Adelaide coach Brenton Sanderson has implored his players not to be spooked by Fremantle, saying the Crows have no fear of a `straight sets’ exit from the AFL finals.

Adelaide enter Friday night’s knockout semi-final against the Dockers wobbly after their qualifying final loss to Sydney last weekend.

But Sanderson says his club hasn’t been full of “sour grapes” since the defeat.

“We have certainly got on with business,” Sanderson told reporters in Adelaide on Thursday.

“We have got a group of guys who are really keen to make amends for last week.

“We can’t look in the rear vision mirror for too long, we have got to look forward at how important this game is to us and our club.”

Sanderson said Adelaide’s season hinged on finding a balance between attack and defence against a Fremantle outfit buoyed by their upset elimination final victory against Geelong.

“We understand and acknowledge they (Fremantle) are a great defensive side,” Sanderson said.

“I think we’re the only side that has beaten them in the last 10 weeks, so we certainly have to be at our attacking best to get through their defence.

“But also too, we have got to ensure that our balance of attack and defence is where it should be as well, it would be a massive mistake if we went out there and just tried to blow them away in attack.

“… We have to do the basics really well and also too, not get spooked by their great defensive system.”

Adelaide, winners in just three of their past 11 finals, face the ignominy of exiting this year’s finals with consecutive defeats – a fact Sanderson said was pointless talking about before they play the Dockers.

But when pressed, Sanderson said he wasn’t scared of the `straight sets’ scenario.

“No fear, no,” he said.

“We very rarely, if ever, talk to our players about if we lose this game … it’s bad discussion.

“We’d hate to lose but we certainly haven’t spoken about losing this week.

“Internally it has been what we can improve on and the lessons learnt from last week.”

Sanderson said there different ways to look at the cut-throat nature of the Fremantle semi-final.

“My way would be: there are six teams left, we have got win three games now to win a premiership,” he said.

“But nothing is more important than the first quarter against Fremantle this week.”