Adelaide coach Don Pyke says it would be foolish to write Richmond off as a spent AFL force.
The Crows host Richmond on Thursday night with the Tigers beset by injury problems and on a two-game losing streak.
Adelaide has just two players on its injured list - Tom Lynch is sidelined by a calf strain and defender Tom Doedee won't play again this season after having a knee reconstruction.
In stark contrast, the Tigers travel to Adelaide with 15 players on their injured list.
But Pyke says he'd be foolish not to be wary of Richmond, noting his fifth-placed side and seventh-placed Tigers have both banked seven wins this season.
"They're a dangerous team and we know what they're capable of," Pyke told reporters on Tuesday.
"And they sit level with us on the ladder for a reason.
"They had a good win over here earlier in the year against Port so I'm sure they're going to be coming over keen to atone for a couple of poor performances.
"And for us, we have won a couple (in a row). But there's no guarantee.
"We have got to start at zero (points) again on Thursday night and earn our stripes."
Pyke last week labelled Adelaide's game against GWS as the Crows' biggest of the season - and he used the same term to describe the looming clash against Richmond.
"It's just reality," he said.
"The fact that it's, in the case of both GWS and Richmond this week, against sides who we're competing with for spots in the top eight ... they're big games of footy."
Adelaide over-ran GWS with four goals in the last eight minutes to win by 21 points, a week after booting five last-term majors to pip Melbourne by two points.
"We're starting to build an understanding of what creates winning for ourselves," Pyke said.
"The last seven weeks, we have lost a couple of games close and we have won five.
"But for me, the process really doesn't change.
"And we will have a plan against Richmond. Our ability to execute that, our ability to be strong in the contest underpins most things we do."
