Adelaide’s Patrick Dangerfield reckons it would have been nice for the Crows to catch up with Kurt Tippett this weekend.

But they have to settle for meeting the team that took Tippett – Sydney.

Tippett will serve the last of his 11-match ban when the Swans play his former club, who are still rankled by his acrimonious departure.

“It would be nice to be playing against him this week, that is for sure, but it is what it is,” Dangerfield told reporters on Monday.

Adelaide lost a home qualifying final to Sydney last year, when Tippett and Taylor Walker headed the Crows’ attack. Both will miss Saturday’s game, with Walker suffering a season-ending knee reconstruction.

“The team dynamic has changed a little bit since last year,” said Dangerfield, who aged 23 will play his 100th AFL game on Saturday.

“Taylor Walker is obviously out and he’s one of the better players in the competition, so it’s hard to compare our forward line to how it was last year.”

The Crows, ninth on the ladder, are yet to defeat a top-eight team after falling short of Fremantle by seven points but Dangerfield said an improved past month was heartening.

“The position we’re in, we have got no-one to blame but ourselves,” he said.

“But we’re on the right track. We have played some good footy over the last month.

“We have been consistent in our effort. We have just had lapses of concentration in games which has cost us a few goals and effect the result.”

Dangerfield said the Dockers loss, and an 11-point defeat to Hawthorn three weeks ago, showed Adelaide were within reach of the top teams.

“We have played some really good footy against the better sides … but it would be nice to knock one of them off,” he said.

“It’s a great opportunity this week against Sydney, the reigning premiers, to take a big scalp.

“If we play our best footy, we’re more than capable of matching it with them.”