Neil Craig has told AFL coaches looking at Adelaide as a blueprint to plot Collingwood's downfall they're wasting their time.

Craig's unfancied Crows came within three points of upsetting Collingwood last Saturday in a result considered beneficial to Collingwood's finals rivals.

The 12th-placed Crows got the closest any side has come to toppling the Magpies since their round 12 draw against Melbourne.

But Craig says his tactics against the Magpies hadn't given other clubs a key to defeating the ladder leaders.

"One off doesn't tell you much at all," Craig said on Thursday.

"We played them a bit differently to the way we have played them in the past - but you could argue we got beaten by three points this time, last time we got beaten by one."

The one-point loss was in a semi-final last year.

"They were two different styles and we played them differently both times," Craig said.

"But every club is different based on the way they play as a club, then you have got to make a decision: how much of that are you prepared to change when you play an opposition?

"I wouldn't be prepared to sit here and say we have found the key to the template to beat Collingwood - clearly we haven't, we haven't beaten them ... so don't get too carried away."

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