Rarely has the week off been so precious to an AFL team's finals campaign.

Adelaide's 30-point qualifying final win over Fremantle at AAMI Stadium on Saturday was not only one of the most stirring performances in club history, it also gave the depleted Crows a much-needed break.

Missing half a dozen of their most important players, the Crows overwhelmed the Dockers in the second half to win 10.16 (76) to 7.4 (46).

The Crows will now cross their collective fingers that captain Mark Ricciuto, Andrew McLeod, Ben Hart and Brett Burton can return for the preliminary final in a fortnight's time, while Ken McGregor was close to resuming on Saturday.

Coach Neil Craig hailed his team's courage, but was also quick to keep the win in perspective.

Although this was probably Adelaide's best win since the 1997-98 premiership double, it only put the team one game closer to a third flag.

"It's a good win for us, absolutely, the opportunity it now gives us, a prelim on our home ground, (it's) enormous," Craig said.

"They are a pretty special, resilient group and it's not false belief, they have generated it and they know it's there.

"It just reaffirms to the whole playing group from the senior leadership group down, that when you have that belief and you have people contributing, that anything can be possible.

"But still, let's keep the whole thing in perspective - it has been a great result for us, but all it has done is give us an opportunity hopefully to advance to a grand final."

Fremantle will host Melbourne next weekend in a sudden-death semi-final, still trying to post the first playoff win in club history.

A Crows win looked unlikely when Fremantle took advantage of a strong southerly wind and kicked the opening four goals of the game.

Adelaide then blunted Fremantle's drive and would have had the game under control much earlier had it kicked straight.

The absence of regular goalscorers like Ricciuto and Burton was underlined as Adelaide lurched to 3.12 early in the third quarter.

But Matthew Pavlich's goal 18 minutes into the third term, which put Fremantle up by 16 points, would incredibly prove the Docker's last score of the match.

Nathan Bock, who had been quiet, kicked the last two goals of the quarter to bring the Crows - and the home crowd's noise - right into the match.

The Crows iced the game in the last term by scoring half of their 10 goals, taking the lead for the first time in the match at six minutes into the final quarter.

"We led for three quarters, but as the game evolved the momentum swung, so we had to try to swing the momentum back," said Dockers coach Chris Connolly.

"They (Crows) zoned back really well, we didn't move the ball forward as efficiently as we would have liked to give our forwards an opportunity."

Dockers defender Luke McPharlin admitted the Bock goals were a turning point.

"They hurt us - we were under siege a bit in defence today and it's certainly very hurtful to have a couple of goals that they get quickly," McPharlin said.

"The crowd got quite vocal and we knew at some stage they were going to have the momentum, we just had to hold on and ride it."

Adelaide onballer Brent Reilly was best afield, while Fremantle midfielder Heath Black and defender Michael Johnson impressed in the slogging contest.

Fremantle defender Antoni Grover did not play in the second half after suffering a bruised back

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