ADELAIDE insists it remains confident as it prepares for Friday night's season-defining clash against a red-hot Richmond outfit.

The Crows were thrashed by the Sydney Swans at the weekend, found wanting all over the ground to lose by 52 points.

Forward Tom Lynch said the side was beaten inside and outside the contest, an aspect of Adelaide's game that will need to be quickly rectified.

Richmond is surging into premiership calculations on the back of several significant wins over highly-fancied opponents, most recently its 18-point win over Hawthorn last Friday night.

Despite the deflating loss to the Swans, which robbed the Crows of eighth spot on the ladder, Lynch said the club still believed it could be victorious on Friday.

"We're a very confident group and certainly our expectation is to go out there and play well and have a really good win," Lynch said.

"They're one of the in-form teams of the competition at the minute and had a really good win against the Hawks the other night … we're certainly going to have our work cut out.

"We've certainly showed that we can match it with some really good teams in the competition when we play our best football, but we just weren't able to do that for four quarters on the weekend."

Lynch was clearly the Crows' best player last weekend, collecting 21 possessions and booting three goals.

The 24-year-old is averaging a career-high 18 disposals a game this season after a 2014 campaign destroyed by injury.

He dislocated his shoulder on the eve of the season, then broke his jaw and then his neck late in the year.

Lynch is out of contract this season and although he had little to say on talks for a long-term deal, maintained he loved playing at West Lakes.

"My manager's negotiating with the club and that's where I'll leave it," he said.

"I'm just enjoying the fact that I've been able to string some games together now and have a full season.

"[I'm] really enjoying being back out there and playing for the Adelaide Football Club."