Although the 2025 season has come to an end for Adelaide, there is a sense of achievement they can hold on to, despite the straight-sets exit.
The AFL competition is rigorous in nature, and as Talladega Nights character Ricky Bobby says, "If you ain't first, you're last."
Unfortunately, this is largely the sentiment that 17 clubs regularly have upon completing their campaign each season.
But the Crows, like most organisations, should try to look at it differently.
The West Lakes club made the biggest jump in V/AFL history, progressing from a 15th-placed finish in 2024 into the minor premiership in 2025, but stumbled in September as 'season two' began.
They were defeated by an experienced Collingwood outfit, which had been atop the ladder for the majority of 2025 and had won a premiership only two years prior.
The Crows were also knocked off by a hungry and brash Hawthorn outfit, who experienced the finals heartbreak of a loss to Port Adelaide in South Australia 12 months earlier.
But the silver lining for Matthew Nicks and his men, with a finals return after an eight-year absence, is the fact that they are on the path that many of the previous premiers were on.
Collingwood peaked and troughed before it turned around, two grand final losses between 2011 and 2022, as well as multiple finals defeats before they saluted.
Geelong, arguably the club of the century, were left empty-handed more often than not under Chris Scott, but the sweet victory of 2022 put the decade of relative pain in the rearview mirror.
Lastly, Brisbane, which, like Adelaide, recorded an almost identical jump from 2018 to 2019, rising from 15th to second.
The Lions failed to convert their return to September action with a straight-sets exit at the hands of the eventual grand finalists, Richmond and GWS.
Since then, the Lions have played finals every year, and were inflicted the hardest of heartbreaks in 2023 at the hands of the Pies, before knocking off Sydney.
"Now that we've got some finals experience, it will hold us in good stead," Adelaide Coaching Director Murray Davis said.
"In 2018, Brisbane finished 15th, then equal first, just second on percentage, and the same thing happened - two home finals, Brisbane lost those two and went out in straight sets.
"The paths are similar, and the experience I had from (Brisbane) was probably that they weren't quite ready.
"It took Brisbane probably six years of finals to finally win a grand final. I know that can sound like a lot of heartache for a lot of people, but Crows members and supporters should be really proud of the fact that we are playing finals again."
Brisbane eventually turned into a destination club under Chris Fagan, and were not only able to retain their star players from surrounding states, but also lure top-end talent to help continue the path to premiership glory.
Lachie Neale. Joe Daniher. Charlie Cameron. Josh Dunkley. Callum Ah Chee. Lincoln McCarthy.
Adelaide has gone down an eerily similar path in recent years.
James Peatling. Isaac Cumming. Alex Neal-Bullen. Izak Rankine. Jordan Dawson.
The Crows' core is there. The game plan is there. But the finals experience is not.
The 2025 season has now provided that, as well as a much clearer path to the promised land.
