."
After recovering from a concussion and being cleared to play, Daniel Talia loomed as one of the most important players on Saturday, but the Crows were dealt a huge blow when he was ruled out pre-match through illness.
Early signs suggested the key forward combination of Tom Lynch and Charlie Dixon was going to be too much for an understrength Adelaide backline to handle, with Lynch bagging three goals in the first half.
But both were held to one apiece in the second half as defenders Jake Lever, Rory Laird, Kyle Hartigan and Sam Shaw upped their games.
Camporeale was excited by the performances of Lever (24 possessions, seven rebound 50s) and Laird (32 disposals).
"They were outstanding, I think Lever's growing week-by-week, he's going to be a 200-game player at this footy club," he said.
"He's a real leader, he's a competitor, I just love the way he goes about it.
"[Laird's] a professional with his standards around the footy club but what we love about him is he's clean, he makes really good decisions and he takes really clean intercept marks."
