ADELAIDE insists it still has untapped upside in 2016 as it closes in on the competition’s top two.

The Crows have slipped out from underneath the radar in recent weeks and are searching for an eighth win in a row on Saturday night against Collingwood.

Victory could propel the club to the top of the ladder if the Sydney Swans beat Hawthorn and if Adelaide manages to boost its percentage ahead of the Swans’.

With terrific balance on every line, the Crows loom as a genuine premiership threat and coach Don Pyke said a constant focus on the future would help quash any idea of ‘peaking’ too early.

"I’d like to think it helps us go forward … we don’t look backwards," Pyke said.

"The pleasing part for us is we come to work on a Monday after a good win last Sunday and the guys are striving to get better; the first thing they say is, 'How can we get better?'

"That’s a good spot to be in.

"We’re not sitting here being satisfied with what we’ve achieved, we realise we’ve had some good wins, we’ve put ourselves in a good spot, but the game changes really quickly." 

The Magpies pose a trickier test than they did a month ago, having won their past three matches.

Last weekend’s defeat of Greater Western Sydney was particularly impressive.

Pyke agreed, but insisted Collingwood’s form wouldn’t change the way Adelaide prepares to end any hope of a Magpies finals berth.

The Crows will also be hoping to win for 300-gamer Scott Thompson.

Thompson has proven himself as a champion at West Lakes, after moving home at the end of 2004 from Melbourne. 

Pyke won’t bother pumping the occasion up to his players, he said they’re already well aware of Thompson’s feat.

“It’s a massive achievement … certainly as a club it’s a proud moment to have guys play 300 games," he said.

"He just competes and competes and he wills himself on … 300 games as an inside mid, in a combative way that he plays, it’s going to be a really special night for him.

"We’ll go about normal business in terms of how we want to go about and prepare for the game, but we recognise it’s a unique night for the footy club and for Thommo."