They're the words of Adelaide coach Brenton Sanderson from his weekly media conference when quizzed about entering Sunday's game as the hunted rather than the hunter.
“Sides do like to take on the teams at the top of the ladder. I guess we're there (near the top) at the moment, so sides will come after us. We’ll make sure we don’t get ahead of ourselves ," he added.
The close win against St Kilda on Friday clearly took its toll on the Crows, with Sanderson explaining how hard it has been to carry out full training sessions.
"Football's getting harder and harder to get as much training in as you want to during the week. Players take longer and longer to recover. We played on Friday night and you could see some of our players didn't train today (Wednesday).
"So there's still some players who couldn't get themselves up physically for a training session five days after a game."
With the general consensus being Adelaide has been at peak form for the entire season, some may be expecting the Crows to have a slight let-down. But, it's not something Sanderson agrees with.
“I’ve said to our players, ‘as much as people want to tell us there’s going to be a fall at some point, or dips in consistency - there might be small variances - but there’s no reason we can’t stay up for a long time’. We’ve seen it with other clubs and it’s just a mindset."
Graham Johncock was ruled 'a certain starter' by Sanderson, but whether that is for Adelaide or the Port Magpies remains to be seen.
"He hasn’t done anything since the Fremantle game two weeks ago apart from going for a run yesterday. We’ll see how Graham gets through the session tomorrow and weigh it up.
“Graham has played some really good roles for us this year. He’s played as a small defender, as a small forward and came on as the sub and was very good against Fremantle, kicking that great goal late in the game when we needed it," Sanderson added.
With Bernie Vince also set to make his comeback from suspension, Adelaide look to have strengthened its side for the big clash at Etihad Stadium.
North Melbourne v Adelaide Crows
Sunday June 24, 2012 - 4.40pm
Etihad Stadium
Gates open at 3pm.
