ADELAIDE midfielder Chris Knights believes the Crows still came out winners of an unpredictable round 22, despite losing fourth place and the double chance to St Kilda.

Crows fans, who watched their team knock off the Western Bulldogs on Saturday, were optimistically preparing for an away qualifying final against Geelong next week before St Kilda struck and snatched the top-four spot with a record 108-point win over Essendon in the last game of the round.

Knights said his side was pleased in achieving their goal of securing a home final.

“I suppose we would have liked the result of last night’s game [St Kilda v Essendon] to be a little different, but that’s the way footy goes,” Knights said on Monday.

“We were planning at the start of last week to try and obtain a home final and we got it in the end.”

Collingwood is one of the least-travelled sides in the competition, having played just four games outside Victoria this season.

However, the Pies have made their trips to AAMI Stadium count in the past with a 55 per cent winning record (six of 11) over Adelaide on its home deck.

Knights said the Crows were excited at the prospect of hosting the elimination final, but said his team couldn’t afford to rely on the home ground advantage to get them over the line.

“We’re prepared to play anywhere in a final, whether it had have been Geelong in Melbourne or Collingwood here, and the mentality has to stay the same on our behalf,” Knights said.

“I think you’d have to walk into a home game against Collingwood [more confident than you would against Geelong at the MCG] purely because it’s a home game and we love playing here at AAMI Stadium.

“It’s great to play in an environment where you’ve got fans cheering you on, but we can’t really bank on that. We have to go out there and play good footy.

“We’ve been preparing for this game all year and we really have to go out there and do what we have been doing best.”