Adelaide midfielder Richard Douglas says the Crows are in their best shape to challenge for the AFL premiership in his 11 years at the club.
Douglas says Adelaide's growing maturity and a core group of season campaigners are behind the club's unbeaten start to the season.
"Obviously we want to peak at the right time," Douglas told reporters on Wednesday.
"We are playing some good footy at the moment but finals and grand finals aren't won in April. We understand that.
"We know that we need to play good footy to put us in a position to be able to contend but certainly the last two finals campaigns we have fallen short on the biggest stage, which is something we have learnt from."
The Crows were beaten semi-finalists in the past two season but Douglas, who plays his 200th AFL match against Gold Coast on Saturday, believed this year's side was more mature and better equipped.
"We have been through some ups and downs and some hard times and we have become a lot closer as a group," he said.
"I think when times get tough - and we know they do come finals, you get challenged a lot of the time - hopefully this year we will be able to stand up.
"Time will tell. But if we get in that position again I'm really confident we will do a lot better."
Douglas said a strength of the Crows was their core group had played between 50 and 100 games together.
"Looking at premiership sides in the past, they have had that," he said.
"We have built some great relationships between each other, there is some genuine trust out there on game day and we gel really well.
"It's exciting. We're only four games in this year and there is still a lot of work to do but I think we're certainly on the right track."
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