Adelaide needs to be ready for a Sydney blitzkrieg at the start of Friday night's blockbuster at Adelaide Oval.

The Swans have outscored their opposition by 72 points in the opening 10 minutes of games this season, hitting the scoreboard hard early with 169 points for in the first 10 minutes of games, second only to the fast-starting Essendon.

The Swans blew the Crows away when they last met in a semi-final last season, kicking seven of the first nine goals of the game in the opening 25 minutes to kill the contest.

If Adelaide can hold firm, it will make life difficult for the Swans as the Crows have not lost any of the nine games they have led at quarter-time this season.

Both teams have outscored their opponents by 82 points in first quarters this season but the Crows get rolling after the first break, having won 17 of their 20 second quarters and 16 final quarters.

The game should be a classic.

As this ladder from the last four games shows, on form they could meet each other in the Grand Final.

The Swans have won 12 of their last 14 games as they attempt to become the first team to win the premiership after losing the first six games.

The Crows have never been lower than second spot on the ladder in 2017 and will become the first team to achieve that feat across a season since Collingwood in 2011.

Only 17 teams have managed to be first and second on the ladder all season since 1918 but just seven have won the flag. The 2000 Bombers are the most recent team to win the flag after being first or second all season, the only premier from the four teams to achieve that feat since 1986.

Although the Crows have scored the most and the Swans have conceded the least points, neither gets enough credit for their work the other way.

The Swans are the sixth-best scorers in 2017 while the Crows are in the top four for stopping scores against.

Both teams are strong in the contest and have settled and balanced defences that work well as a unit, capable of changing their game style according to the flow of the game.

The main difference is their scoring method with the Crows leading the AFL in scores from intercepts, with a whopping 66 per cent of their scores coming through that method.

They are last in the AFL at scores from clearances, with just 30 per cent of their scores coming from stoppages whereas the Swans are mid-ranking at both scores from intercepts and scores from stoppages.

The Crows like to hold territory, averaging 6.37 minutes more time inside their forward half than their opposition, whereas the Swans average 2.22 minutes more time inside their half.

The Crows' forward line is the envy of the competition and is averaging 15.4 marks inside 50 this season, the most a team has averaged since Geelong took 15.6 marks a game inside 50 in 2010.

Having superb running defenders is part of each club's DNA while Eddie Betts (45 goals) and Tom Papley (27 goals) are two of the most dangerous small forwards in the game, while Lance Franklin (56 goals) and Taylor Walker (48 goals) are in the top five goalkickers this year.

Both clubs have young stoppers capable of blanketing a dominant opposition midfielder with George Hewett a candidate to play on the Crows' Rory Sloane while Riley Knight is an aggressive stopper if the Crows want to slow down Isaac Heeney or Dan Hannebery.

Adelaide has used just 31 players this season, the least in the AFL but it has introduced four players on debut to keep the wheels turning, as the Swans have done using 35 players and selecting six to debut.