Adelaide enter tomorrow night’s elimination final against North Melbourne as raging favourites – as were West Coast, who got trounced by the Western Bulldogs in last night’s knockout game in Perth.

“History says in finals, anyone is a chance,” Adelaide assistant coach Scott Camporeale told reporters today.

“It’s a a 50-50 ball game and if you allow the opposition to play how they want to play, it’s going to be very difficult.”

Bookies have listed the Crows at $1.17 while rating the Kangaroos as $5.25 long shots to prevail in the Adelaide Oval eliminator.

North have limped into the finals, losing nine of their past 11 games, but Camporeale said past form was irrelevant.

“Finals is contested. It’s tough. It’s never a pretty game, it’s an arm wrestle – there’s no secrets to it,” he said.

“It will be hot early, no doubt about that… across the board obviously they (North) have got finals experience, they have played in the last couple of preliminary finals.

“They have got a hard and tough midfield, which generally helps you in finals.

“And they have got some power forwards so we have got to be able to restrict their supply obviously through the middle of the ground and hopefully put their defenders under a bit of duress.”

Camporeale knows about duress. A year ago, he was tasked with holding together an Adelaide playing group fragile after the stabbing death of their coach Phil Walsh.

Camporeale had been an assistant to Walsh, whose son Cy allegedly killed his father on July 3 last year.

The Crows turned to Camporeale as a caretaker coach – never has the term been more apt, given the club’s raw shock at the killing.

He steered Adelaide to seven wins from his 11 games as head coach – one of them an elimination final triumph against the Western Bulldogs.

A year on, Camporeale will again sit in the coaches box during an Adelaide elimination final, having returned to his midfield coaching role after opting not to seek the head coaching job given to Don Pyke. And he believes the Crows have a better mindset than at this time last year.

“From last year into this year, we have got more confidence,” Camporeale said.

“Winning more games. We have tightened up our defence, which is something that we needed to touch up on.

“The players are in a really good headspace and we have got continuity of players.

“So all those things going into a finals series is important.”

Camporeale said the Crows made some harsh selection calls in axing Ricky Henderson and Cam Ellis-Yolmen in favour of Rory Sloane, who has served a one-game suspension, and defender Brodie Smith, who returns from concussion.

“It’s always difficult this time of year. There is always some unlucky guys that miss out,” he said.

-AAP