IT'S IRRELEVANT which side you're drawn to play in finals because they're all as tough as each other, says Collingwood coach Mick Malthouse.
Malthouse had to wait two days to know his club's finals fate after its loss to Fremantle on Friday night, but refused to subscribe to Adelaide at AAMI Stadium being a particularly tough task.
"Finals football is finals football – it doesn't matter who you play, the best eight are there," he said on Tuesday.
"Does it really matter? After the game last week it was just a matter of picking up the pencil and drawing in who we potentially could play and start going through their sides, whether it be Adelaide in Adelaide – we've played particularly well in Adelaide – [or] St Kilda.
"I didn't know where it would be played because if they (St Kilda) finished in front of us, it would have been at Telstra Dome.
"Every assignment in finals football is tough so it doesn't really matter."
However, the challenge facing the Magpies might not be as tricky as some are predicting, given their recent record at the venue.
Collingwood has won its past three matches at AAMI Stadium, and has claimed six wins from 10 games played there since round 14, 2002.
"We've won our fair share [at AAMI]," captain Scott Burns said.
"As a player, when you go over and you're familiar with the rooms and the ground and you know what the crowd is like, it gives you a bit of confidence."
Burns predicted a tight contest between the two sides, given the Crows' defensive nature that has been exacerbated in recent times with their inability to kick a big score.
He also said the Pies should still be considered dangerous despite their round 22 loss to Fremantle, when looking at how recently-defeated sides have responded the following week.
"I don't think there is much difference between us [and Adelaide]. Just about every game we've played, they've been pretty close over the past three or four years," he said.
"You think in a finals game it's going to be a pretty dour game. There's no doubt that defensively they're pretty good and we aspire to be pretty good defensively too.
"It's going to be pretty tough, but our last month of football has been reasonably solid, a bit disappointing with the Freo one, but I really thought two weeks ago against Sydney it was our best game for quite a few years.
"We're taking some pretty decent form line into this week when you think about St Kilda and what Sydney has done a week later, and then Port Adelaide went and knocked off the Kangaroos by 12 goals. The form line is reasonably strong.
"We're looking forward to it and we want to get over there as a group and come back with a win."
Malthouse emphasised banished pair Heath Shaw and Alan Didak will remain out of the selection frame and were only training occasionally with the main group.
"I don't know what NASA spacecraft you've been on but I've said it enough," he said.
"I'm not going to repeat it again."
