West Coast coach Adam Simpson says he's not daring to dream of sneaking into the AFL finals.
But his Adelaide counterpart Brenton Sanderson concedes his club's playoff prospects turned nightmarish with a shock 31-point loss against the Eagles on Saturday.
West Coast's gallant 20.16 (136) to 16.9 (105) triumph in the Adelaide Oval clash keeps the Eagles in the frame, but coach Simpson reckons it's "a fair stretch" to call them finals contenders.
"We are not looking at that (finals) as a goal," Simpson said.
"We want to finish the year off well to give us some momentum for next year. So whether that is finals or not, we are not necessarily talking about that."
The Eagles are in 11th spot with eight wins, while Adelaide (nine wins, nine losses) could be tipped from eighth spot by the end of the round.
"Without question, it's a setback," Crows coach Sanderson said.
Sanderson was angered at Adelaide's performance, particularly as the Crows kicked four goals in the initial 10 minutes while the Eagles went scoreless.
And Adelaide took a two-point lead into the last quarter in front of a parochial 49,470-strong home crowd, yet folded meekly - the Eagles then kicked five unanswered goals to create victory.
"It was a like a bad dream, after those first four goals," Sanderson said.
"When we took a lead into three quarter-time ... we unfortunately capitulated."
Sanderson lamented the loss of key backman Daniel Talia, who was substituted with concussion at halftime after copping an accidental knee to the cheekbone from his opponent Josh Kennedy.
Kennedy became the game-breaker, slotting five goals, including three in 14 minutes in the Eagles' final-quarter blitz.
The Crows were also unable to quell West Coast midfielder Andrew Gaff, who was best-afield with 31-disposals, three goals and eight inside-50s.
Gaff's onball colleagues Matt Priddis (31 touches) and Luke Shuey (30 disposals, nine clearances) were also damaging while Nic Naitanui was influential with 20 contested possessions, 27 hit-outs and eight clearances.
Their brilliance overwhelmed an Adelaide side that had winners in attack - Taylor Walker potted four goals and his teammates Eddie Betts and Josh Jenkins each kicked three.
But Sanderson said his Crows were hammered in the midfield. While Brad Crouch, Scott Thompson, Patrick Dangerfield and Rory Sloane collected 113 disposals between them, they had limited impact.
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